Empire Avenue

Empire Avenue 2.0 and why Chris Pirillo is a winner

November 8, 2011 By admin 2 Comments

Sending shareholder mail with a mission is taking Empire Avenue to a next level. Boredom is no longer needed for those who don’t know what to do with their eaves.

On my return from a one month break on Empire Avenue, I immediately fell in love with the missioner shareholder messages. Of course, who doesn’t want to earn 500 or 1000 eaves just by tweeting an article or Like a Facebook Page. For those who left Empire Avenue because they forecasted a dead end street, bummer. For those who stayed here is the light at the end of the tunnel. Shareholder messages with a mission is the escape. The clogging of EAv ends here.

Liquidity - money must roll

We can deflush our liquidity problem with a shareholder message AND enhance our influence online. Note that I, as a fairly new player, do not have a liquidity problem. I am always short of Eaves. Those who play longer and have a portfolio of 5000 accounts, gain so much daily dividend that they do not know what to do with their Eaves anymore. Out of boredom they create little games for themselves. Like little hamsters in a cage, trapped in a never ending hamster exercise wheel, many old-time players seem to get stuck into the game. Now the door of the hamster cage is open, but it looks like only a few ‘get it’.

My life on Empire Avenue before Shareholder missions

Now that the door of the cage is open, who can see the light?

To build up your EAv income and score, your activity online on various networks is crucial. Just until these shareholder messages with a mission, most of the activity was inbound. Let alone a few percent of active players that found the art of enhancing each others networks outside EAv influences the score on EAv (and Klout). For some it even seems to be a day time job to Like, +, +K, retweet and comment on other players networks.

I have seen a dozen of Shareholder missions, but by far this one by Chris Pirillo is winning. Why? Because it is about supporting a greater cause. That is what online influence is all about. Chris’ recent Shareholder mission about the awareness of cyberbullying:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STm9vTqR1Ps

Thank you for sharing this video with everybody – especially kids, teens, parents, and adults involved in education.

It’s okay to “Like” this video for the message we’re trying to spread – please help. You might just be saving a life – and that’s not an overstatement.

Now as soon as you have Eaves in your Empire Avenue bank, consider ‘donating’ them to greater causes. It will get back to you as a boomerang, for sure. #Karma

Enhance your influence online by using Empire Avenue.

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Filed Under: Empire Avenue, Social Media Tagged With: EAv, Empire Avenue, mission, Pirillo, shareholder messages, target

Empire Avenue as the champions league of social media

September 14, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Interview with Tim Gorree, IT solution architect for Nokia, about NOKIA on Empire Avenue

What is your role at Nokia?

Tim Gorree, managing NOKIA on Empire Avenue

My job title is IT Solution Architect, End User Solution Architecture. I have been responsible for Nokia’s presence in Second Life and am now also looking after Nokia’s presence on Empire Avenue. I work on other projects as well, like our internal social media engagement tools and http://www.ideasproject.com.
I have been a leading advocate for virtual worlds in Nokia and virtual currencies are part of that. The virtual currency that is used on Empire Avenue, the Eaves is interesting, because companies have found it difficult in the past to measure their Return on Investment on their social media activities, efforts and investments. A lot of companies are embracing social media, but how do they measure up in their various engagements? There is Klout, but Empire Avenue is a very exciting alternative. You can see how you measure up to others.

Why is Nokia playing on Empire Avenue?

We are there because everyone else is there. Microsoft with Xbox, Intell, BMW, Ford, etc. When Justin Boverton, CEO of Rivers Run Red, posted about Empire Avenue I signed up for a personal account. I noticed a person had registered the Nokia ticker and asked him if he was willing to hand it over to Nokia. From that moment on people started to buy Nokia like crazy. I went to Nokia’s marketing department to have the Nokia social media accounts connected. Already during the first week we saw a large amount of people connecting with our LinkedIn groups which we use to recruit people. This demonstrates that Empire Avenue is a good resource to find social media talent. I call it the champions league of social media.

On Empire Avenue it is very transparent what people and companies are doing with social media. When you sign up on EAv you see that there is more to social media then just Twitter and Facebook.

Nokia is performing well on EAv, is Nokia is inspring other companies to join?

I would hope so, companies who are engaging actively are doing better. We use it to amplify our other social media presences on Empire Avenue, and that does seem to work well. If companies are serious about their social media activity, they should be interested in learning more about how well they are doing across the social media landscape.

What is more important for Nokia, ‘winning’ the game or making connections? In other words, is it easy to sell stocks of people that don’t perform well?

To perform well we have to sell sometimes because we have to look after the interest of our shareholders. If you want to keep the interest of the shareholders in mind you have to sometimes make tough decisions and sell somebody we have invested in. On the other hand, when we buy somebody, the person is really happy with Nokia on Empire Avenue. The point is to not take it personal when somebody sells you. When somebody sells you, you might have to improve in one of your areas.

My mission is to amplify the social media presense of Nokia. It is about what we do on Foursquare, on Facebook, on Youtube …. Empire Avenue is a platform that helps to amplify this presence and allows us to connect with and discover new people. The metrics of how well we do compared to other companies on each of the different social media platforms are valuable to us and help to monitor progress.

More about Tim Gorree on Tim Gorree’s Nokia page, on Twitter
Visit Nokia on Empire Avenue

Written by Elza van Swieten, (e)CONFLUENCE on Empire Avenue

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Filed Under: Empire Avenue, Interviews, Social Media Tagged With: Empire Avenue, NOKIA, social media

ROI is King on Empire Avenue #EAv

September 12, 2011 By admin 1 Comment

Where there is zeal and enthusiasm, success is guaranteed.

It took me some weeks to figure out that you have to work on your dividend to be bought on Empire Avenue. Note that being bought might not be the same as being successful on Empire Avenue. Being successful all depends on the goal you have. For some people, connecting with others is the main goal, for others it is a game of winning and for most it is both. Whatever goal it is that you have, your success depends on setting that goal in the first place. What are you doing on Empire Avenue? Ask yourself this question. What is your aim and objective? I see many players slide away in oblivion looking very clueless about what they are doing on The Avenue.

If your game is to be bought, then make sure your ‘merchandise’ is attractive. Your merchandise is the value that you offer to your shareholders, which is translated into Return On Investment. It takes work to grow your ROI, on all the social media tools you connect to your profile on Empire Avenue. But hey, if you want to be bought, work for it!

When I see people asking other people to buy them, or to buy back, I see beggars. The worst beggars are the ones standing at the gate of Empire Avenue, buying newcomers and post on their profiles that they would like to be bought back. It is like asking children to hand over their candy. Instead of that, just focusing on your ROI will draw investors to you automatically. You will never have to ask to be invested to, you will be noticed for sure if your ROI is up.

ROI is the French word for King. It is the attitude of a King that shares, connects, gives, have a clear vision and goal and works hard to maintain a good dividend.

Where there is zeal and enthusiasm, success is guaranteed.

If you are not able to experience success in all that you do, check if you are filled with enthusiasm or not. Also find out the reason for not being enthusiastic. This helps you to realize and overcome your weakness. In order to increase your own enthusiasm throughout the day, create an aim for yourself and see that you work towards this aim each day. When you find yourself progressing towards the aim you will become enthusiastic.

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Filed Under: Empire Avenue, Social Media Tagged With: Empire Avenue, ROI

To buy back or not to buy back, that’s the question on Empire Avenue

September 8, 2011 By admin 3 Comments

Being in Europe, it is so wonderful to be in the middle of time. The east side of the world is fully awake and active whilst the USA/Canada players on Empire Avenue are getting ready for the night, spending their last eaves. I just stumbled in to a essential discussion about buying and selling strategies. Core question: is buying back really social and is not buying back anti-social?

Warren Whitlock I’m starting to think that “buying back” is anti-social. We play EA to make new connections, expand our networks and have fun, yet many want me to seek some kind of balance in shares. It’s a bad play for doing well in the game. The only factors that count is how good the stock is and if you want more shareholders, you will do better to play well.

Tom Cooley that’s why I sold my 500+ shares in you, Warren. Because you don’t seem to get it.

Jane Chin It’s funny, I’ve started buying back but not always matching. Sometimes I just can’t do it… not enough eaves. Sometimes I don’t want to, because it’s obviously not a good investment. So I don’t expect people to buy me back (my shares go up and down because I can’t be on social media all the time), either.

Tom Cooley it’s not about matching share for share, but it is about connecting through mutual stock holding.

Jane Chin That I agree Tom. Recently I’ve sold off the “1 share” players (meaning we both own 1 share in each other) and when I did, I literally feel this twinge in my mind — the kind that says, “by doing this I am about to break that tie”.

Warren Whitlock ‎Tom Cooley how am I more connected if I buy a lousy stock. Wouldn’t I be helping the player more to reach out and help them learn the game and perhaps meet goals other than holding hands on EA?

Tom Cooley ‎”it’s bad play for doing well in the game” – I owned 500+ of your shares for several months, you owned none of mine, so I sold you. Presumably that qualifies me as a “lousy stock”. Yet I have 33M more eaves than you do and started only a month before you did. Explain…

Warren Whitlock ‎Jane what kind of tie did you break? I have many wonderful friends who don’t play EA. (most of them in fact). I bought hundreds of stocks of people that were friends on Facebook, and felt that twinge when I had to give them up to buy stocks of real players. Then I noticed.. Those people weren’t even logging into EA. They had no idea I had bought them and couldn’t care less if I sold them (I know, I’ve talk face with at least a dozen).

David Sanger ‎Warren, I like buying back for the social aspect, and for some kind of connection/support, but agree with you that the notion of “matching” is a bit odd, and not really helpful. Some people buy me, and I have excellent divs and they have terrible ones, so I buy some back for courtesy but am not going to invest heavily because I’d be losing money and not helping anyone. Some people sell off from 155 just to match my 150, according to some formula, which seems strained.

So I agree it is worth playing well, but a certain degree of mutuality is also part of the game and I don’t just make friends with hi-div folk.
By the way, I have had 100 of yours for a long time, and you bought 2 of mine and sold them. Now I am doing quite well so it could not have been because of a smart investment strategy that you sold me.

At the same time, unlike Tom Cooley, I’ll keep my shares in you because your divs are great, and even buy more. But I’d be much more pleased also to interact with you and get to know you a bit better.

Jane Chin ‎Warren the tie I felt I was breaking was “a potential”. Granted it may be an artifact of the game construct — because of the way this game is structured, this is an aspect of “investing in a connection” however transitory. There are some relationships that came first from EA but then we grew it on Twitter and now that person’s social stock I’ll probably not want to sell & will want to match as much as possible.

—

etc. etc.

As much as there are players on Empire Avenue, there are strategies. There isn’t one strategy right because it is all very personal. Everybody has different objectives in the Empire Avenue game and this is what makes this game tick. Finding your own strategy can be a challenge. Ask yourself, why am I in this game, what’s in it for me? And do I really need to buy back to socialize?

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Filed Under: Empire Avenue, Social Media Tagged With: buying, Empire Avenue, selling, social media, strategy

Empire Avenue – don’t put reputation at stake when taking a break

August 30, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

How to leave your shareholders behind with style when going on Vacation from Empire Avenue?

Going on vacation is a blessing. Vacation is a luxury, isn’t it? Still I see a lot of players complaining about their stock price dropping as soon as they get back. What? Didn’t have a good time? Who cares about your dividends and stock price?

OK, maybe your shareholders do. And if they don’t they would have sold you while you were at the beach drinking tequila. Shareholders have a right to know when you are going to take a vacation and when you are coming back. Don’t they? Or is it what you do, too private?

Shareholders will notice your absence on Empire Avenue; as soon as your online activity slows down, your dividend and stock price will drop. Will you leave your shareholders behind guessing why you are sliding? The most impolite thing to do when going on vacation is not to inform your shareholders. Unless your vacation is filled with an equal amount of online activity like uploading your thousands of vacation photo’s to Flickr. In that case, don’t tell anybody you are on a vacation. Your dividend will stay high and everybody is happy.

Breaking away from Empire Avenue - choose a strategy

If you are going on a real vacation, meaning zero activity online, your dividend and share price will drop. No matter what. You might as well drop in style and inform your shareholders, of what I think they have a right to know, you are planning to do. When will you be back, for how long will you be gone. Should they hold you or not? If you are only going away for a week, you could ask your shareholders to hold you. If you are going away for a serious amount of time, let your shareholders know. All in case of zero activity that is. Not letting your shareholders know could even damage your EAv reputation. They will see you ‘in the red’ day in day out in the ticker tape, but if they know why, it saves them worries.

Is it fair to ask your shareholders not to sell you?

Yes and no. It depends on the duration of your absence. If your online activity is zero for one week, you could of course ask your shareholders to hold. You can put that in your bio so shareholders know where they stand. If your online activity is zero for a duration of, lets say, several weeks, you might as well tell your shareholders to sell you – but keep 1 share – so they can be informed the moment you are back, using a shareholder e-mail sent out.

I see a lot of people taking the welfare trip telling vacationers ‘no worry, I will hold you’. This is NOT helping, it is in fact holding you back. Why? Because your dividend will drop for sure if you are not active only, but if shareholders keep your stock, your share price will stay high. At the moment you come back, you will find your dividend low and your stock price high, who is going to buy you then? Therefore, holding on to shares of somebody going on a vacation, is not helping at all. You might as well take the dive and leave in style. That is, help your stock holders by letting them sell you (you are all doing this for your shareholders aren’t you?), ask them to keep 1 share to be able to inform then on your return and then, on return, politely ask to buy you back, just after a few days of online activity, so they can see the proof of your return.

Whatever you do, it is advised to not use the Vacation mode that Empire Avenue offers. It will show your shareholders that you are not paying out any dividend and that doesn’t make you trustworthy. In other cases you might think of a ‘suspend your account’ mode, and plan on how to come back. More about that later.

Summary

leaving your shareholders behind uninformed can damage your EAv trustworthiness, other way around – informing them ads to your credibility. Your reputation is worth more than your stock.
make a happening about going and leaving, it is a game, taking a dive is too
on coming back, work a few days on your dividend first and then invite your (1-share) shareholders to buy you back
if this all sounds to complicated and you don’t want curvy stats – hire a pro to manage your account
travel light

Written by: Elza van Swieten – (e)CONFLUENCE

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Filed Under: Empire Avenue, Social Media Tagged With: Empire Avenue, reputation, social media, stock, vacation

Tips from Berrie Pelser – #1 business on Empire Avenue (@Berriepelser)

August 24, 2011 By admin 4 Comments

Berrie Pelser

Interview with Berrie Pelser, owner of Ber|Art – a WordPress Hosting and Social Media / SEO Company in The Netherlands, and player on Empire Avenue.

How long have you been playing on Empire Avenue (EAv)?

For 4 months now. I started on Queens day, April 30 2011. I received an invite from somebody and thought: this looks promising so I started right away. The first couple of hours I compared it with Klout, but then I figured that EAv does much more. Klout indicates how much somebody is engaged in social media. If you see a tweet from somebody with Klout score 8, it probably is spam. But if somebody has a Klout score of 80, it most likely is good content. It says something about the credibility of the person that tweets. This is also the case in EAv, but here it is more about engaging and sharing. If you compare shareholders to Linked-In connections, Facebook friends and Twitter followers, shareholders are much more. Buying shares in a person means you want to engage.

Could you describe to my mother what EAv is?

It is a game. A game is about sharing information and engaging with people. What is there to win? That depends… for some there are friends to win. EAv allows you to play as a private persons or as a branded person (people vs companies). Companies like Dell, Nokia and Intel are not there to make friends, they are there to promote their products and brand. It will be possible for them to (virtually) sell Branded Luxury Items. For example Nokia can ‘sell’ their new Nokia N8. They will also tweet about this product on Twitter, post it on Facebook but they can also virtually sell it on EAv. EAv for them, is a very serious game. For private persons it is a fun game to meet friends and promote your social accounts.

What is your benefit in playing EAv?

I am a business owner. I run an Internet business which offers services in Social media and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). If I can add a link to my website where I can show people what I do, it is beneficiary for me. And social media is one of the services I offer. If I want to offer EAv services to EAv players, I have to know the tool just like I learned Twitter and Facebook. I offer fully managed and fully hosted WordPress sites including SEO and integration and branding in social media. Just running a website is not enough in 2011. In my opinion you have to have at least Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and EAv. My reason to be on EAv is business-wise, to let people know what I have to offer, and I can do that better if I try to be ranked #1 on EAv.

You are ranked as #1 in the Top Business Stocks with share-price above leaders like Mashable, Nokia, Intell, AT&T and more.What would your advice to companies be if they are thinking about joining EAv?

Call me. They “should” not start before talking to me. You can do a lot of things before you enter the game. If you want to start, DO NOT ENTER YET. If you do things beforehand you have a better start and focus. The first 7 days are most important. On the seventh day a new account will ‘open up’ to investors to buy more than the limited 200 shares. On day 7 it becomes possible to buy (virtual) Luxury Items, and a Bigger Piece of the pie which enables investors to buy more. Day 7 is a crucial day. Shares of most of the newcomers will go down after day 6 or 7. There are more than 1000 EAv players that buy newcomers every day, and sell them after 7 days if they are not performing in the game. You have to go through that day 7. I get 200-300 unique visitors per day from EAv only. This is important for Google ranking, especially now EAv is growing fast. It will get more value fast.

How much time do you spend on EAv?

Not much, the only thing I do is buying and selling. In the beginning you have to do more work. You have to build your account, let people know who you are and what you do. Just like Facebook and Twitter, setting up an account and get it going takes time. If your profile is up and running, it can become a routine. I am on EAv less than one hour daily. EAv counts everything you do online in social media. A tweet is a point, a Facebook post is a point. EAv is all about sharing and engaging. If you have something to say, share it everywhere so that everybody can see it in their own social tool of preference. During my vacation I shot a lot photos because I am a amateur photographer. I uploaded the photo’s to Flicker, and because of that my dividends grew. It is all about social media to get your dividend up.

Airplanes, virtual Luxury Items to buy with the virtual currency 'eaves' on Empire Avenue

It is optional to buy certain upgrades on EAv with ‘real’ money, like a ‘bigger piece of the pie’ with which you can buy more shares of any given person, or Luxury Items that pay out in ‘eaves’ (the currency of the game). What is your point of view on buying with real money?

If you just want to have fun, don’t buy. The only reason to buy something when you just want to play, is to do it for EAv itself because they deserve it. Just to say thanks to EAv for playing the game. If you are serious, you have to buy as much as you can on day 7. After that, luxury items (virtual items you can purchase on EAv) are not interesting for new players until their portfolio value will go over 15,000,000 eaves. Look at Chris Pirillo (ranked #1 private person on EAv), for two weeks he has been buying all the airplanes (virtual Luxury Items you can buy on EAv). And recently I started to understand why and bought planes too. If you invest all the dividend earnings in new people, that means they will buy you too. With that your share price will rise. If your share price is rising but your dividend is stable, your ROI (Return on Investment) will drop. You don’t want to have ROI dropping, because that is the most important number in your EAv account. How do you calculate your ROI? Divide your dividend per share by your share price, times 100. So to make sure your share price is NOT rising that fast, buy luxury items.

And the list of tips goes on and on when you talk with Berrie