Klout

Klout
Type of business Private
Type of site
 Social Networking
Available in English
Headquarters San Francisco, California, United States
Area served Worldwide
Founder(s) Joe Fernandez
Binh Tran
Key people Joe Fernandez (CEO)
Emil Michael (COO)
Employees 40[1]
Slogan(s) The Standard for Influence
Website klout.com
Alexa rank Negative increase 3,287 (January 2015)[2]
Advertising No
Registration Optional
Launched 2008
Current status Active

Klout is a website and mobile app that uses social media analytics to rate its users according to online social influence via the "Klout Score", which is a numerical value between 1 and 100. In determining the user score, Klout measures the size of a user's social media network and correlates the content created to measure how other users interact with that content.[3] Klout launched in 2008.[4]

Klout uses Bing, Facebook, Foursquare, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Wikipedia data to create Klout user profiles that are assigned a unique "Klout Score".[5] Klout scores range from 1 to 100, with higher scores corresponding to a higher ranking of the breadth and strength of one's online social influence. While all Twitter users are assigned a score, users who register at Klout can link multiple social networks, of which network data is then aggregated to influence the user's Klout Score.

Methodology

Klout measures influence by using data points from Twitter, such as following count, follower count, retweets, list memberships, how many spam/dead accounts are following you, how influential the people who retweet you are and unique mentions. This information is blended with data from a number of other social network followings and interactions to come up with the Klout Score.[6] The social networks that influence a user's Klout Score are Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn (individuals pages not corporate/business), as YouTube, Instagram and Klout itself, as well as Wikipedia.[7] Other accounts such Flickr, Blogger, Tumblr, Last.fm, WordPress, and Bing can also be linked by users, however they do not weigh into the Klout Score as of March 2013. Microsoft announced a strategic investment in Klout in September 2012 whereby Bing would have access to Klout influence technology, and Klout would have access to Bing search data for its scoring algorithm.[8]

Klout scores are supplemented with three nominally more specific measures, which Klout calls "true reach," "amplification" and "network impact." True reach is based on the size of a user's engaged audience who actively engage in the user's messages.[9] Amplification score relates to the likelihood that one's messages will generate actions, such as retweets, mentions, likes and comments. Network impact reflects the computed influence value of a person's engaged audience.[10]

Business model

Perks

The primary business model for Klout involves companies paying Klout for Perks campaigns, in which a company offers free services or products to Klout users who match a pre-defined set of criteria including their scores, topics, and geographic locations. While Klout users who receive Perks are under no obligation to write about them, the hope is that they will effectively advertise the products on social media. Klout has offered the Perks program since 2010. According to Klout CEO Joe Fernandez, about 50 partnerships had been established as of November 2011.[11] In May 2013, Klout announced that its users had claimed more than 1 million Perks across over 400 campaigns.[12]

Klout for business

In March 2013, Klout announced its intention to begin displaying business analytics aimed at helping business and brand users learn about their online audiences.[13] At this time Klout doesn’t allow for corporate/business Linkedin pages to be connected so the tool is of limited use for measuring influence in this channel.

Content page

In September 2012, Klout announced an information-sharing partnership with the Bing search engine, showing Klout scores in Bing searches and allowing Klout users to post items selected by Bing to social media.[14][15]

Criticism

Several objections to Klout's methodology have been raised regarding both the process by which scores are generated, and the overall societal effect.[16] Critics have pointed out that Klout scores are not representative of the influence a person really has, highlighted by Barack Obama, President of the United States, having a lower influence score than a number of bloggers.[17] Other social critics argue that the Klout score devalues authentic online communication and promotes social ranking and stratification by trying to quantify human interaction.[18] Klout has attempted to address some of these criticisms; a recent update to Klout's algorithms does now rank the importance of Barack Obama in a way that better reflects perception.[19]

The site has been criticized for violating the privacy of minors, and for exploiting users for its own profit.[20]

John Scalzi has described the principle behind Klout's operation as "socially evil" in its exploitation of its users' status anxiety.[21] Charles Stross has described the service as "the Internet equivalent of herpes," blogging that his analysis of Klout's terms and conditions reveals that the company's business model is illegal in the United Kingdom, where it conflicts with the Data Protection Act 1998; Stross advises readers to delete their Klout accounts and opt out of Klout services.[22]

Ben Rothke concluded that "Klout has its work cut out and it seems like they need to be in beta a while longer. Klout can and should be applauded for trying to measure this monstrosity called social influence; but their results of influence should in truth, carry very little influence."[23]

Klout has been criticised for the opacity of their methodology. While it is claimed that advanced machine learning techniques are used, leveraging network theory, Sean Golliher analysed Klout scores of Twitter users and found that the simple logarithm of the number of followers was sufficient to explain 95% of the variance.[24] In November 2015 Klout released an academic paper discussing their methodology at the IEEE BigData 2015 Conference.[25]

In spite of the controversy, some employers have made hiring decisions based on Klout scores. As reported in an article for Wired, a man recruited for a VP position with fifteen years of experience consulting for companies including America Online, Ford and Kraft was eliminated as a candidate specifically because of his Klout score, which at the time was 34, in favour of a candidate with a score of 67.[26]

Notable events

Similar metrics

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Klout". TechCrunch. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
  2. ↑ "Klout.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  3. ↑ Lauren Fisher (July 20, 2010). "How can you measure influence?". Simply Zesty. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
  4. ↑ "About Klout".
  5. ↑ Anthony Ha (March 28, 2013). "Klout Users Can Now Add Bing To Their Account And Include Instagram In Their Score". TechCrunch. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  6. ↑ Ben Parr (October 16, 2010). "Klout Now Measures Your Influence on Facebook". Mashable. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
  7. ↑ "Klout Score". Klout.
  8. ↑ Jennifer Van Grove (September 27, 2012). "Microsoft buys influence for Bing with Klout investment, partnership". VentureBeat. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  9. ↑ Susan Gilbert (July 28, 2014). Social Media Influence, How to Gain Exposure and Increase Your Klout. Amazon. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  10. ↑ Jim Duffy (July 28, 2011). "Klout Review & Rating". PCMag. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  11. ↑ Williams, Stephen (November 28, 2011), Chevy Gives 3-Day Sonic Drives to Those With Big Klout, Advertising Age, retrieved 15 August 2012
  12. ↑ Peterson, Tim (2012-05-13). "Klout Perks Crosses 1 Million Claims, More Than 400 Campaigns Company considering sponsored answers product with Bing". Adweek. Retrieved 2012-05-13.
  13. ↑ JP Mangalindan (March 20, 2013). "Klout launches business portal, is gunning for brands". Fortune. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  14. ↑ UTC, Pete Pachal2012-09-27 21:32:39. "Bing Partners With Klout, Marrying Search and Influence". Mashable. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  15. ↑ UTC, Chris Taylor2014-02-11 02:40:36. "Why Klout Had to Change — and Why You Shouldn't Count It Out". Mashable. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  16. ↑ "The Geography of Klout Scores". 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2012-10-11.
  17. ↑ Shontell, Alyson (December 2, 2011), The TRUTH About Your Klout Score: How Your Phony Number Is Calculated, Business Insider, retrieved 15 August 2012
  18. ↑ Miller, Rohn Jay (November 9, 2011), Delete Your Klout Profile Now!, Social Media Today, retrieved 15 August 2012
  19. ↑ McHugh, Molly (August 14, 2012), Klout reveals a new scoring algorithm – and the critics are quiet, Digital Trends, retrieved 18 August 2012
  20. ↑ "Delete your Klout profile and be more than a Klout score". 2011-12-12. Retrieved 2011-12-12.
  21. ↑ Why Klout scores are possibly evil, at CNNMoney.com, by John Scalzi, published November 15, 2011, retrieved November 26, 2011
  22. ↑ Evil social networks, from Diary: Being the blog of Charles Stross, author, and occasional guests; by Charles Stross; posted November 7, 2011; retrieved November 26, 2011
  23. ↑ Rothke, Ben (May 16, 2012), Some Observations on Klout Scores, Infosec Island, retrieved 15 August 2012
  24. ↑ How I Reverse Engineered Klout Score to an ~ R2 = 0.94 (How to calculate Klout score). SeanGolliher.com (2011-06-27). Retrieved on 2014-02-11.
  25. ↑ "The Klout Score Methodology Secrets Revealed - The Klout Blog". The Official Klout Blog. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  26. ↑ What Your Klout Score Really Means. Wired.com (24 Feb 2014). Retrieved on 2014-04-28.
  27. ↑ Sarah Perez (2011-11-22). "Google+ Now Impacting Klout Scores, Active Users See Scores Go Up". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
  28. ↑ Ingram, Mathew (2011-10-27). "Should You Care How High Your Klout Score Is?". Businessweek. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
  29. ↑ Todd Wasserman (2011-11-03). "Klout: Talk-Up a Startup, Get Some Equity". Mashable. Retrieved 2011-12-28.
  30. ↑ Ingram, Mathew (January 4, 2012), "Like It or Not, the Reputation Graph Is Here to Stay", Technology, Bloomberg Businessweek, retrieved 15 August 2012
  31. ↑ Rao, Leena (February 7, 2012), Klout Acquires Local And Mobile Neighborhood App Blockboard, TechCrunch, retrieved 15 August 2012
  32. ↑ Pendleton, Keith (2012-05-25). "Klout Announces 2000 New Partners in One Year". Social Score Rewards Official Blog. Retrieved 2012-05-29.
  33. ↑ Knibbs, Kate. (2013-03-28) Want a higher Klout score? Your Instagram photos matter now. Digital Trends. Retrieved on 2013-07-30.
  34. ↑ Taylor, Chris. February 11 2014 Mashable. Klout to Be Acquired for at Least $100 Million
  35. ↑ Klout Score: Measuring Influence Across Multiple Social Networks
  36. 1 2 3 Hall, Sharon Hurley (January 14, 2013). "3 Dashboard Tools That Measure Social Media Engagement". The Daily Egg.
  37. 1 2 3 Hall, Sharon Hurley (June 4, 2013). "Conversion optimization and A/B testing tips" [Don’t Like Klout? 12 Other Ways to Track Social Media Influence and Engagement]. The Daily Egg.
  38. ↑ Perez, Sarah (February 5, 2013). "Influitive Acquires Social Inbox Startup Engagio To Aid In 'Advocate Marketing' Opportunities". TechCrunch.

External links

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