What is Klout all about?

05/21/2012

Do you want to talk to everyone or jump to the front of the queue and go straight to the influencers? You know, the people who already have a big reach with an interested and engaged audience. It appears to be the new holy grail for Marketers, Sales people, Politicians, Brands and many more.

There are a few companies who "measure influence". The one I've heard of and used the most is Klout, but mainly due to it being bundled in with Hootsuite (Which I adore and use daily). Plus they have the old "Whats in it for me" issue worked out with giving Klout Perks to people with high Klout scores. Although my "Klout Perks" have politely been worth the square route of nothing so far!

I fall in and out of love with using Klout, currently out! They changed an algorithm and lots of peoples scores crash. Adding multiple social networks doesn't seem to make a jot of difference! I also don't like that that they don't measure blogs or LinkedIn Groups etc. But maybe the biggest reason is, I recently went on holiday, unplugged for a week and my Klout score just dropped through the floor.

“So what?” you’re thinking. “I don’t have an account, so I’m not on the radar, right?” Wrong. If you have a Twitter or Facebook account, you have a Klout score and anyone with a Klout account can look it up. (Which is quoted from here.)

A few brands are using Klout in campaigns... I read of one campaign around a fashion week (I think in the states), where the agency ran a competition to allow people with influence (High Klout) a ticket to a free glitzy party. They picked a good sounding/high number like 60 or 70 but Klout actually had to explain that such a few people attain that high a number and gently persuaded them that 40 was actually a very good! It did push people with lower scores to start engaging (gaming the system) to increase their scores to grab a free ticket.

Or here's a discount with Gilt based on Klout Score http://blog.compete.com/2012/03/13/gilt-looks-to-score-sales-from-klout-promotion/

Klout is just one of many influence measuring sites that you can log in with facebook or twitter. There is Kred, PeerIndex and I'm sure others. They are really easy to set up (Just log in with twitter or Facebook) as shown here with mine. http://kred.com/danieldoherty which seems to give points for every interaction so goes into more detail. Plus I have met their CEO Andrew Grill who is a thoroughly nice guy.
http://www.peerindex.com/danieldoherty I have listened to some one pitching Peerindex too.

Once people realise not to take all this too seriously they will really enjoy Klouchebag -

Klouchebag measures how much of an asshat you are on Twitter.

Seriously if people start to annoy you with Klout invite send them to Klouchebag, I think it's genius!

So these thoughts came because I saw this tweet by ‏@BrennerMichael The Clout of Klout http://goo.gl/b4Sda via @candacemountain

I.E. blog http://blog.candacemountain.com/?p=380 and I felt I had to reply. Which probably proves this lady Laura was right when she tweeted this (to me last week)...

@tentontroll486/4486/4486/4 Isn't this Klout obsession a bit OTT? RT @danieldoherty: How to Cheat at Klout via Social Media Today at me last week.

I have to give Kred some Kred.

I have to give credit where it's due. This started of as a reply to a blog about Klout, but after watching this video and signing upto Kred (For this post) I am really starting to like Kred and I love the widgets they offer (there are lots) I just used the biggest one I could find below.
I just downloaded the chrome browser so I'll see how that does, plus noticed they take into account blogs, linkedIn group and can add offline achievements to your profile too. I will be playing with Kred more now I've gone off Klout. Now if I could just integrate with @Hootsuite Andrew I'd be delighted.

All the best, @Daniel838/6 Doherty

Comments

Candace Mountain link

05/21/2012 8:03am

Kred is actually making better inroads than I had expected and that is mostly due to the more extensive metrics that they offer. I do have some issues with Kred and their topics of influence as apparently I am influential in 'Mommy Bloggers' which befuddles me a little. I am not a Mommy though I do blog so I guess I have to give them half marks on that one.

Daniel Doherty link

05/21/2012 12:56pm

Thanks for dropping by Candace, a friend of mine just posted this great post he wrote about Social Influencers back in November, about "the fallacy of Influence here http://www.jonathanmacdonald.com/?p=5694 in response to an article in the New York Times entitled “Got Twitter? What’s Your Influence Score”

By Stephanie Rosenbloom on June 25th who wrote in the opening text:

“Imagine a world in which we are assigned a number that indicates how influential we are. This number would help determine whether you receive a job, a hotel-room upgrade or free samples at the supermarket. If your influence score is low, you don’t get the promotion, the suite or the complimentary cookies. This is not science fiction. It’s happening to millions of social network users. If you have a Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn account, you are already being judged — or will be soon. Companies with names like Klout, PeerIndex and Twitter Grader are in the process of scoring millions, eventually billions, of people on their level of influence — or in the lingo, rating “influencers.” Yet the companies are not simply looking at the number of followers or friends you’ve amassed. Rather, they are beginning to measure influence in more nuanced ways, and posting their judgments — in the form of a score — online.”

Daniel Doherty link

06/09/2012 4:08am

I just found this great blog post comparing the 3 service (Klout, Kred and Peerindex) in a more even manner here

http://www.thejmhhacker.com/2012/06/big-three-klout-kred-peer-index.html?spref=tw

Christina Ellis link

06/21/2012 2:19am

Thanks for this great post. I originally thought Kred would add up to another Klout knockoff! Boy was I wrong. After some time with it, I've come to realize it's got so much to offer. Looking forward to what they do next!

Angela Jordan link

08/15/2012 6:53pm

This is an interesting post Daniel and I think you are speaking for a large majority of people who don't like Klout, or don't understand it. I am among those who aren't completely with it, but I don't really get too bothered one way or the other. The point of those services is to measure your influence. Just focus on being influential, and growing your presence, and people will notice. End of story.