Inside Canada’s personal finance conversation on Twitter

Canadians everywhere have faced a mountain of uncertainty in the past many months. This has affected how we’re all thinking about the bottom line, both on a personal level and more broadly, about the financial health of our country overall. 

Topics like the economy, housing, the labour market and more have all had huge impacts on how Canadians are thinking and feeling about their finances. These conversations have played out in real-time on Twitter in 2021 and have shown some interesting trends. These trends are in turn informing how our Twitter Canada team works with partners and how we’re all engaging with the Canadians who use our service every day.

As we look towards 2022 and plan for brighter days ahead, here are four key conversation trends from the personal finance arena and the new Canadian insights that helped to define these trends in recent months.  

Canadians on Twitter are becoming more vocal about their investment strategies 

There is a stereotype that Canadians are friendly, quiet and generally reserved on what they would say or share with the outside world. Apparently a large percentage of Canadians didn’t get the memo, at least amongst those talking investments on Twitter! 

Canadians on Twitter are 3x more likely to have posted an opinion online about personal finances or investments, compared with Canadians not on Twitter. (1) The conversation is definitely skewing younger too with half the authors being age 35 or younger. (2) Within the personal finance conversation itself, topics like stocks & indices, NFTs and planning for retirement all occupy a major share of the conversation. Canadians have become more vocal in these and other areas, bringing a firsthand feel to many of the investment conversations you’ll find on Twitter. 

Housing is a massive Twitter conversation in Canada… and it keeps growing! 

In many parts of Canada, the housing market has never been hotter. The media is full of articles every day about buying trends, new residential developments and which communities are on the rise for new and existing homeowners. 

In terms of our service, we’re seeing that Canadians on Twitter are 30% more likely to have purchased property in the last 3-6 months and are 33% more likely to buy a house in the next 3-6 months. This, compared to Canadians not on Twitter. (2) Much like the personal finance conversation, more Canadians are jumping into these dialogues and our insights show that recent and soon-to-be homeowners over-index in their use of Twitter, compared to Canadians who don’t use our service. 

Small business owners are amplifying their voices like never before

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of small businesses in communities across Canada, not just from an economic perspective but also from a cultural point of view. American Express have shown support for Canadian small business owners on Twitter through their #ShopSmall series. We’ve seen many other recent examples of top brands, influencers and other opinion leaders supporting the Canadian small business community on Twitter. 

In addition, a large percentage of Canadian small business owners are also active on Twitter themselves. Canadians on Twitter are 1.3x more likely to be decision makers for a small business, compared to Canadians not on the service. (3)  Twitter offers a free selection of tools, tips and case studies for small business owners in Canada and beyond. We also just launched a custom small business training module via Flight School, which may well lead to even more Canadian small businesses leaning into Twitter to help reach their business goals. 

The cryptocurrency conversation is in pure acceleration mode

Canadian cryptocurrency conversations on Twitter hit new heights in 2021. It’s not just the millions of Tweets and the spectrum of Twitter Spaces conversations informing the dialogue. Twitter also introduced NFT verification and tipping via Bitcoin in recent months, broadening crypto-related topics overall. It’s quite likely these conversations will only become more robust and involved in 2022. 

In Canada,  we’ve seen a +347% increase in Tweets about cryptocurrency in 2021, compared to 2020 levels. (4) We’ve also learned that Canadians on Twitter are 2.2x more likely to invest in cryptocurrencies, compared to Canadians who do not use our service. (2) 

#Bitcoin, #NFT and #Dogecoin were all amongst the Top 5 most used hashtags in Canadian crypto conversations in 2021. (4) Buckle up and look for these conversations to evolve even further in this upcoming year. 

Personal finance is one of the most dynamic Twitter conversations we have in Canada. Needless to say, I could rewrite this blog this time next year and the narrative could look completely different. 

That’s why to keep a close pulse on these conversations, you should follow top accounts, Topics and trends on Twitter. Also, look for more Canadians using Twitter Spaces and joining Twitter Communities in 2022 to talk about cryptocurrency, real estate and other top investment topics. 

(1) Source: Twitter Internal data, personal finance conversation, January 1st, 2021 - September 30th, 2021. Canada only. Retrieved October 2021

(2) Source: Global Web Index. Base: Twitter Users vs Non-Twitter Users. Jan 1, 2021 - June 30, 2021. Canada only. 

(3) Source: Global Web Index. Question: What size is your company / the company you work for? Answer: Under 10 employees, 10-50 employees. Waves: Q1 2021, Q2 2021. Base: Twitter users. Canada only.

(4) Source: Twitter Internal data, cryptocurrency conversation,  January 1st, 2021 - September 30th, 2021. YoY comparison: January 1st, 2020 - September 30th, 2020. Canada only. Retrieved October 2021.