What The Klout? Is Measuring Social Influence Truly Beneficial?
From the beginning there has been a lot of controversy surrounding Klout, the platform designed to measure social influence.
Who would have ever thought there would even exist such a thing anyway right? There have been so many terms thrown around
like social proof, social influence, relationship marketing… the list goes on. What does it all mean?
Although there are some who despise Klout (usually those associated with not so stellar Klout scores), I happen to love Klout. I
think it is revolutionary and I am more than proud to be a part. Social influence is REAL, and measuring it seems like a natural
progression.
I have been dying to explore the subject of social influence which Klout happens to be dead center of, and the recent buzz about changes to klout has given me the perfect opportunity to do so.
I have so much to say on the topic that I have decided to break this down into a series. In this one I just want to share with you the recent changes in Klout and shed some light on how
your Klout score is calculated.
How Klout Is Calculated
Here is a breakdown of how Klout is calculated. This come right off of their blog. You can check it all out right here http://klout.com/corp/kscore?source=blog&creative=Discover
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Facebook:
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Mentions: A mention of your name in a post indicates an effort to engage with you directly.
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Likes: The simplest action that shows engagement with the content you create.
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Comments: As a reaction to content you share, comments also reflect direct engagement by your network.
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Subscribers: Subscriber count is a more persistent measure of influence that grows over time.
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Wall Posts: Posts to your wall indicate both influence and engagement.
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Friends: Friend count measures the reach of your network but is less important than how your network engages with your content.
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Twitter
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Retweets: Retweets increase your influence by exposing your content to extended follower networks.
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Mentions: People seeking your attention by mentioning you is a strong signal of influence. We also take into account the differences in types of mentions, including “via” and “cc”.
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List Memberships: Being included on lists curated by other users demonstrates your areas of influence.
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Followers: Follower count is one factor in your Score, but we heavily favor engagement over size of audience.
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Replies: Replies show that you are consistently engaging your network with quality content.
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Google+
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Comments: As a reaction to content you share, comments also reflect direct engagement by your network.
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+1's: The simplest action that shows engagement with the content you create.
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Reshares: Reshares increase your influence by exposing your content to extended networks on Google+.
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LinkedIn
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Title: Your reported title on LinkedIn is a signal of your real-world influence and is persistent.
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Connections: Your connection graph helps validate your real-world influence.
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Recommenders: The recommenders in your network add additional signals to the contribution LinkedIn makes to your Score.
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Comments: As a reaction to content you share, comments also reflect direct engagement by your network.
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foursquare
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Tips Done: The number of suggestions you’ve left that have been completed indicate your ability to influence others on foursquare.
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Klout
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+K received: Receiving +K increases your Klout Score by an amount that is capped in every 90-day measurement cycle to protect the integrity of the Score.
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Wikipedia
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Page Importance: Measured by applying a PageRank algorithm against the Wikipedia page graph.
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Inlinks to Outlinks Ratio: Compares the number of inbound links to a page to the number of outbound links.
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Number of Inlinks: Measures the total number of inbound links to a page.
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10 things you didn't know about Klout…
http://mashable.com/2012/05/08/klout-joe-fernandez-business/
by :
1. Klout Founder and CEO Joe Fernandez studied English at Oxford University but never received a college degree, although he had more than enough credits to graduate. His first startup was making skate boards, a life-long interest.
2. When Klout went live in December, 2008, Fernandez manually calculated each Klout score.
3. The only person with a perfect 100 Klout score is Justin Bieber. Several celebrities have lobbied for higher Klout scores, including Britney Spears.
4. When Joe Fernandez first pitched his idea for Klout to the startup accelerator panel at South by Southwest in 2009, the idea was rejected because it was not business worthy. One of the panelists, Nova Spivack, later became the first investor in the company.
5. Klout has different influence calculations based on which social media platform you are active on. It also accounts for international differences in communication patterns.
6. A Klout influencer who receives a perk (a gift from a brand) creates an average of thirty pieces of content about that gift. About 80% of the companies who participate in a Klout influencer program sign up for a second one.
7. When Klout received its first round of funding, the first check went to the owner of the Klout.com domain name. Up until then the company was only found on Klout.net.
8. With tens of billions of hits to its API in a month, Klout has at least 50 times more traffic than its nearest competitor, PeerIndex.
9. Giving somebody a +K is a nice gesture, but it has no effect on a Klout score.
10. Klout’s first office in San Francisco was in the same building as Twitter.
So now it's your turn. What do you think about the changes to Klout? What do you think about the way they calculate your beloved Klout score? Or do you even pay attention? Sound off in the comments below, we would love to hear from you!
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[...] Attempts to Build User’s Social Media Profiles with Kred Story from Adweek Social Influence: How Klout is Impacting Social Media from assistsocialmedia.com Kred Tells the Story of Social Media Influence from Information Week. [...]
[...] Measuring Social Influence by Elizabeth at Assist Social Media [...]
[...] Attempts to Build User’s Social Media Profiles with Kred Story from Adweek Social Influence: How Klout is Impacting Social Media from assistsocialmedia.com Kred Tells the Story of Social Media Influence from Information Week. [...]
Thank you Mandy..;) !
Loved the detailed breakdown on the new Klout features and updates. Looks like they're getting more sophisticated and expanding the factors that they account for. Good move.
Yes they are I noticed you took a giant leap up Edmund !
Excellent informative article on the confusing topic of Klout! Thank you!
The Klout change bumped up my score, but I have yet to see Klout pay off. No one gives it much weight, so I'm not sure the purpose entirely?
Great information that will help me improve my score by doing more of the daily tasks that help the ranking…brilliant.
Great article, Liz! I learned a few things, thanks! I will definitely be bookmarking this to use as a reference
Great post and I learned a number of things about klout that I did not know. -thanks
Great post Liz! I didn't realize they took so many different platforms into account when calculating your score.
This is such an informative post. I do not work with Klout so will have to come back and re read this when I do. Hopefully it will be soon as it appears I may be missing out on something worthwhile. I am so glad you are giving such helpful info for those of us who dont understand
Powerful information, my Klout score is still not doing much for me. I try not to look at too much and just enjoy the ride of social media which is very important to me. I printed out your list though and will check what I can do better and will certainly act on it.
Well it can if you get in the business of handling social media..;)
Great posts with lots of interesting Klout information. While I think some sort of measurement system is good, I have to admit, I don't spend a whole lot of time worrying about whether my Klout score is going up and down.
I do look I can not lie. When it dropped last time they revamped i was angry! lol after that I was like what ever.. I love it now! ..;)
I'm with Kim Hawkins, I never knew Wikipedia effected our Klout. Will have to find out more about that. Great article!
It helps SEO as well.;) get after it!
I am fairly new to the social media world and your post helped me understand Klout a lot more. Thanks! I wish it included Pinterest too!
I am completely speechless at the amount of incredible information you have provided here!! Amazing! I am definitely printing this out! Thanks so much for the 'complete' low down on Klout! Love it!
you’re welcome Denny it’s all a reprint .. but I thought it was great information .;)
This is a great article, Liz. I have learned and get a lot of information about Klout. And also with the recent changes, it makes me like it more. Thanks for sharing.
I like it more too lorii ! I feel like yes.. finally i get the notice I deserved ..;) lol
Wikipedia too! That intrigues me. I'll have to find out more about it.
Oh Kim.. get an account and check out Wikipedia..;)
Thank you for such a great information. Interesting to know, I don't use it, and there is a reason. It didn't make any sense, as the scores went up and down, with no logic… computer is just computer, I don't blame people though, we all learn. LOL Maybe now is more stable…
It seems to be and I would encourage you to try it and see what you think now , Solvita..;)
I hope they have nailed it this time round. I am of the mindset that Klout is still a number generated by software….and when this happens…its can unfortunately get gamed. I love to play though
oh yes.. it can get gamed as can Google and all things.. but the guilty usually get busted..;)
This has been really helpful. I have had a love/hate relationship with Klout over the last couple of years. I have gotten a number of perks that I have enjoyed, and my score went up 7 points with the recent changes. There has been so much controversy about Klout, mostly when people's scores have gone down.
But there are clearly quite a few things I didn't know about the way it worked. Thanks for a great post!
I had a jump that I thought was more refliective of my engagement .. I too have had a loved hate relationship with Klout !
I watched the video when Klout founder Joe Fernandez announced the change, and remember him saying that they take in something like 12 billion data inputs a day now … unbelievable. Can you imagine as they continue to add new platforms to their algorithm?
it’s amazing.. and I think that will make it harder to “game” Klout and better to get a real view of what it’s about.
Wow, Elizabeth, this is a definite must read resource about Klout. Thanks for the explanation of how its measured and why it's important! Glad to hear you are doing a series on this!
I’m glad it helped Sherie! I have been working, loving and hating Klout for quite some time !
I do my Kout every day but was still confused as to how or what were the advantages. Thanks for such an awesome post! It has answered a lot of my questions! I'm going to have to re-read your post several times before it sinks in!
I’m so glad you read it Alexandra. You have a good score and work hard.. it shows..;)
I have to admit, they are winning me over. Even though I have always participated in Klout scores, there was a time when the company wasn't too forthcoming with the how's and why's of what they were doing. That lack of disclosure made me uncomfortable. It seems they now have their act together. We'll see. I still have a problem with being "scored" on my use of social media. Much of my real business is done through my email list and there is only my bottom line score to make that "real"! LOL
There you go Martha! This just let’s the world that doesn’t know about your list.. maybe see they need to get on ? We shall see where Klout takes us, Huh?
I am not sure about Klout yet. I will have to continue to watch and see as Klout has always been the one platform that so many seem to question . Thank you for sharing !
#9 in you 10 things you didn't know about Klout contradicts the new changes with Klout's +Ks now having an effect on your score!
I was so excited when I logged on to klout and it had gone up 17 points. I have worked very hard to get myself out there and become active on many platforms. I feel like that effort finally was rewarded and I get klout better by reading this. Thanks Girls this helps me.
I received an email this morning telling me Klout has been updated. But when I logged in today it said to check back later so I can only comment on how I found it up until 3 months ago when I wrote
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.
I continue about Klout, Peerindex and Kred here http://www.grafform.com/1/post/2012/05/what-is-klout-all-about.html.
I really do hope Klout have improved their facebook integration because up until now it has been atrocious and of no use. Klout has been useful as it's integrated with a tool I use daily @hootsuite. I really liked that Klout gave me Klout about Klout recently too.
All the best, daniel
Hi Daniel, One of the things that Klout has claimed to change was the issue of klout scores dropping from lack of use for a few days. Another thing that i thought was great is that they are actually beginning to consider the sharing of your links in their algorithm. Now I love that, because that is great influence. I guess time will tell what Klout can do but one thing remains true… Social influence is real and it does matter. No one can change how Klout measures it, but I think they will get better and better at it over time. Thanks for stopping by Daniel, I will check out your post as soon as possible! xo