WTF? Friday: What is Klout, Anyway?

You may have clout, but do you have Klout?

A good tool for measuring influence and paying attention to your content and engagement is Klout.com. From the site:

“The Klout Score measures influence based on your ability to drive action. Every time you create content or engage you influence others. The Klout Score uses data from social networks in order to measure:

• True Reach: How many people you influence

• Amplification: How much you influence them

• Network Impact: The influence of your network”

What I like about Klout is its comprehensiveness; the ability to connect multiple platforms to enhance an individual’s impact and the feedback it gives, allowing the user to learn about the kind of influence they are affecting, and the individuals who both influence the user and whom the user influences.

Using my own Klout profile as an example . . .

My score has been just below 70 for some time. I’m not complaining — 69 is a great Klout score since the total possible is 100. The only user I know that has a score of 100 is Justin Bieber. I don’t want to have anything in common with Justin Bieber, so there you go.

Klout tells me this:

• I am a “curator” generating actions and discussions with nearly every message;
• I influence more than 1,000 users with my content; this is my “true reach;”
• I have a high percentage of content amplified; that is, my tweets and updates are shared often; and
• I generate a high level of engagement from other influencers.

As a “curator” the site says this about my style of engagement:

You highlight the most interesting people and find the best content on the web and share it to a wide audience. You are a critical information source to your network. You have an amazing ability to filter massive amounts of content to surface the nuggets that your audience truly care about. Your hard work is very much appreciated.

Why thank you, Klout! You look very pretty today. Did you get a haircut?

I love Klout and the way it helps my clients’ businesses stay on message and measure the success of their social engagement. What’s YOUR Klout score?