According to a new survey, of the 44 percent of investment advisors in Massachusetts using social media to communicate with clients, only 30 percent have written record retention policies for social media content and only 4 in 10 retain all online content.

The survey was conducted by the Securities Division of Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin’s office. As a result, Massachusetts said it would be issuing new guidelines and best practices standards in the next year, according to a statement from Connecticut-based research and consulting firm LIMRA.

"Up until now, most states and other regulatory bodies have relied on FINRA’s regulation (10-06), to provide guidelines to advisors and companies on proper use of social media in their marketing activities," said Stephen Selby, director of LIMRA regulatory services. "Now, with more financial advisors using social media to communicate with their customers, we are seeing state regulators take a closer look at how and what they are communicating.  We expect a number of states to follow Massachusetts’ lead."