WTF is Klout and why do you want it?!
The lovely Tara has asked me to answer the question of the month: WTF is Klout?! I blog at a little place called Krystal's Kitsch and I recently graduated with my Master's in Technology. This by NO means makes me an expert on all things computer, but sometimes I like to pretend. So, let's talk Klout!
We've all been seeing the +K's on Twitter or Facebook -- giving people props for their specialties in a variety of subjects. Blogging, photography, Justin Bieber (as Tara gave a +K to Jen about! Ha!). But, how does it determine our specialties, our influences, what DOES IT ALL MEAN?!
Let's start from the beginning. If you haven't heard of Klout, it's basically a new social media website that encourages users to interact with each other in order to raise their "score." Everyone has a Klout score--even if you're not a member of the site. Your score means how influential you can be. Do people read your tweets/updates -- but more importantly -- do they LISTEN to what you say and ACT? Klout looks at your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Tumblr, Blogger, Flickr, Last.fm, Instagram, and YouTube.
Klout claims they are not about follower or friends counts -- instead they look at retweets, @messages, how many likes you get and comments. If you talk to a lot of people online that are considered to have a high Klout... then you, yourself, will also score high! Does this make sense?
Your score is broken down into:
The lovely Tara has asked me to answer the question of the month: WTF is Klout?! I blog at a little place called Krystal's Kitsch and I recently graduated with my Master's in Technology. This by NO means makes me an expert on all things computer, but sometimes I like to pretend. So, let's talk Klout!
We've all been seeing the +K's on Twitter or Facebook -- giving people props for their specialties in a variety of subjects. Blogging, photography, Justin Bieber (as Tara gave a +K to Jen about! Ha!). But, how does it determine our specialties, our influences, what DOES IT ALL MEAN?!
Let's start from the beginning. If you haven't heard of Klout, it's basically a new social media website that encourages users to interact with each other in order to raise their "score." Everyone has a Klout score--even if you're not a member of the site. Your score means how influential you can be. Do people read your tweets/updates -- but more importantly -- do they LISTEN to what you say and ACT? Klout looks at your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Tumblr, Blogger, Flickr, Last.fm, Instagram, and YouTube.
Klout claims they are not about follower or friends counts -- instead they look at retweets, @messages, how many likes you get and comments. If you talk to a lot of people online that are considered to have a high Klout... then you, yourself, will also score high! Does this make sense?
Your score is broken down into:
- How many people you influence (True Reach)
- How much you influence them (Amplification)
- How influential they are (Network Score)
- Keep track of your score and its ups and downs. If you get a higher score one day, you're doing something right...and you want a high score to get perks!
- Try to get Klout perks! This is the best part of the site in my opinion. By registering, you're eligible to receive perks. Companies have paid Klout to find influential people to send freebies too! I've signed up to receive $10 off climbing supplies (um, not sure why I would need this but I did), $25 to a sports ticketing website, and I have some AXE coming !
- You can give people props for being knowledgeable on a subject. Look up a user by their Twitter name in the search and give them a +K in whatever subject Klout has determined they are noteworthy in. My subjects are beer, weddings and Florida. Tara is super amazing in blogging, Houston, and food! Look up what Klout thinks you're influential in and let us know!
- You can create lists of your favorite Klout users to see what they're up to.
Just a note - Klout scores range from 1 to 100. Justin Bieber has a 100. I have a 56 and Tara has a 59. You have a "title" based on what score you have. I'm a specialist and Tara is a broadcaster. She has more friends than me, yo.
No comments:
Post a Comment