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?
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