“Twitter gets no respect,” was how RIABiz summarized the reaction of 1,200 RIAs surveyed about their social media use and reported on in a study published yesterday by Schwab Advisor Services.

Social media was just one of four topics included in the July 2010 Independent Outlook, the others relating to advisors’ views on the economy, investments and clients. Considering the gravitas of the other subjects, we think social media in general is getting some respect just to be included within the scope of the study. Twitter? Well, as we’ve noted before, Twitter isn’t necessarily the social medium that comes easiest.

RIABiz is a must-read every morning, and we are big fans of the publication and the team headed by Brooke Southall. Southall’s article today “9 things worth knowing from Schwab’s newest advisor study” reported on the full scope of the research. So, we do understand that two graphs on social media would have been too much, and all of the reported data on advisors’ views of social media was in the article.

But by definition, our focus on AdvisorTweets.com and here on the blog is narrow. When we went to the slides that Schwab provided about the study results, we decided that we’d show both of the social media-related graphs. Again, the data in the second graph was reported by RIABiz but there’s something about a pie chart–in other words, 66% are non-skeptics? And, note the Schwab headline: “Social media is new frontier for advisors.”

Across the industry, there is significant effort being made to understand and be in a position to support financial advisor interest in and use of social media. With two-thirds of Schwab advisors describing themselves as tentative users at the minimum, we think that this data supports the exploration of social media for advisors in the business-building mode.

Join us when we moderate an Advisor Perspectives Webinar, “Engage The Media Using Social Media” at 4 p.m. Eastern/3 p.m. Central Wednesday, September 15. For more information including our national and local media and advisor panelists, see our blog post or register here.