A friend sent a note to a couple folks about Empire Avenue a few days ago and I decided to revisit it.
Firstly, I know nothing about trading regular stock so the idea of trading friends based on the value of their social capital to me is nuts. But I’m going to try it mostly because of the sick curiosity of wondering what I myself might trade at.
Apropos to a conversation I recently had with publisher and editor Owen Thomas, “the algorithm really is silently judging you” - only in this case the data is being spewed onto a stock ticker. After years of trying to be deliberate and somewhat intelligent with my online interactions, this could be a shock to the ego.
To begin, I figured it would be smart to seek out the listing for Tara Hunt since she’s a lovely woman who wrote that book about Whuffie and the value of social networks for business. Hunt is trading at a current share price of 63.86 which I know is a little steep, but in the time I’ve known her she’s never been prone to mental laziness so I reckon it’s a sound investment.
I was pleased to wake up this morning and find that Scott Beale of Laughing Squid, blogger/PR consultant Louis Gray and experience designer Adrian Chan had all purchased shares in me. They’re all people I respect and for now it looks like they respect me back. That being said, I know I’m going to suck at Empire Avenue.
- I’m at a disadvantage having never really played the stock market myself;
- I cannot bring myself to sell shares in a friend when they decline in “social” value; and,
- While I’m not afraid to be judged, I don’t necessarily want others to see my judgments in incremental monetary values.
AND I’VE GOT QUESTIONS: How is this dashboard going to make us feel when our “investors” lose faith in us? Will the quality of signal to noise be taken into consideration and to what scale? Am I going to bother sticking around on this platform for more than a week?
Perhaps I’m old fashioned but this feels a bit like the dystopian future in Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story where every person in every room is ranked by personality (Google Ranking and social media popularity), sustainability (credit score) and F@#kability (self-explanatory). With augmented reality apps, it wouldn’t be that hard to replicate. This reminds me, who has William Gibson’s email address? Firstly I’d like to buy shares, and secondly, he’s gotta see this.
