There is very little missing from the financial world in terms of information, investment ideas, and communication tools. But of course, people have and always will find more voids to be filled. The boom in the abundance and quality of information sources and communication devices is far from over, and recently it’s taken a big step forward.

Those of us who pay any attention at all to the financial information on the Internet know that there are just too many sources offering ideas and investment guidance. Most prominent may be MarketWatch, which gives us everything from quotes to news to forecasts. However, one obvious enough void that has not been effectively filled is the need for a tight-knit social, market-minded community. To truly add value to the already saturated market for investment ideas and direction, a new component must be added on.

The first to attempt the marriage of improvement as an investor and at least modest social interaction is StockTwits. This new website follows the credo that to curate a service to each individual is far better than to create a one-size-fits-all kind of thing. As the name suggests, discussion about stocks is directly integrated with Twitter. This lets users easily follow like-minded investors, people they trust, and those they’d like to mentor. Plus, a filter exists to weed out the people whose opinions you’d rather not listen to.

In addition, and perhaps most differentiating, is that Twitter integration allows for real-time discussion. Quite logically, StockTwits may have been created for the active trader who could use up-to-the-minute advice and trading ideas, but any type of investor can benefit from signing up. Even if you’re a passive, conservative retirement investor, it doesn’t hurt to learn from this community. There are no long essays to read, as character-limited posts, to which one may add charts or links are designed to be absorbed quickly. What’s more is that the sites most people already source their ideas and information from are landing spots for StockTwits tweets. Ideas channeled through this service can be seen on the likes of Yahoo Finance, Investopedia, and CNN Money. Most importantly, the main StockTwits objective is to make people better investors.

StockTwits comes in stark contrast to the previously discussed website called NUKU. NUKU takes a stab at explaining investing for the average American and advising him on how to reach certain financial goals. It fails because all it offers is this advice, and you could go as far as to say that most of it is over-simplified and misleading. The only expertise that StockTwits claims to possess is in its suggestions as to which people the other users might want to follow and learn from.

Although founded by seasoned businessmen, StockTwits is admirably modest and protective of its members. Security settings ward off spammers and “pump and dumpers” to leave a clean, helpful environment at the disposal of all types of investors. StockTwits will spark plenty of other takes on this social, but information-centered model. It appears at this point that to stand as the top dog in this new wave of market information sharing and idea generating, StockTwits’s best bet is to focus heavily on building customer loyalty.