The Influence of Covid-19 Crisis on Social Media Companies Stock Prices

Abstract

Technology and the internet development has led to changes in communication, therefore companies are increasingly recognize the importance of social media as a communication strategy. The aim of this paper is to determine whether social media have achieved expansion and recorded an increase in stock prices during the COVID-19 crisis. The research covered five social media companies (Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest and Weibo), which have listed shares on the stock markets. The results of the research showed that in the situation of a global pandemic considering digitalization, there is an increase in the number of users of social media, and that importance of investing in online advertising and e-commerce through social media has been recognized. Despite this, there is not the same positive impact of the COVID-19 crisis on all five observed social media companies and their stocks, and it is possible that increases and decreases in stock prices will not continue in the following periods in the same trend.