SHOULD KLOUT REALLY HAVE CLOUT?
It’s really the world according to numbers isn’t it?
Followers. Retweets. @replies. Friends. Fans. Likes. Klout.
It’s a an engagement race and it can be pretty exhausting if you let it consume you.
The other night @stephkornblum tweeted a link on Social Media Today about Klout. Stuff that they may or may not be doing with the information they gather from having access to our accounts. When I read it, I began to really think-
For the past few months when I would glance every once in a while at the account it really irked me. On one hand, it hit the nail on many heads. On the other, it was so way off base it bothered me. Some people Klout said I was “influenced by” I didn’t even know. It said I was in expert in things like “horror” which was sort of ridiculous (note to self: stop tweeting words like DYING). It would tell me if I was more or less influential. It drove me crazy. Bottom line, it made me question my performance in a way I don’t need to, because here’s a newsflash, I’m not in school anymore and p.s. I don’t miss report cards.
So after reading the social media today article I decided to revoke Klout’s access from my account. Why? Pretty much because I was tired of being graded in such a subjective, random way only an algorithm could conjure up. What’s more is that I started being way too excited when someone gave me a +K on something. It was time to take a vacation from Klout.
Within a few minutes of me tweeting that I revoked access, Klout’s Senior Marketing Manager tweeted me to see if we could discuss what I was upset about and if there was any way they could help. Impressive social media response. Well, basically fix the above. The analysis is flawed and what’s bad about that is the seriousness by which people are starting to weigh a Klout score. In my opinion, right now we’re playing high school superlatives but in the real world. No bueno.
Since I have revoked access I’ll admit I’m slightly bummed when I see +K’s about me that probably won’t even count. And every time I get an email from Klout about perks I’m due, I do think twice. It’s out there. I’m in here. I’m not entirely sure how long I’ll stay on my Klout vacation, but for the moment I feel free of judgment and it feels pretty liberating. Oh waiter, I’ll have another and this time don’t forget the little umbrella.
Klout is like the driver sign on the school bus that reads “How am I doing?”. But you never asked and they told you anyway and they told a lot of other people too. I think Klout is a brilliant concept but I think with brilliance comes responsibility. I believe Klout can do better in owning up to it’s methodology. Oh and p.s. Klout, if you are selling our information, please stop. That’s so last season.
What do you think? What does @Klout need to do to improve?
