Comments on: What’s The Meaning of a Klout Score? The Pros and Cons of How Social Influence is Measured

By: ● Steven Burda, MBA

● Steven Burda, MBA — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 22:55:00 +0000

Well said Neal …

By: Chuck Blakeman

Chuck Blakeman — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 13:56:00 +0000

I have to disagree with “I suggest that the problem doesn’t lie with any one of these systems.”

The problem lies exactly with these systems – they can’t and don’t actually measure influence. The best example – Klout does NOT take into account blogs which are written on proprietary platforms. You can throw up a blog on a generic platform like WordPress and get “Klout” for it, but a very expensive and proprietary blog platform will not show up. Who do you think builds such proprietary platforms? Exactly – those with the most social media influence.

Until Klout can figure out how to measure the most serious influencers in social media and their proprietary platforms, Klout will simply be measuring the “best of the rest” and leaving the highest influencers out of the picture. That’s not how you build a system to measure influence.

By: Atlanta Public Relations, Social Media, Marketing

Atlanta Public Relations, Social Media, Marketing — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:02:39 +0000

[...] WTH does a Klout score mean anyway? According to reports, Klout and PeerIndex really measure something else. My default position: it doesn’t measure influence so much as it counts online activity. [...]

By: talking to ourselves | Wendy J. Manuel

talking to ourselves | Wendy J. Manuel — Sun, 06 May 2012 23:18:12 +0000

[...] top two accounts have Klout scores of 59 and 46. (And yes, I understand Klout scores have some issues. Let’s just set that aside and use it anyway as a basis for comparison and selection, ok?) [...]

By: Buy a Higher Klout Score & Increase Your Influence in Social Media

Buy a Higher Klout Score & Increase Your Influence in Social Media — Fri, 04 May 2012 04:40:53 +0000

[...] you probably already know that you can buy Facebook Fans & Twitter Followers, but can a higher Klout Score of Social Media Influence be bought as well?It’s an interesting topic, because everyone knows that any algorithm, [...]

By: Neal Schaffer

Neal Schaffer — Wed, 02 May 2012 05:29:00 +0000

Hey Cuz,

Thanks for stopping by – I’m honored!

Yes, you are definitely the one who wrote the book on the subject – so thank you for chiming in. Yes, Klout is spending a lot of money developing an algorithm – and while no algorithm that measures human activity can be perfect – it definitely means something.

I also agree that Klout (or the others) aren’t going away either – and that we should rise above the emotionalism. That’s why I recommend _everyone_ to at least have a Klout account – and I still think that those who don’t have one are only at a disadvantage…

Thanks again Mark!

By: Neal Schaffer

Neal Schaffer — Wed, 02 May 2012 05:27:00 +0000

Thanks Gina! Agreed!

By: Mark W. Schaefer

Mark W. Schaefer — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:02:00 +0000

Obviously I’m interested in this subject since I studied it for a year and wrote a book about it! (Return On Influence). I determined that Klout does measure SOMETHING, and increasingly well — our ability to move content online that creates a reaction in others. It is a small thing, but important. In fact, where would you and I be without an ability to do this? For my career, it may end up being a very important measure. I would encourage your readers to keep cutting through the drama and emotion surrounding this idea of being rated to discover an important marketing trend that will not go away any time soon.

By: Gina Carr

Gina Carr — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:51:00 +0000

Excellent post, Neal. You really dissected Klout very well. I agree with you that an online influence measuring tool is needed by marketers and consumers alike. Although it clearly has limitations, I think that Klout is doing a decent job of filtering relevant metrics into a simple system that makes some sense.

By: Neal Schaffer

Neal Schaffer — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:30:00 +0000

You’re absolutely right Howie. But, without Klout, you’d have to do more work! No system is perfect, but, like I said, it is one metric which might be of help in certain situations.