The development of social media has a tremendous effect on numismatics today. Instagram, Facebook and Twitter have become major platforms for Numismatists, collectors and businesses. I would like to express some information to you regarding this topic. If you take a look on Instagram, a huge factor is that many people buy and sell through posts. They will post a coin, name a price, and the negotiations begin in the Direct Messages section. I find this method of sales to be risky. Instagram is not a sales platform, and for that reason, Instagram has no intervening power if you sell something through Instagram and the deal goes bad. Everything is sold at your own risk. Personally I do not wish to accept this risk and I do not purchase from Instagram sales. Instagram is great for numismatics because Instagram is specifically designed for pictures and videos. There is also sales groups on Facebook, though this is usually more regulated through the Facebook marketplace. This is a safer alternative to Instagram sales. There are plenty of groups on Facebook devoted to coins. The last major one is Twitter, Twitter is not commonly used for sales, but many companies actually use twitter for the advertisement ability, specifically the “promotion” program, where a company can turn their posts into mass audience ads. There is also Reddit, Quora and other sites. Many of these have small followings and have little to compete with the major sites listed above. As for social media, I have a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, Quora, Snapchat. My Instagram, Twitter and Reddit are Numismatic focused, while my others are for personal use. I can elaborate on any of these if you have any questions or comments.
It's up to you and your generation to lead the way. My generation (1970s 80s-90s) has led the way with reddit and youtube and Facebook. As the next generation of social media comes out those of your generation (2000s) will have to exploit whatever social media comes out in the future. This is how we'll keep the hobby alive. In terms of buying? That's not for me. I will buy only from established businesses online or local shops or individuals at coin shows in person.
