Let me start off my post with this: social media is my passion. It’s what I love to do! Yes, it is my job, but I really love working and interacting with people online and working with brands and clients, as well as writing and sharing on my blog. So when it comes to sites that “measure” influence like Klout, of course I do my research and I connect with them, but I don’t spend a lot of time trying to keep up with “their” standards. As I tell my clients, it’s YOU that creates your social media experience. Don’t let any system or site steal you joy.
But like with anything, people need to have a quantitative amount or a number to measure how well someone is doing. We are a society built on results and seeing them visually. Which is why Klout is doing so well—it is measuring people’s influence through their social network, and using that data to not only display to its users, but to link their users to brands and campaigns (and make a dollar or two).
Anywho, last week, a lot of people had their briefs and bikinis in a bunch when their Klout scores began to decline. Klout changed their algorithm (the way they measure the data in which they receive) and many people’s scores went down. I am not one to check my Klout score on a daily or even weekly basis (I check mine about once a month), but indeed, my score also went from a 71 to a 57. I was a little annoyed with that too, but I checked other social media friends’ scores, and I saw that their scores dropped too and we were all hovering around the same number.
That was that.
I believe if someone is nagging you about your Klout score, or using that data only to determine how “influential” you are or to decide whether or not they want to work with you, then they are doing themselves a disservice. No one tool can really effectively measure someone’s influence online—like anything, numbers can be skewed. The best way to truly see how well someone is doing online in terms of their voice and influence, you have to look at all tools available. Their Klout score, Page Rank, Edge Rank, Alexa, follower numbers, Compete (ugh), engagement, et al. It is with ALL of this data that you can best determine influence.
But keep in mind OFFLINE influence is important too, and should be factored into this design. Klout cannot measure your offline influence at all.
So in my humble opinion, Klout is much to do about nothing. Yes, it’s a great tool, but it is not the end all to be all, so no one should be upset if their scores go up or down.
Another thing that I simply do not like about Klout is that it encourages its users to get their scores up by engaging others with higher Klout scores. This is not the way to create a great social media plan. A true connector in social media engages everyone, not just the people at the top. Shame on Klout for encouraging this type of behavior.
My rant is over, but now it is your turn. What are your thoughts on Klout and its new metrics? Do you lose sleep over your Klout score?
my score dropped form (i think) a 63 to 54 and initially it was a total side eye moment but then it was like…what evs….
i check my klout account mainly for the perks…i have gotten some nice ones but otherwise, it’s not something that i lose sleep over.
i tweet mainly and it’s because i am completely addicted to it and enjoy it so i am not for anything that shades genuine interaction…
Yes, the perks are what keep me interested. LOL. That last Macy’s one came in handy. 🙂
I definitely do not lose sleep over klout score. Mine isn’t that high to start with, but watching it decline was annoying for about a minute and then I moved on.
There are too many other things to focus on besides a computer generated numeric……smh
Unfortunately in social media, most people are numbers based. Meh :/
I’ve just started to look at Klout about 2 months ago really. And even with my score being at 44 right now, i really don’t care. It’s one site that doesn’t make me online. Cool site but don’t read much into it.
Brotha, well said. Continue doing what you are doing. 🙂
I do check my Klout score every day, but it’s mostly so I can check out the Klout Perks, which I like.
My score dropped from 64 to 53, but I’m not upset. I think some scores were over-inflated and could be gamed by just tweeting a lot.
I think it is moving to being more accurate, and that’s a good thing.
I think Klout is only one of many metrics that you should look at and none of them are worth panty-waddage unless it affects your money. It doesn’t affect my income, so I don’t care.
Anne, I must admit I like the Klout perks. But it is nothing in comparison to what they are getting to offer the perks to us. I want to see Klout expand their relationship with us (bloggers, influencers)
….all of that hard work I did for months to get my klout score up to 51, just for them to change things and my score to get knocked to a number lower than it was at the time I started using it (42). At this point I give up trying to figure it out!! :-/
Don’t get discouraged. Continue to network and grow your social network organically. You are doing a good job!
Thanks so much for the encouragement! 🙂
Yes.. they did a number on us. Pun intended. I wrote about it too a few days about at http://littletechgirl.com/2011/10/26/klout-com-upsets-the-blogosphere-with-new-metrics/. I completely agree. Numbers are taken into account too much sometimes, and it makes some of us get obsessive. Suddenly “Klout score” has started showing up on forms for opps. What I still wonder is since the algorithm changed and the scores went down did the brands change their own algorithms for what they consider a good score.
Good write-up! Oh, and I swear it is a trend. Every metric measuring place out there has decided to change their algorithms these days!
Kris
Will be checking out your post as well. Thanks for commenting, Kris. 🙂
Great perspective. I’ve wondered just how effective Klout was as a site for measuring social media influence. Empire Avenue seems a little better at this once you get beyond the game-based interface which is a nice way if incentivizing activity although it is a bit of a gimmick. Any thoughts about EA as an alternative to Klout?