There’s More to Social Media Investing Than Facebook, Groupon & Zynga

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Even in its diminished stature, Facebook (FB) is still two times larger than its three nearest rivals combined. As top-heavy as that may sound, the reality is that the largest social media site in the world is both tempting and treacherous.

Its size alone can be off-putting, especially for investors who believe the social media trend has just begun, especially in emerging markets like Brazil and China where internet penetration, at about 35%, is less than half what it is in the U.S.

In fact, within the Global X Social Media Index ETF (SOCL), Facebook is only the fifth largest position and only has a 6% weighting, says Bruno del Ama, CEO of Global X Funds, a family of 35 different ETFs.

"The Social Media Fund has obviously come down...but it has come down a lot less than some of its rivals," he says, pointing to its 20% drop from its annual high versus the 50-to-85% drubbing taken by Facebook, Groupon (GRPN) or Zynga (ZNGA) .

The fund 's outperformance can be attributed, in large part, to the fact that it is globally diversified, with no one position accounting for more than 10% and the top five holdings accounting for about 40% of the total assets. del Ama also points out that about 44% of the stocks are U.S. based, while about 40% come from Asia. ... Continue to read.