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Its time to quit all the whining and complaining about how Klout, Kred, Peer Index or whatever influence measuring site, doesnt measure EVERYTHING in influence. Look the smart people get it and instead of complaining are busy expanding their influence by creating great content and NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF GETTING A HIGH SCORE. I’m tired of hearing how one person or company has metrics that are better.
Heres why its time to shut up: No system is perfect. Most all these companies are startups dealing with massive and fast growing social media sites. Nor can a company overnight even if it had a trillion dollar budget immediately launch code to measure everything on the internet. Everyday a handful of new networks go live and many dont have API’s like individual blogs that can be measured. The bottom line though is, that scoring companies are CLOSER than anyone else at measuring influence because they are using a formula and measuring the top networks. Just like polling isnt 100% accurate, using the right measurements you can get close. I have a ton of respect in what they are working on and can see their vision of the future.
If you think you can do a better job, shut up, go get tens of millions of dollars and prove it with your own startup. Being a top player in Social Media I know who the top players are. I’ve found that Klout and others are as accurate as you can come WITH THE DATA THAT they are using. Is it perfect? No, but neither are you. Every time I hear someone complaining about their score I go check out their traffic analytics, their ability to influence reach and get a chuckle when I see how anemic it is. They’ll spend hours agonizing over their score and make only 2 weak blog posts a year.
If you’re complaining your Klout score isnt high enough its likely you are overvaluing how much influence you have. You’re also missing the point. Look and compare the Impressions and Contact Reach you have on your networks. What power do you have to drive MASSIVE amounts of traffic to a site? Have you researched how much reach and power the top scorers have compared to yourself? If you cant post something to your networks and drive over 100 people to a site then you should work on doing that instead of complaining. There are people getting hundreds of retweets DAILY, have built years of online reputations and sell thousands to tens of thousands of dollars with their sites. Have you done that? Saying you got 10 extra retweets today and your score should jump higher is delusional. Online influencers have spent YEARS building reputation and garnering a following.
Heres the thing, I and other top scorers ARENT “gaming for score.” I hear we’re “gaming” and thats the battle cry of ignorance. I measure my success online by my ability to DRIVE TRAFFIC AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE. I dont care what my scores are. I dont sell my services based on some score, I SELL PROVING MY ABILITY TO DRIVE TRAFFIC. See the picture above where just ONE of my many Twitter accounts reaches 150+ million impressions. THATS INFLUENCE POWER. The ability to “turn eyeballs.” If you want to know my power I’ll show you graphs like this that measures TRUE INFLUENCE in my reach, not some imperfect silly score. I spend my time caring about creating great DAILY content and how much people LIKE what I blog about, which results in hundreds of thousands of readers. I measure how much my clients and advertisers like my content and put money in my bank account in reward for good service and traffic. In checking my Amazon Affiliate earnings account to see people ROUTINELY BUYING what I review and recommend. While you’re busy wasting time looking at yours and other peoples scores everyday, I’m looking at my Google Analytics, working on creating great content of 2-3 blog posts daily, driving more traffic and my bank account balance. Klout.com is lucky if I check into their site once a week and its usually to not check my score, it could be zero for all I care.
Nothing is perfect, yes there are flaws and missing data but in the end shut up and get to work on actually BEING a real influencer. Create great CONSISTENT, REGULAR content and build massive influence. You’re score is a RESULT of that work, a score should be the LAST thing you focus on. Now shut up and get to work!
Love how you cut through the baloney like a hot knife
WoW looks like I have some more research to do on selecting a tracking modality.
Another thought to ponder upon.
I was unaware the temperature of the knife had anything to do with cutting bologna!
Great post, Chris. I just wish I had a couple of people with your drive signed up in my first level at http://signup.wazzub.info/?lrRef=eLXkG that were able to see past the fact that Wazzub is a start-up company and see into what may happen if they are able to make a go of it.
Shut up and work – I like that.
It’s a great article. But I think that the smart ones complaining about Klout, Kred, PeerIndex, etc. are pointing out that yes, Klout and peers are good at what they are doing, but they are registering and promoting an artificial sense of influence. You can argue, as you do, that we should stop whining and get back to building our own influence, but the issue is, many of us might, and for those of us pursuing real influence, there’s at least not right now an effective way to measure that. If you are promoting Klout — and I am also a member of the Klout Squad, as you are — you are promoting an unbalanced picture and product. What you see as whining, I think I would describe as hoping and suggesting a better Klout could be made. I’d love to know more about how Klout measures, as I think that would make me more influential in helping it become better at the real thing. I think his is just looking at it really honestly.
Interesting article!! Love to shared on FB and Twitter 🙂
Yes Jesse, the hot knife cooks as it cuts, delicious!
Nice message… agree with what you’re saying. The summary says it all, create consistent and regular content (high quality of course). It’s nice that others are distracted to death by the scores etc, I’d rather that than they actually get on with the business of competing.
Doug, you’re right, Klout and the other tools should be much more transparent about what they measure and how they create their scores. As part of my Guide to Influence Measurement Tools, we compared the results for the same users across 4 of these tools (Klout, PeerIndex, TweetLevel and Kred) and found dramatic differences in the scores and the rankings.
That’s one reason I love Chris’ point here — the score should be the last thing you look at.
Great post – but I could have used a few less fonts 🙂
I agree no system is perfect, and its probably an economics equation too. I assume to get a near perfect score is very labor intensive and hard to really quantify or scale.
A little tongue in cheek but no BS. lol.
Thanks
Great points Douglas, overall I’m of course hammering home the message of get to work and quit complaining. I see tons of people saying “I got 10 more retweets or mentions today – why isnt my score up?” As a CEO for 25 years my mantra has been bring me solutions not problems. Obviously there is room to offer constructive advice. I dont have to know what Klout or other companies measures are. When I look at successful people in Social media and see them rated at the top, when I measure others in the median and they are in the measurement medium then I approve.
The bottom line is this – the companies are largely and unperfectly accurate in terms of all internet audience. They are accurate with the measures they track. For instance I know some people who can sell and deliver more traffic than I but since the companies dont track blog power they are not measuring correctly. Is that wrong. No. Nothing is perfect. At the end of the day it the traffic and power you create. Not a score.
Empire avenue is a game, klout is a scoring company.
Let me clarify too – there is ONE way (or a few) to measure your online influence like I said. *Your bank account and traffic reports. *
Thanks. Will sign up on Klout. I will watch my time to see if I can handle both, if not, based on your comment I may drop EA. If I do, I will be sure to notify shareholders so their scores don’t drop because of me. Thanks.
Klout isnt something you engage on – you can signup and forget about it – its not EA.
Word Chris
DRIVING TRAFFIC AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE IS THE KEY!
Great post Chris!
Cheers,
Shane
So to summarize:
1. SHUT UP about Klout! Klout is okay because they’re not perfect, BUT NEITHER ARE YOU
2. Real influencers IGNORE KLOUT ANYWAY
3. I go to Klout once a week, but it’s NOT to check my score. I COULD CARE LESS.
4. SHUT UP and START COMMUNICATING.
About right?
Your points about focusing on consistently creating valuable communication are indisputable truth and valuable counsel, mired as they are amid your bold, capitalized hectoring.
I will point out there are several companies who are taking the task of measuring social influence with exponentially greater accuracy than 1-100 scams like Klout. Klout does not measure social influence and deserves to be called out because important business systems like Salesforce and HR systems are now buying Klout data an incorporating it into evaluating job applicants and employees. This is misuse of fundamentally flawed data and it effects real people in ways that aren’t fair. Your riposte seems to be the undfeatable “shut up.”
Your musings in “What if in the future a “Social Scoring systems like Klout would determine, job hirings, promotions, life, etc?” are dystopic, sad and just plain wrong. You thrill that people suddenly turn to you in a crowd at Blogworld and actually want to talk to you because your Klout score is so high.
Huh? I thought you just said: “I’m tired of hearing how one person or company has metrics that are better,” and you believe Klout should be ignored.
Which is it? Is Klout good and important? Or is Klout bad and should be shunned?
I’m publishing research in the coming weeks on several social evaluation platforms which are several exponents larger, more rigorous and designed to provide businesses with real insight into how digital influence works, and whom influences whom in the social eco-system. I agree Klout should be ignored–in fact I think you, as a big-time influencer, should delete your Klout profile as proof that it isn’t important.
I applaud anyone who, like me, is starting a company in this economy. But that’s where my applause ends. What people do with their businesses matters to others and on the whole Klout is more destructive and selfish than constructive and principled. They measure something, but it’s not social influence. (See Brian Solis’ post on what Klout doesn’t measure. Hint: It’s not social influence: http://bit.ly/HglGQJ)
Like you I have to get back to making content. But please do us all a favor, assuming you believe people should engage and make content rather than look at their Klout scores: go into Klout and delete your profile. Then, the next time you’re alone in a crowd, you’ll resist the temptation to share your Klout score as proof of your importance and instead strike up a conversation with someone.
Great article. You might be particularly interested in TrustVillage.com. Our project includes some social scoring, but we’re not trying to out-Klout Klout. Klout does social analytics great and it has value, no question. TrustVillage is a Q&A platform and social recommendation and introduction facilitator. Our approach is a little different. We have a prototype scoring system that varies depending on your relationship to who or what you’re looking at. Our first-time user tour boldy shows the founder’s profile with a TrustRank of zero, because you don’t know her and haven’t interacted with her in any way – as it should be in this context. We’ve only begun thinking of how scoring and ranking fits into our experience (which is why my friend emailed me this article).
Hi, The caps and shut up are tongue in cheek for effect. You’ve actually missed the wrong part of the argument and focused in on shut up. Please go back and re-read until you get it.
Actually, I saw the effects Fico scoring did from its birth and social scoring is on track with the same trajectory. It can be said the same will hold true in social scoring mainly because its already started. You cant get certain jobs now without a high score and I’ve had friends overhear women saying they wouldnt date someone with a low score. I’m not imagining this.
You’ve made some assumptions and embellishments: “You thrill that people suddenly turn to you in a crowd at Blogworld and actually want to talk to you because your Klout score is so high.
Huh? I thought you just said: “I’m tired of hearing how one person or company has metrics that are better,” and you believe Klout should be ignored.
Which is it? Is Klout good and important? Or is Klout bad and should be shunned?”
To be clear I dont thrill over my score, people recognize me based upon my content and reputation. To what you said in your last paragraph I DONT walk around advertising my score in fact I’m clear that I dont care. Did you read the article? When you want to argue points of an article can you stick to the story and not make stuff up? Its a little hard to discuss.
I didnt say what Klout is or what should be done with it. The gist of the article is – focus on making great content instead of scores. Why dont you ask me why I didnt discuss martians as long as we’re adding stuff?
I like Brian but hes the one I refer to where people are arguing trying to say their method is better and one reason why this was written. Everyone is arguing about score.
See if you can give me a better argument within the tenents of what I actually wrote please. Dont read it – comprehend it. Thanks
Chris
If you had read my reply and comprehended it, you would have understood my reference at the end of your post to “Check out these related posts.”
Which I did. In particular the one entitled: “What if in the future a “Social Scoring” system like Klout, would determine, job hiring, promotions, life etc?”
In which you say:
” At blogworld, I stood anonymous in a crowd and when people saw my score I was circled with people suddenly wanting to chat. It does make a BIG difference in how people treat you at those events so I can see the same transforming in life. The future? I like what Klout is doing as opposed to many of the “rating services” that have tried to measure this.”
Hence my confusion. Is Klout worth paying attention to or not? Should we disdain it or embrace it? Should we like it or not like it?
If you had read my reply you would have not brushed past the point where I said:
“Your points about focusing on consistently creating valuable communication are indisputable truth and valuable counsel, mired as they are amid your bold, capitalized hectoring.”
And no I didn’t get the joke. Neither did the other people I showed it to and asked for their opinion.
The comparison to FICO is another bald lie Klout perpetuates in their drive to become the Kleiner Perkins “standard of influence.” FICO scores are subject to federal and state regulation and privacy laws, Klout is not. FICO scores are calculated according to formulas which must be divulged upon request and which can be appealed, Klout scores cannot.
We’d best get on with creating new content. I will, however, join with many others in making a principled stand against a bad idea poorly executed that continues to gather momentum (Thanks Klout!)
Again your embellishing – do you see the issue? Where in that post does it say I was thrilled or I announced it? It was put up on a screen that people saw. Your referencing a post nearly 2 years ago expecting me to remember it or feel the same way? Also again your assuming I “brushed” by your paragraph? Jesus, my first line references it. The challenge here is you are so into your argument in your head youre projecting it on to me.
” Is Klout worth paying attention to or not? Should we disdain it or embrace it? Should we like it or not like it?” Again – this isnt what the article is about and is not discussed.
The gist of the article is to quit focusing on Scores, go make great content and share it with the world. Its the opposite of lets argue about scores.
LOL Absolutely awesome. I love it!
Thanks for a very in your face, reality check… You don’t accomplish anything in life by whining and complaining.
Well said Chris. Couldn’t have said it better myself. The ones that complain, are often ones that want an easy route, when there is none.
Excellent article! I completely agree, continued content and networking will increase your score. Nothing happens over night.
I added your article to my WordPress:
http://vmswashington.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/why-you-should-quit-complaining-about-klout-and-other-influence-measuring-sites/ If you have anymore blogs I would gladly add them to my blog.
Thank you,
Michael Roberts
Perfectly said!
I agree with a 68 I work and research HARD everyday for that!
and for this great article I must give you +K for the Topic Klout 🙂
Amen to that! Instead of looking at how inaccurate social scoring is (which it is indeed), people could look at the bigger picture for a moment, and realize that influence measurement is an industry in its infancy.
It’s like search engines 1998.
Even 2012 Google can’t give us perfect search results. Not because Google’s lazy or stupid or unwilling, but because scoring web content is a huge and complicated task. The same is true for influence measurement and scoring. But, no doubt, 10 years from now the players in this industry will deliver much better results than today.
Hi Chris,
I really like your point of view here.
You say:”I dont thrill over my score, people recognize me based upon my content and reputation. People dont come up to me saying “oh your Mr. Klout Score #xx. People know me because they see great content everywhere from me.”
I may see your wonderful content every day on Twitter and on other networks and I am always impressed very much.
For me your Klout score is mere the confirmation that you are an expert in your field and are able to convince people with what you do. You are able to convince people with your work.
People who see a score only as a game or as important for the own EGO have not understood what real engagement and good and successful work is about.
Having seen my Ecademy score for long times in the first ranking I know what it means to be really engaged. I also had the impression here that people do not understand what engagement is about – that it is real and honest work with no background thinking of having to fulfill a high score. For me the score had only been a good confirmation of my effective and honest engagement in the networks.
The same with other scores and rankings. If we are able to convince by our good work and engagement, we don’t need any score – a score only expresses what we are able to and what we achieve with our work.
A score is only a confirmation – a good confirmation for our work and engagement. We normally don’t need this confirmation – when being effectively engaged we see how successful we are, and how influential we are.
Klout is good for our EGO – but do we need this?
Do we try to convince with our EGO or our effective work?
Looking forward to your wonderful articles and content, Chris!
Thanks!
Absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE this blog post! As I have said many times before Klout just proves that big numbers are not so big after all. Anyone can BUY 10,000 followers a year and SAY they are popular because of it. But in order to have REAL influence you have to EARN IT!
I am a bit late but thumbs up to you for writing this article, my thoughts exactly! I am a supporter of Klout and like what they are doing. People need to learn to WORK with it instead of FIGHTING it! Social media is not going away and neither is Klout so why don’t they make the best of it so they can be truly engaging and influential online and therefore their Klout scores will reflect on that.. and they can shut up lol.