A few quick questions for you –
- Do you know what your Klout score is?
- Do you care what your Klout score is?
- Do you even know what Klout is?
The first time I received a tweet that someone gave me a +K, I wondered —
So, is that a good thing?
I’ll let you decide.
What is Klout?
- Klout markets itself as the Standard for Influence
- Others refer to it (and similar platforms) as social scoring
Before I light the fuse on that powder keg, here’s some background on Klout.
- It was launched in 2009
- It is a tool that measures influence
- It started by measuring that based on Twitter
- It added Facebook, LinkedIn, and most recently Google+
- It also includes Foursquare, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, Blogger, WordPress.com, Last.fm, Flickr
Other networks are on the way.
Scoring
Individuals receive a score between 1 and 100, with 1 being a social media hermit.
Similar to the funny math used by Google search engines, Klout’s algorithm for calculating scores are secretive and controversial.
In theory, it’s more than just the number of followers, friends or connections you have.
- It’s how often your tweets are re-tweeted
- It’s who you interact with – the “influencers” versus the not so influential
- It’s how often your content is shared
And it’s supposed to be a whole lot more.
Klout categorizes its score in three ways –
- True Reach – how many people you influence
- Amplification – how much you influence them
- Network Score – how influential the people in your True Reach are
The Fallout
As you can imagine, there are endless posts and arguments about the validity of Klout scoring.
I won’t get into the war of words – just a few observations in my very brief review.
- By unlinking all my networks except Twitter (there is no option to unlink Twitter), my score dropped 9 points
- I am listed as a Specialist (good to know)
- I am shown to be influential in three topics: LinkedIn, Writing and Printer
Printer?
Where did that come from?
I’m also influential in:
- Books
- Math (laughing my head off at that one)
- Recycling
- Food (should I be insulted?)
- Skype
- Facebook (trust me, I have very little influence with Facebook)
- Social Media
- Blogging
- Business
The topics seem to stem from post titles more than actual influence. For example, on more than one occasion, I used math as an analogy.
It’s a work in progress. I get that.
But, do we need Klout?
Package Labeling
We are a product of our environment.
Me? I’m a middle child of seven and believe that has a great influence on how I think.
I detest labeling.
I like to be viewed as unique.
Klout (and other platforms like it) remind me of how much value we humans put on labels.
- Cliques – from grade school and high school – the cool kids, the nerds, the jocks
- Job titles – the CEO that is the sole proprietor, the Director vs. Manager vs. Vice President vs. Associate Vice President
- Social media designations – the A bloggers, Social Media Gurus, Rockstars
The influencers.
The Final Score
For me, tools like Klout are like statistics.
- Sometimes interesting
- May or may not be telling
- Are easily manipulated or blown out of proportion
I like to believe if we keep focused on delivering good content, the rest – like high Klout scores – is all gravy.
I don’t need math to tell me who influences me, but I also understand math is not my thing – no matter what Klout says.
Who influences us is as individual as we are. And isn’t that how it should be?
How about you?
What do you think about Klout?
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This is the second topic of seven from my What I Want to Learn list. It’s another round of practice what you preach. I have to stop preaching! I hope you enjoyed the post. I would love your feedback.
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I have been there six times. Once for each of my twitter handles. I won’t share anything else. (Sorry, BigBrother, you will have to work just a little harder to track me down.) And, my Klout scores range in the 50’s. I will say that Klout recognizes the difference between my handles (I use each for different things). FWIW
Hi Roy: I primarily hooked up in the interest of researching this post. I unlinked again (except Twitter-which you can’t) and I dropped 9 points again. Oh well.
And what’s up with being unable to cancel an account? Talk about Big Brother! Thanks for sharing your view, Roy!
P.S. I dropped a point since yesterday. I wonder if this post has anything to do with it. LOL! 😀
Cathy, to me, Klout is like a membership card to an all-you-can-eat buffet in a casino. One way or the other, you’re going to get it: indigestion or insolvent. LOL
The whole Klout paradigm seems to rest on the pillars of rewards and reciprocity. While I can live without the rewards, I have a harder time ignoring the good intentions of my followers. So, I spend a little time joining something that has no value to me, in order to return the unsolicited favors.
Hmmm, now that makes me think of the person who wipes your windshield at the stoplight – and then demands a dollar. Not very charitable of me, is it?
Cheers,
Mitch
Mitch-I always love looking at the world through your eyes. 🙂 That’s exactly what had me looking into Klout. Some of my readers were +K’ing me (didn’t know that was a verb, did you?) 🙂 and I felt I should, at the very least, know what I was thanking them for.
Thanks for stopping by, Mitch-always a pleasure.
Hi Cathy,
This is a great post, especially for someone like me who has no idea what Klout is. Now I know! I have seen posts about it on Twitter, but I am not very good at the whole social media thing and never thought to look into it. I’m now curious, but know that my score will likely be low. I feel that we are too interested in numbers and scores in our society, and like you said, labeling. When I started blogging, I was obsessed with increasing my readership numbers, but now I prefer an audience that actually reads my work. And interacts with me because they want to, not because they want the same in return. If that means lower numbers, then so be it. I never have been a stellar business person – lol! Thank you for the information! ~Suerae
Hi Suerae-seems to me you have your sights focused in the right place-your readers. I like learning new things, but have never been much of a crowd follower.
I appreciate you stopping by, Suerae.
Cathy, that’s ironically humorous, using klout as a verb.
I like Surerae’s perspective. My blog is closer to a personal diary left on the kitchen table.
Talk to you later!
Cheers,
Mitch
You know how I like to mess with words, Mitch. 🙂 Remind me to drop by your kitchen.
Have a great rest of the week, Mitch. I finally got myself back for some CCC reading-was totally missing that creative fix.
While we don’t know how they calculate Klout, we do know that they are looking somewhat at your interaction on the social media platforms. I don’t think anyone should get hung up on Klout scores but they should be aware of them. If your score is low, you probably aren’t participating in social media. And, if you want to spread your message, you need to be participating. The way I understand it, it’s not just that you’re out there yapping away on the sites, it’s if others are saying anything back! LOL
Also, have you ever seen anyone with a score of 90 or above?
Hi Martha: I’m with you that I don’t think anyone should get hung up on Klout scores, but I am not so sure we can take the leap that if they have a low score, they probably aren’t participating in social media.
Maybe this will change as Klouot adds the other networks, but it seems to me to still rely on Twitter pretty heavily. So, let’s say you put all your eggs in the LinkedIn basket, and have a lot of influence there, I wonder what your Klout score would be.
And to answer your question about knowing anyone higher than 90 – ready to be depressed – or more likely laugh out loud – Justin Bieber is currently at 98 http://klout.com/JustinBieber
😀 I appreciate you sharing your view, Martha. Lord knows you are a WHOLE lot better at this social media thing than I am. 🙂
I hear what you are saying about putting your eggs in one basket, that you might be influential on one platform and not another. However, if you are a marketer, you need to be using ALL platforms. I’m not recommending using Klout as a social media measure (yet) but some of what they report is common sense. If you only have 500 Twitter followers and I have over 10,000, my reach is definitely farther! LOL
Justin Bieber? That makes sense. It doesn’t make me laugh or cry, it states what we already know. His reach is OUT THERE!!! LOL
One more thing. . . . those words describing your influence? They are compiled from the keywords you have used in your tweets. So, my guess is, at some point you made a comment about math! I have another friend who came up as influential about sheep! LOL
I’m with Martha on the keyword point. It was fascinating what they compiled. For instance, they state that I’m influential about education. I didn’t realize that I was focusing on it but I am VERY interested in it. So it was detected by them. I am obviously making headway in something I foresee in my future. It also tells me when I’m dropping off in using social media. Do I care how I stack up against others? Not so much. I like using it as benchmark for myself.
Hi Cathy,
I find Klout to be somewhat interesting. The scoring system seems to place a strong emphasis on engaging others and widening your circle of influence.
Ultimately we can never label our social influence with a number. This is an energy game, really. Adding labels to something which can’t be measured won’t do anybody justice. Put out fresh, valuable stuff, engage a great deal, and your campaign takes care of itself.
Thanks!
Ryan
Hi Martha; Yeah, I figured that out about the math. I’ve used it as a few times as an analogy.
IMHO, I don’t believe you need to use all platforms to be successful. It depends on your market and your own personal goals. I know some very successful freelance writers who don’t use Facebook, for example, at all.
Vive la difference! Thanks for sharing your view, Martha. I do appreciate it.
Sherrie: And it sounds like you have it in very good perspective. Use it for what it’s worth, but don’t let it define you.
Thanks for sharing your comments, Sherrie.
Ryan-brilliant-that’s what I wish I wrote. You nailed Klout for me – or any other kind of “social scoring.”
Thanks for your unique perspective.
I like your take on Klout, Cathy. It’s just another tool. Social media is really tough to “measure” and for those of us who like numbers, I think Klout is like Alexa–not a fantastic measure, but it gives us an idea of how we’re trending and it’s interesting to play with.
Oh that was a great overview, thanks Cathy. I’d seen references to Klout, but never really understood it (or been interested enough to research it!). I think these kinds of social scores are useful to businesses of certain genres, and also quite simply to those people who like such scores! I love Ryan’s comment about it – perfect! I’m not sure that in my line of work, a social score would hold any value. Although it clearly does in some lines of work. I think I’m just going to stay in my cave….it’s nice and dark down here 😉
Michelle-Thanks for your perspective, but please don’t mention Alexa because I would have to add that to my What I Want to Learn list as it is at the same status as Klout before I started my research.
My brain can’t take another item right now. 🙂 Thanks, Michelle.
Nicky-thanks for the kudos. I imagine if I was marketing myself as a social media expert and selling those services to a client that a Klout score might be useful to a client. But, I’m like you, I don’t know that it bears a whole lot of weight in the services I offer.
Move over inside that cave. 🙂
Great post, Cathy! I have a Klout score (as of a few weeks ago, which is the last time I checked) of 39, but I have no idea what that means, whether it’s good or bad. Thanks for letting us know a little bit more about what goes into the score!
Hi Cathy,
Great post! I have only recently gotten into checking my Klout here recently and learning all the “perks” of using it. I was still a little oblivious to what it all meant. All I know is that 100 means you are “The Man”… Or “Women” (not to exclude any) and that out of 100 I’m in my 50’s. So I figured, “Hmm, that must be good.”
However, I found this post to be awesome and informative. There were many things I had no idea about, such as (and certainly not limited too) how they went about figuring out how and who was influential in whatever topic, also I had no idea that it had something to do with how much our tweets are being Retweeted. That’s really good info to know as well. 🙂
All in all, this was a most awesome post! I’m just kicking myself that it took me so long to finally read it. Oh well, better late than never right? 🙂
Have an awesome day and thank you for sharing what you know about the Kloutster! 😉
Deeone: write a nice comment like that and I don’t care how long it takes to read a post. 😀
Thanks for coming by and sharing your comments. Jope to see you here again.
Hi Cathy,
Thanks for explaining Klout so clearly. I thought I had a decent understanding of what it was all about but after reading your post I realize there is a lot more to it than I first thought.
I think Klout is like anythng else, you have to take it as ONE source of information and then move on. I have to admit the things I’m known for are really no where near what I actually do and talk about but now I understand why that may be so.
Klout clearly isn’t a very accurate (yet) tool for measuring but at the same time it does give you some interesting information. If you look at your score and compare it to only yourself as a tool it might be more useful. At least for me.
Hi Bonnie:Thanks for the kind words. I totally agree with you that Klout should be taken as one tool (of many) that may or may not have something of value to offer you in your circumstances.
To me, its heavy reliance on Twitter may miss out on others that are very influential, but not as active on Twitter.
Thanks again for stopping by, Bonnie, and sharing your thoughts.
Hey Cathy, thanks for this. I’d dinked around with Klout once before then forgotten all about it. Obviously it’s not high on my priority list.
Just in case your curious, you rank a bit higher than me. No clue what that really means – not much is my hunch.
Hey Anne: That’s a perfect example of the down side of Klout. In terms of reach and “influence,” your score should be much higher than mine. That’s not humility on my part-just fact.
Thank you, Anne, for stopping by.