Wear

mpire Avenue is a short road in
Hs John’s, Newfoundland.
It’s largely residential,
with a sport’s field and park to one
side and some run-of-the-mill houses
running along the other. It’s got two
lanes with one centre lane for left
turns. The traffic is mild, nestled
between the busier Columbia Drive
and Freshwater Road.

Empire Avenue may also the next
online revolution.

Founded by Duleepa “Dups”
Wijayawardhana (CEQ), Michael
Mannion (VP of research and
analytics), and Niall Brown (Digital
Engineering

Architect),

Empire Avenue is in, in their
own words, “a revolutionary online
influence stock exchange combined
with an advertising platform that
allows individuals and organizations
to convert their online influence and
reach into revenue.”

While still in beta, Empire already
has a dozen employees, including
Tom Ohle (VP of marketing and
media relations), Rick Williams (VP
of ads and partnerships), and Brad
Grier (Social media specialist).
And, while still young, it has quality
investors, including internet W Media
Ventures founder Boris Wertz and
Kevin Swan, the president and CEO
of Nexopia.com.

Empire Avenue, which is actually
named after the aforementioned street
(almost named “Bond Street” by
the same method), is exciting many
people, users and investors alike. It’s
a realistic stock market system that
values peoples’ online content and
influences. It’s got serious potential
to be the next major social-based
online sensation.

How does it work? Basically,
it’s like the real stock market, but

12

individual people actas the companies.
You can buy, sell, and trade other
peoples’ stocks. You’re scored on
your social media skills: Twitter,
Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and blogs
can all be tracked and earn you virtual
cash. The site is extremely thorough,
tracking hundreds of statistics and
offering a deep, immersive feel.
There are dozens of achievements
to be earned for bragging rights and
small amounts of virtual monies
(called “eaves”).A variety of local and
global leader boards track the best of
the best in a host of categories, from
share price to portfolio wealth
to

dividends. There
are also numerous communities to
join, some based on cities, and others
based on interests and hobbies. In
these, you can discuss with like-
minded individuals and network your
stock, growing your influence through
social engagement.

It’s an amazing, fun way to pull
together your social networks into
one, quantified nexus. But to add
even more incentive, Empire Avenue
will also offer opportunities to profit
in real life: once out of beta, the site
will forge lucrative partnerships with
third parties that will allow users to
exchange their eaves for real-life
perks like discounts and gift cards.
Ready to start building your empire?

After meeting Dups at the 2010
GROW Conference in August, I
was fascinated by this project. So I
followed up and interviewed Dups to
learn more.

Knowlton Thomas: What sparked
this idea?
Dups: The basic idea is that we felt
that every person online creates value
from the content they produce, due
to the power of each individual’s
network. So we thought, what if you
could see your own influence, and

indeed, expand it, grow it, learn from
it and then finally, be rewarded for it!
KT: Let’s delve deeper into the
monetization side of Empire Avenue.
Dups: We’re in the early stages of
this. We have always been honest
that our vision for Empire Avenue

is far from realized and only the

12 of us in the company know the
directions we’re going in. A lot

of stuff is still under wraps! But

we want our users to be rewarded

in a myriad of ways that can be

seen as direct and indirect

    

 

  

 

 

 

     
 
  
 
 
 
  
  
  
 
 
 

monetization.

We’ve started down the road of
our “avenue rewards.” Very soon, any
business will be able to apply to offer
rewards. And we’re going to take it
a few steps further: you’ll be able to
offer rewards to those that have been
loyal shareholders of yours on Empire
Avenue, or simply because they have
a high share price and you want them
engaged with you. You will be able
to exchange virtual currency for these
rewards.

KT: What has your team learned so
far about Empire Avenue, and the
people using it, since beta opened?
Dups: What we have learned is that
our community is excellent. We
really could not get here without
them and we look forward to the
incredible, dynamic and passionate
product that Empire Avenue is
evolving into.

We’ ve learned that our basic
premise indeed works and has great
potential, but we have a lot of work
to do in getting everything fine-tuned
for the next level. We are inundated
with requests and ideas, though, and
we love it. To create a passionate
playground where people are talking
seriously about online value and
online content fits the original dream
that Mike, Niall and I had. To hear
something like, “I’ve met people

   

 

 

that I would never have other than
through Empire Avenue” is music to
my ears.

Now, with rewards and future
plans to get rewarded from your
online value and connections in an
ethical, fun and unobtrusive way—
that’s wonderful.

KT: What is your timeline of goals?
Dups: I wish I could see the future!

I think we’ll be in beta for the better
part of this year as we get the rest of
our platform together.
We’re launching a
translation project
in the next few
weeks, and
we’re expanding
most of our
programs.

And we have
some super
fun ideas that
we’re rolling
out that people are going
to be surprised with.

KT: How about some tips for people
wanting to boost their stock value?
Dups: Most importantly, build an
audience and build your engagement.
You need your audience to engage
with you. But Empire Avenue is also
about spreading that influence. Buy
shares and be bought, and you will
go up. Connecting socially is what
will carry your weight.

  

Will you be a millionaire on
Empire Avenue?

Can you become a billionaire?

(Interview condensed for
purposes of length. For full
interview, go to Techvibes.com,
which also has a get-started guide.)

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