TikTok and Instagram stock popularity revealed by new study

A new study conducted with the help of global fintech group Plus500 examined each company within the S&P 500 by analyzing the volume of content generated and the corresponding views on TikTok and Instagram. Subsequently, the stock prices were compared between January 3rd, 2023, and April 8th, 2024, to assess the performance of S&P 500 stocks favored by traders on TikTok and Instagram.

Tesla leads in TikTok stock popularity

Two hashtags were analyzed for each company #companystock as well as #companyshares. The analysis used the most common name for each company if different from the official title on the stock exchange.  

TikTok and Instagrams favorite stocks

Tesla tops the list as social media’s favorite S&P500 stock, with the most views, 77 million views on TikTok, and most posts on Instagram, 44,000; traders across both platforms have been talking about Tesla. Tesla’s share price on January 3rd, 2023, was $108.10. The current price (8th April) is $164.90, an increase of 52%. So, if you were influenced to buy this stock in 2023, you should be sitting on some profit.

Apple ranks second in this list with 33 million views across 2,882 posts. The hashtags also have a further 19,000 posts on Instagram. With the introduction of the Vision Pro this year, among other innovations, the share price of Apple has continued to increase from $124.22 in 2023 to $169.58 which is a respectable 36% increase.

Third on this list is Amazon, one of the largest companies in the world and a popular choice for investors, especially on social media, as the hashtags have gained 13 million views across 1,619 videos posted. In January 2023, the share price was $85.82; this has risen to $185.07, that’s a 115% increase in just over a year.

Retail giant Walmart is in fourth with 8.9 million views across 682 videos. However, Walmart stocks are popular on Instagram, where there are over 17,000 posts discussing the company's stocks. The share price of Walmart was $46.99 in January 2023, currently a share of the company is valued at $59.85 a 27% increase, which is only 3% higher than the overall S&P500 gains in 2023 (24%).

Meta is the fifth company on this list. Meta owns a roster of the world’s most-used apps, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. In 2023, Meta also released Threads, a competitor for Elon Musk’s X, and gained 100 million users within its first week alone. Hashtags to do with the company’s shares have gained 7.5 million views on TikTok with a further 1,700 posts on Instagram. Meta has seen a huge surge in the share price, rising from $124.61 in January 2023 to $527.34 in April 2024, a huge 323% increase.  

Disney is the sixth most popular stock on social media, with over 9 million views across 405 videos on TikTok and 1,258 posts on Instagram. The share price has experienced positive price action, moving from $88.68 to $118.38, a 33% increase.

NVIDIA, the seventh most popular stock, has had the biggest rise in stock price, going from $143.08 in January 2023 to 880.08 on April 8th. That’s an increase of over 500%, so if you had followed trading tips from any of the 398 videos or 1,082 posts across Instagram or TikTok you would be in for some very nice profit.

In eighth is Uber, with over 1.3 million views across 143 videos and 37,000 Instagram posts; this company is one of the most popular S&P500 stocks online. If invested in January 2023, those posting about this would have made decent profits as the price has risen from $25.36 to $77.16 a 204% increase. 

Netflix ranks ninth with over 1.8 million views across 276 posts on TikTok. There are also over 1,800 posts on Instagram. The share price of Netflix has risen since January 2023 from $294.95 to $636.18 a 115% increase, another successful trade if you had followed any of the tips these videos may have talked about.

Nike, one of the biggest names in sportswear and fashion is the tenth most talked about stock, with over 2 million views on TikTok and 1,600 posts on Instagram. Unfortunately, the share price hasn’t performed as well as investors may have hoped, dropping from $116.82 to $88.84, a decrease of 23%.