With the explosion of social media in the past few years, we now have millions of people broadcasting and curating information on a daily basis, making personal recommendations and endorsements to their friends and followers and creating personal brands on the Internet. But with that explosion of small “media outlets” it is getting harder and harder to identify what the really important people are that one should listen to. At the same time, those influential people want to know what their personal brand is worth.

In comes Empire Avenue, the first world’s first influence stock market. Empire Avenue is partly a stock market, partly a game. It is fun, addictive and has attracted over 15,000 members during their closed beta. Over 750,000 virtual share trades have occurred on the site in the past three months with a total value of over a 500 million Eaves, Empire Avenue’s virtual currency. As the site scales up, stock prices will provide valuable signals to information seekers (who are the influential people in my community that I should follow?), advertisers (who can credibly endorse my brand?) and the influencers themselves (what is my personal brand worth?).

The company not only has some early traction but they also have a superb team that knows how to build great products with minimal resources. So I am very happy to announce today that W Media Ventures just lead a seed round for the company that will provide the necessary means to accelerate the growth of the site.

And by the way, I think you should now go the Empire Avenue site and buy my stock – at 14.88 eaves it still looks like a steal to me…

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• HOW TO: Buy and Sell Shares of Your Friends (mashable.com)
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• Will Empire Avenue Turn Influence Upside Down? (socialtimes.com)