Empire Avenue is a social network that functions like a stock exchange. You can buy “shares” in the profiles of other members using a virtual currency called eaves.
A profile’s value can be influenced in two ways.
- People buy and sell stock in you, thereby driving up your value.
- Earn eaves in exchange for activity on other social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Users can buy shares of others’ profiles by accumulating eaves through activities including selling their own shares, unlocking rewards and buying eaves for real money.
As of this writing, my profile was worth 839,979 eaves. (How I wish that were real money!) I’ve been on the network for a few weeks, and I’ve noticed that Empire Avenue has a few interesting features.
I think Empire Avenue can produce remarkable engagement opportunities for brands as the site becomes more popular. Brands such as Ford Motor, Toyota Motor and Intel are already connecting with fans through Empire Avenue. I think more brands should consider joining the network because it offers interesting benefits.
- Audience exposure: Up-and-coming brands can use the game mechanic to introduce themselves because people buying and selling a brand on Empire Avenue might not be following it on other networks.
- Engagement value: The network provides built-in incentives to engage other members. Conversations you have on other social networks also can be syndicated.
- Research potential: The network can provide an interesting way of identifying and studying influential figures in a given sector. It will also be interesting to watch for trends in how shares of thought leaders are bought and sold.
Of course, right now, the most compelling reason to try Empire Avenue is for fun. Even if you avoided social games such as “FarmVille” — I did — you might find it hard to resist indulging in Empire Avenue. “FarmVille” maker Zynga has more than 100 million users, and more than 40% of Facebook users are playing its games. Empire Avenue has the potential to capture Zynga fans and those who have stood on the sidelines of social gaming. And because the game is relatively new, you have a chance to get in early and maybe end up a millionaire — even if it’s only in eaves.
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Interesting post, thanks. I never, ever, would have considered "playing" Farmville, but I jumped in at Empire Avenue. For me, it's another way of engaging – primarily with my Twitter universe. The name of the game is to stay active or your share price will go down – which I learned the hard way this week. (I'm a "VP on the Marketing index" there, price of of 41.12.)
The beauty of empire avenue is you can be as active or as unactive as you wish as its more how active you are on social sites that matter. Having said that its so addictive i've been active on site as much as I have off it.
I just turned millionaire today. Nice introductory article. You might enjoy my guest post, What is Empire Avenue, printed three weeks ago at Wise Marketing: http://wisemarketing.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/wha… It was also reprinted at spring.net and other American blogs. For more thoughts on Empire Avenue, take a look on my blog under the label, social media.
Empire Avenue is very addicting.
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The social engagement is the opportunity that I am testing. Joining a team, group or chat seems to accelerate the process of meeting people. I am often in the X Bar chat room and am happy to answer questions. http://empireavenue.com/fairminder
Good work @ShashiB. I've been on @EmpireAve for almost a year now and just became more active since the holiday season 2010. In a few months I have been able to get a grasp of how best to use the platform with my other social media activity. The stats and insights alone are worth my time, however, I have met some great people with various backgrounds. The inclination to reference Farmville when talking about Empire Ave has become the major comparison. In my opinion, EA is not like Farmville considering that gaming environment is closed and not really social. you gain nothing by begging for items to complete tasks and being forced to post to other people's Facebook walls every three clicks.
Empire Avenue on the other hand, makes you take a look at your level of engagement and validity of your contacts. Yes, you can post on people's walls with constructive updates, requests to invest, or thank someone for their investment in your stock. This is done by choice, not forced through popups and the better part is following them to Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn and actually establish a relationship. This can lead to conversations, business collaboration, project groups or just plain chat. The question is how would the social media "gurus" use the site for business and building their audience? Its not just a game
My recent post Kickoff To The N-Sight On Empire Avenue
A nice introduction. "the most compelling reason to try Empire Avenue is for fun"
However a lot of people already take this far more serious then an equivolent of Farmville!