The worlds leading banks have been grappling for a long time with the problem of how to use social media.
In a world of strict control of messaging, confidentiality and disclosure, the opportunities for bankers to communicate directly with the outside world are the stuff of a communication teams nightmares.
But Morgan Stanley, famed for its abilities in new technology you must have heard it did an IPO for some outfit called Facebook? is venturing where others fear to tread.
It is allowing its 18,000 financial advisers in retail brokerage Morgan Stanley Smith Barney to tweet to their clients, having launched a trial run earlier this year. Strict guidelines are in place on what they can tweet about.
We had a look at their posts. For a bank aimed at US retail clients, theres a remarkable amount of potted accounts of the latest dramas in the eurozone. That tells you something about how the euro contagion is spreading.
But there are two glaring omissions. One: why didnt MSSB tweet the report by its own analysts saying that Facebook faced an earnings hit before the flotation on May 15?
And two: what, we have to ask, since the Facebook share price fell close to 30% after launch, is the banks policy on Facebook? In terms of its employees using the network we mean, of course.