When I asked Duleepa Wijayawardhana (a.k.a. "Dups"), co-founder and CEO of the self-described “social media exchange" Empire Avenue (EA), if he wanted to be the next Gordon Gekko, he replied, "We want to be bigger than Gordon Gekko." He might just get there thanks to the growing trend of ranking a person's social media capital as well as thousands of new “investors.”
Massive brands like Intel, Audi, Microsoft, Ford Motor Company, Toyota and AT&T have also invested in EA and are quickly rising up EA's business leaderboard. The real-life success of a company seems to directly correspond with EA's scoring algorithm.
The Fortune 500 ranks public companies by the most after-tax revenue for the year, but how does EA determine its scoring? "We re ally look at the following: Activity (how much and what you do), audience (who’s listening) and engagement/interaction (how are people engaging you),” Dups said. “So if you can break down any network in that way, you can figure out what we listen to."
We spoke to some top brands and power users to figure out what all the fuss is about.
Intel
Why are so many brands deciding to invest their time in EA? "We saw a social property that was about to tip and a new opportunity to engage customers in non-traditional and unique ways," said Intel's global strategist, Bryan Rhoads. "The algorithms behind the game mechanics are impressive as well. It's not a simple popularity contest as it looks at your aggregate social equity and capital. Beyond engagement and investing back into the EA community, the scoring allows us to see our overall performance as a social brand."
Rhoads says that Intel’ ;s investment in EA has expanded their larger social...
