I have always been intrigued by virtual stock exchanges. I spent a lot of time in college playing around on the Hollywood Stock Exchange and I try to check out new ones as they emerge. Empire Avenue is a virtual stock exchange with a twist: you are investing in users of the site, and other users are investing in you. What makes it more interesting is the direction that Empire Avenue plans to take in the near future. Here is their description of the site:

Empire Avenue is 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. To this end we will be connecting advertisers, consumers and influencers in a manner not as yet undertaken in the online space. Through the Empire Avenue influence stock exchange and its tracking features we will measure the influence value of individuals registered with Empire Avenue.

Influencers will be given control over the advertising they carry, and advertisers will be better able to reach their target consumer. We believe that this better targeted advertising approach will lead to better returns and leads for advertisers. Empire Avenue sets itself apart not only in its unique feature set, but also by paying influencers the majority of advertising revenue generated unlike other major advertising networks.

Empire Avenue plans on becoming an advertising platform for individuals. It would seem that a user’s stock value would determine their advertising rate. While it is not yet clear exactly how this model would be implemented since the site is currently in beta without the advertising component, it is an interesting idea.

A user’s stock price appears to be determined by the investment of other user’s as well as social network and blog activity. Empire Avenue connects with Twitter and Facebook in order to do this, and blog RSS feeds are peer-endorsed in order to be included.

Built into Empire Avenue is an achievements meta-game, where users can earn rewards such as virtual currency to purchase more shares or additional/expanded features.

I’m curious to see how they implement their advertising model in the future. Interest in individual advertising by influencers has been growing, so their success could have an effect on the expansion of that model.

If you are interested in checking out the beta, I have one invite to give out, leave a comment with a valid email letting me know.