The use of TikTok for investment ideas has increased by eight per cent amongst younger people over the past two years, according to new research from Hargreaves Lansdown.

Based on a survey of 2,000 people, the company found that compared to figures published in 2021, the use of TikTok for investment ideas in the 18-24 age group has increased from 12 per cent to 20 per cent.

Additionally, the research found that many young investors – 26 per cent – are also using Reddit to inspire them, up from 17 per cent recorded two years ago.

It's not only younger people who are looking to social media for investment ideas, with the number of middle-aged people using these platforms growing from five per cent to 10 per cent over the same 24-month period.

"In many ways it is encouraging that social media is prompting a more diverse range of investors to start putting their money into financial markets," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown. "However, what is concerning is that it’s often on posts or in chat rooms on social media where speculation surrounding hot stocks and more risky investments runs rife."

She went on to say that faced with competition from social media, newspapers have been making efforts to attract younger people. These efforts have been paying off, with the number of investors aged 18-24 years who get investment information from these publications nearly doubling from has 12 per cent in 2021 to 23 per cent this year.

Those in the 55+ age bracket have also increasingly been looking to the newspapers as a source of information to help them with their investment decisions, with the number growing from 31 per cent in 2021 to 35 per cent in 2024.

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