The information age is a double-edge sword. On one hand, nearly everything anyone could possibly want to know is only a few keystrokes or swipes away. On the other hand, it’s easy to find yourself swimming laps in pools of useless information.
Uncovering genuinely useful insights can be a bit of a challenge - especially in the fintech field where technology and innovation unspools at a head-spinning pace.
Given the waterfalls of information now flowing into the industry, we thought it would be useful to offer a quick overview of some standouts in today’s fintech media ecosystem.
e-newsletters
Digital newsletters have been around since the inception of email, so they are far from “cutting edge”. But what continues to evolve is the integration of email subscription/web platforms, such as Substack, HubSpot, TinyLetter, MailChimp and others, for delivering e-newsletters via email and also via the web.
More than a few fintech researchers, analysts and commentators have embraced this more-modernized delivery method. Perhaps the valuable aspect of targeted e-newsletters is readers elect to have them delivered to their inboxes, even weekly, meaning the need to search through or filter social media feeds is reduced. Busy financial services professionals can simply open the e-newsletter of their choice and upload its content directly to their brain.
Here are a few fintech e-newsletters worth following:
- The Fintech Blueprint by Lex Sokolin.
- Fintech Takes by Alex Johnson.
- Fintech Brain Food by Simon Taylor.
- Fintech Business Weekly by Jason Mikula.
There are new fintech newsletters sprouting up regularly – some additional suggestions can be found here and here.
Podcasts
In case you somehow missed the news, podcasts are practically the new radio (even though podcasting isn’t much newer than e-newsletters). Wikipedia dates the introduction of the word “podcast” (which is a portmanteau of “iPod” and “broadcast”) back to 2004. And since the average smartphone offers built-in podcast listening functionality, listeners can now choose from nearly two million podcasts currently on the air.
Since podcasts are audio only, most can be downloaded and enjoyed while listeners multi-task, doing other things, like commuting, working out, cooking or disrupting the financial services landscape.
Speaking of disruption, there is no shortage of fintech podcasts to be found, but some of the most insightful and informative include:
- Wharton Fintech Podcast - hosted by Miguel Armaza, Ryan Zauk and Anchit Gupta
- Breaking Banks - hosted by Brett King, Jason Henrichs, and J.P. Nicols
- Banking Transformed - hosted by The Financial Brand’s Jim Marous
- Fintech Insider - hosted by the 11FS team, including David Brear, Simon Taylor & Sarah Kocianski
- Banking on Digital Growth - hosted by James Robert Lay
New podcasts pop up each day. Here’s a list of other fintech podcasts worth tuning in to hear.
Read BillGO’s Top Payment Influencers to Follow
Social Media
Social media remains a foundational platform for discovering insightful fintech content and perspectives, but – perhaps more than any other digital outlet out there – it’s very noisy (i.e. crowded).
Originally conceived as an internal communications tool, Twitter has grown into one of the leading news feeds on the planet (although it’s reliability as a news source is the source of seemingly never-ending debate). Breaking fintech-related stories certainly has a home on Twitter. However, if you’re looking for more analysis, insight and knowledge, you'll probably need to dig a little deeper to filter out all the noise. LinkedIn might be a better place to seek genuine insight within your business social network, but the volume of content sharing on LinkedIn has also grown so large that digital distractions are inevitable.
Here are some tips to help cut through the social media fog and find newsfeeds more efficiently and effectively:
- Follow a select group of people on Twitter who cover topics of genuine interest. We have identified a small group of payments influencers to help you get started. And a variety of other influencer lists can point you in the right direction, such as Refinitiv’s top finance influencers or Onalytica’s top 100 fintech influencers.
- Another tool for filtering is Nuzzel – which identifies the most popular and widely shared content within a personalized network. A good plan might be to start following the people on the influencer lists above; Nuzzel can then surface the most shared content for you each day.
- LinkedIn is increasingly where people are going to share insights and knowledge about fintech, but the platform offers little in terms of free tools for managing your feeds. Those interested in tracking specific influencers and what they are sharing and talking about on LinkedIn may want to spring for the premium Sales Navigator product offered by LinkedIn. It allows users to maintain a lead list and track what those people are sharing. Just set up one of your lists to track key influencers and LinkedIn will update you when they post or share new content.
Still hungry for more fintech/financial services insights?
Check out our list of the top 10 must-read books on fintechs, payments and digital banking.
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