Fewer financial advisers are using Twitter than they were last year, a survey has suggested.
The social media site’s popularity appears to have declined for professionals in the advice sector, with Intelliflo reporting that 35% are using it compared to 41% in 2014.

Facebook was also found to be less popular than last year – with just 25% using it, down from 32%.

Other social media platforms have failed to gain users, such as Google+ which just 4% said they used in 2015 - a drop from 6% in 2014.

Despite these falls, the number of advisers getting involved with social media increased to 61% from 58% in 2014.

LinkedIn is the most popular social media platform, with 53% of those surveyed using it – going up by 5% on 2014.

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Asked why their company gets involved in social media the survey found:

• Being seen to be keeping up with modern communications systems (69%, up 16% on 2014)
• To attract new clients (59%, up 4% on 2014)
• To help with search engine optimisation (41%, up 2% on 2014)
• To keep up to date with financial news and events (39%, same as in 2014)
• To communicate with existing clients (37%, down 1% on 2014)
• To see what competitors are doing (20%, up 16% on 2014)

Fear about how engaging with social media could negatively affect business is something that concerned almost of quarter (23%) of firms who choose not to get involved, a rise of 9% compared to 2014.

The research by Intelliflo also found more than half of adviser firms have failed to lay out a formal policy on using sites like Twitter to employees – despite warnings from a range of experts about the legal dangers.