Buy Me On Empire Avenue

written by John Chow on May 30, 2011

I was introduced to Empire Avenue at BlogWorld Expo New York. I heard about the site before BWE but never really checked into it. Empire Avenue is like a stock market for social media junkies. You can invest in any social media profile by buying their shares, meeting new people, unlocking Achievement badges, and earn boatloads of virtual cash by being active and social.

At its heart, Empire Avenue is a big game, and it can be a lot of fun when your share prices are going up, up, up. I “IPO” John Chow dot Com (symbol JCDC) at 20 EAVES (the virtual currency used in the game) and the stock quickly climbed from there. Right now, shares of JCDC are trading at 68.97.

With rising share prices and more people buying me, my virtual net worth is approaching 800K. At this rate, I should break the million mark before the weekend. I can use the virtual cash to buy shares of other Empire users, or I can spend it on virtual toys at the Empire Avenue shop. Right now, the most expensive item is a jumbo jet at 10 million EAVES.

Joining Empire Avenue is really easy. All you need is to connect your Facebook profile. There is a normal sign up with an email address for the five or six people who are not on Facebook. Once you join, you can connect your Social Networking accounts, and Empire will score activity and engagement in each account and give you a virtual share price. The connections you make on Empire Avenue create “value-based” relationships, a deeper relationship than simply “following” someone, in a completely less intrusive context than becoming “friends.”

I’ve purchased shares in one profile so far, picking up 200 shares of Vancouver Sun writer, Gillian Shaw. At this time, you are not allowed to short sell a profile. You can only buy and sell a stock that you own.

If you think I should buy some shares in you then post a comment and let me know why I should. If you’re not on Empire Avenue, then go set up an account and I’ll buy some shares in you. Let me know in the comments. Otherwise, I might have to buy that big jumbo jet.

Buy Me On Empire Avenue

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{ 38 comments }

Affiliate Manager May 30, 2011 at 8:14 pm

Looks cool. Just setup my account (LKPF)

Affiliate Manager May 30, 2011 at 8:41 pm

Now I need 5 endorsements so my blog will count towards my share price. Please endorse me at:
http://www.empireavenue.com/LKPF/connections

Of course, welcome to buy me at LKPF

browie May 31, 2011 at 7:58 pm: I need some more endorsements too.

http://www.empireavenue.com/browie/connections

Dino Vedo May 30, 2011 at 8:18 pm

Just signed up today and bought 200 shares of you!

If you want to make money invest in me too.. aha (DINOVEDO)

Kirk Taylor May 31, 2011 at 10:55 am: I’m all in on JCDC and DINOVEDO.

Check me out at KTDC
Kirk Taylor June 2, 2011 at 7:36 am: Dino,

Your turning out to be a great investment.

KTDC

fazal mayar May 30, 2011 at 8:38 pm

good stuff but im not really knowledgabe about stocks will try to sign up

Make Money May 31, 2011 at 9:25 am: Can’t hurt to try it out I suppose!

Shaun Carter May 30, 2011 at 9:03 pm

I just signed up, looks like a fun site! I bought 100 shares of JCDC.

My ticker is: BANKFULL

Cheers!

Make Money May 31, 2011 at 9:28 am: Should be fun to play
Shaun Carter May 31, 2011 at 9:42 pm: Way to get in early John! You were one of my first shareholders and you’re already sporting some terrific gains!

Jeffrey Reidy May 30, 2011 at 9:04 pm

You should buy me because I just bought more shares in you! I invested in you pre-IPO, but then sold because I didn’t think you’d join! My bad!

My #EAv ticker is (e)REIDY

P.S. Check out the #socialempire hashtag on Twitter. Lots of great people! We also have a great Facebook group with over 500 members.

Stocks on Wall Street May 30, 2011 at 10:04 pm

I’ll look into that John!

ScorpionGodLair May 30, 2011 at 10:27 pm

Looks cool and funny game. I like those kinds of games but not more than Video games. Anyway I also may be making my account at there

Nicholas James May 30, 2011 at 10:47 pm

My ticker is PROFITBARON you should buy me too

Dirk Fecho May 30, 2011 at 10:54 pm

Hey John! I bought your IPO and have profited tremendously off of it. I continue to hold 200 shares and look forward to see your dividends continue to grow. I’m about building strong dividends for my stockholders and with my current price of 55.43 eaves I bring tremendous value. I want you to profit off of me as well! Check it out and I look forward to seeing you on the Avenue! e(uconndirk)
http://www.empireavenue.com/uconndirk

Ivan Walsh May 31, 2011 at 1:14 am

Shame you cant buy a part of someone, not sure I want the whole body

Make Money May 31, 2011 at 9:28 am: I’ll take the kidneys

Kirk Taylor May 31, 2011 at 1:33 am

John, I’ve purchased 200 shares of you. I think I’ll be a great buy as well. Get in early!

Nicholas James May 31, 2011 at 4:09 pm: What’s your ticker? I just maxed John too!

Kevin Kimes May 31, 2011 at 3:22 am

The most important question about this platform is:

Can we advertise on it?

Affiliate Manager May 31, 2011 at 8:29 am: They have in-game advertising and I’ve seen a lot of people spamming links throughout the community and chats.

http://www.empireavenue.com/shop/advertising

fas May 31, 2011 at 5:42 am

This is an interesting concept. Why people do have some thinking.

Jared Ronski May 31, 2011 at 9:09 am

John, I bought some shares of you as well. You are now trading at – JCDC 72.97 and I have made money, or eaves, or whatever they are called. I also strongly suggest that you invest in me…MIDJR. My account has gone up since starting ( about 2 hours ago) and analysts are giving me a “Strong Buy” rating and are very bullish on my outlook!

Mircea Prodan May 31, 2011 at 10:19 am

My name is Mircea Prodan and I’m from Romania. Therefore I apologize for any mistakes of expression. I do not know English well.
I confess that I found you with pleasure in the virtual universe. I heard Guy Kawasaky, Darren Rowse or Seth Godin (whose books are very expensive in Romania …) but did not know you. It was a real pleasure to read your ebook which I downloaded from the site “johnchow.com”. It amazed me honesty and revelations along the way that you’ve made up to the consecration of the bloggers world.
That being said I want to go to the issue that bothers me a long time. As at one time advised us to buy our own domain, so I did a long time, almost two years since I discovered the magic of the Internet and blog writing. Not only that but I think I just became a qualified person in my turn to give advice at least in SEO techniques. Yet Mr. Chow, the success of my site late. I’m not talking about money here. I have a good job. No money is the problem. I mean the traffic itself. I want to say I was a journalist for ten years, I published a volume of poetry and two novels I’ve written. I’m so in my environment with words. I’m not sure Garcia Marquez, but I am above average. After almost two years so Mr. Chow, My readership is still low, have comments on how to fit two A4 pages and feed-back is lacking. Although I write original commentary on politics (my passion), rock music (another passion) or movies, I have a good layout, my site is missing something. What I think is I do not knew to turn my site into a brand.
Let me tell you a story. I have a friend – mechanical engineer (!) – which although have bad liaison with Romanian language. He opened a blog a couple months ago. Write all kinds of crap from conspiracy theory to how to tie the knot, put tones of photos on his site (blogspot …) has a black background with white letters that says, but above all … traffic has already … have comments, gathered an impressive number of “Google friends”. However, do everything exactly against all advice given by various “gurus” on the Internet. It’s a question that simply escapes me. I am somewhat frustrated. After that Mr. Chow, I concluded that all about luck and nothing else.
Thank you for your attention and patience with which you can read my lines.

Affiliate Manager May 31, 2011 at 2:12 pm

Well, I’m addicted: http://www.lukepeerfly.com/empire-avenue

PPC Ian May 31, 2011 at 11:08 pm: Haha! This is starting to look dangerous! Last thing I need right now is another site I’m addicted to. At the same time, I just have to give this thing a try!

browie May 31, 2011 at 7:59 pm

Bought some Chow today.

I just signed up. You could sit on this thing all day. I played a free sports stock market similar to this back in college. I won a T-shirt one time.

Buy Me Chow – http://goo.gl/8njqq

PPC Ian May 31, 2011 at 11:07 pm: I agree. For those of us who love trading and investing in stocks (like myself), this is the type of game that can be really consuming. What a neat idea!

PPC Ian May 31, 2011 at 11:07 pm

John,
This is super cool! Thanks for sharing! I’m a stock market fanatic so this is right up my alley. I’ll check it out and buy shares in John Chow dot Com.
Best,
Ian

Nick Throlson June 1, 2011 at 10:17 am

Bought 200 shares of John Chow…………. Buy Some Shares “THROLSON”

Flyer Templates June 2, 2011 at 4:58 am

Looks interesting concept,i will try to sign up.

Favourite Hobbies June 2, 2011 at 9:07 pm

Interesting post everyone is enjoying seems

Louie Sison June 2, 2011 at 9:33 pm

I’m new to this, I think I need more reading about this. Thanks!

Andrew @ Blogging Guide June 5, 2011 at 6:45 pm

Stock is indeed a very interesting topic. I always hear about stock market and it is really good to learn some details and apply it in or daily lives.

Paul June 8, 2011 at 6:30 pm