Let's Have Fun on Empire Avenue !

I joined the social media exchange Empire Avenue and immediately got hooked. It's free & fun plus there is a fairly large Second Life presence so you can quickly and easily meet new friends. The basic idea behind Empire Avenue is to act as a virtual exchange where people and businesses can buy and sell "shares" in each other. You earn a virtual currency and use it to invest in others you think might do well. That's fun and it's especially fun to see your own stock rise but there's lots more to it than that.

Part of your "value" on the Empire Avenue Exchange is based upon your use of various social media. Your followers, tweets, views, subscribers, etc. on sites like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Youtube, and your own blogs count toward your net worth on Empire Avenue. What this means is that active members of Empire Avenue tend to be active on social media sites. This means your activity on Empire Avenue translates more easily into social media connections with those who invest in you and those you invest in. Although I have not yet tried it, there is a way to "buy" ad space and promote yourself/business. Empire Avenue may be a good way to promote your SL business.

I'm creating more followers and following more people who I interact with on Empire Avenue at a much faster rate than any other online activity. So, my first take-away from Empire Avenue is that they have really hit upon a great way to promote social media connections. Plus, it is just fun.

If you do join or are already a member, my Empire Avenue profile is at http://www.empireavenue.com/PAND where you can research my connections, portfolio, and invest in me. If you are not yet a member of Empire Avenue, use http://empireavenue.com/?t=tr90uak to join and after you connect a Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, or Youtube account we both get 2,000e (the currency).

Tips for investing:

• Look for people with several active social media sites and good scores for those connections
• Check the Recent Arrivals tab in Search for newly registered people with good social media connections
• When investing in "blue chips" try to find a valued stock with a high dividend per share (0.25e or better) or, even better if you care to calculate it, dividend per dollar invested (see below)
• When investing in growth stocks buy new users at a low price and don't be afraid to sell when they plateau out after a few days
• I prefer people with nice profile pics and an interesting bio
• Look for people who are active on Empire Avenue
• Check out their blogs and other sites for number of followers and quality of content
• Invest your e-bucks as soon as you get em - usually when you invest in someone they invest back or people who invest in them invest in you - it's a sorta chain reaction
• Promote people in your portfolio - follow them on twitter, flickr, etc; subscribe on youtube, endorse any blog listed in their connections, and so on. This is how Empire Avenue fosters social media interaction!
• Invest in other Second Life residents! Think Global, Shop Local
• Invest in me :)

To calculate dividend per dollar start with the dividend per share figure you can get on the person's profile page. Simply divide this number by the share price. This gives you a better way to judge the value of a stock. For instance, a stock trading at 25e with a dividend per share of 0.2 will pay better dividends on a 5000e investment than a stock trading at 50e with a dividend per share of 0.3. Your 5000e buys you 200 shares of the first one and, at 0.2 div per share, would get you 40e in dividends while the same investment in the higher dividend per share stock would buy you 100 shares which, at 0.3 div per share, would pay you 30e in dividends. Of course, you still have to monitor your investments - everyday things change.

Have fun!