Column: Is social media over as an investing theme?

Social media stocks have been a roller coaster.

From 2012 to the peak on March 6, 2014, the Global X Social Media Index ETF rose 71% as stocks such as Twitter, Facebook, and Yelp were all the rage.

But then there was a disturbance in the momentum force. The comparatively boring utility and energy sectors took the lead, while SOCL dropped 28% through April 28, putting it in what some people call official bear-market territory.

And many social stocks have done even worse than this ETF: Twitter, Yelp, LinkedIn, and Pandora are all off their respective highs by more than 40%.

Even Facebook, which reported what may have been the best first-quarter earnings of any tech company, hasn’t been immune to the selling — it’s still off its March high by 18%.

Traders are asking themselves: Is this a simple case of a hot sector taking a breather after extended outperformance? Or is it the beginning of the end for social media investing?

Full story at Minyanville.