This article was published on August 16, 2011

Social stockmarket Empire Avenue follows Klout, tracks Foursquare and Instagram influence


Social stockmarket Empire Avenue follows Klout, tracks Foursquare and Instagram influence

Hot on the heels of Klout‘s recent integration of Foursquare and Instagram, another social influence measurement service, Empire Avenue has announced that it is adding support for both those services.

Empire Avenue is similar to Klout and PeerIndex, in that it measures influence of its users on social services like Twitter and Facebook, but throws in the twist of letting others buy and sell stock in users, speculating on their future value. It uses virtual currency, but brands are getting involved and it’s a attracted a niche of users who love the game.

Now Foursquare and Instagram usage will count to players’ share price. As they check in, get followers, take pics, receive comments and the like, their connection scores will go up. Initially, newly connected accounts will take around a week to affect a user’s score.

Canada-based Empire Avenue divides people between those who are enthralled by it and those who really can’t see the point. Some influential people clearly believe it has a future though, it’s also announced $1.2 million in fresh funding today, in an investment round led by San Francisco-based Crosslink Capital, whose portfolio includes Pandora, Bleacher Report and Carbonite.

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with