Tag Archives: klout

I’m not a number

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Yesterday on twitter, I started seeing all of these tweets.

Hmmm Kred. I had been there at least once. I always go and check things out to see what they are about, if they are useful. I see people giving other people +Kred (whatever that is) but I don’t live in there and the number certainly doesn’t concern me.

Still, I was intrigued and clicked through to see my score. Hmm. It’s pretty high? Why am I not a 1% Elite Kredster? In the middle of a tornadic afternoon, I found myself starting to feel concerned, ripped off even, that I hadn’t made the cut.

Well, in my inbox this morning was the golden email. There it was:

Thank God they realized it! Ha!

In the light of day, well, it’s still dark but as I sit here with my new prize, I come back to the idea I’ve believed since Klout started messing around with their algorithms, I’m not a number!

I deactivated my Klout account several algorithm changes ago because, the way I read it, I was going to be penalized for interacting with “less influential” persons than myself. I call BS on that!

I love all of the people I meet on twitter. It’s such a rich and diverse group that you’d have a hard time assembling in real life on a daily basis. I learn and gain from ALL of them not just the top dog Klout wise.

When I started seeing articles that employers weren’t even looking at your resume’ if you didn’t have a certain Klout score, I thought, “now the world has really gone mad”.

I think that within my sphere I am influential to a certain degree. When I get excited, people get excited right along with me. I can see this with my own eyes and I don’t need a number to prove it.

I have gotten some very nice, real life, tokens of appreciation from various brands because of this quality. I haven’t even blogged about my trip to Washington DC as a guest of Eight O’Clock Coffee and I really should. It was a dream trip. Did they look at my Klout score to pick me? No, I don’t think so because when you go to Klout and look for me, you see this:

No, they saw me actually influencing others regarding their brand. I’ve been drinking their coffee since I was 15. It’s my favorite and it’s not a secret. I drink it, I hoard it, I tweet about it. This is real, not some put on. They noticed, called me a Super Fan, and flew me to DC for the experience of a lifetime.

I think the numbers are probably fun to a certain extent but should they mean anything in real life? I would give a hearty NO! to that.

So, if my klout score is the reason that someone will or won’t hire me, I guess I’m destined to be an unemployed trophy wife forever. Dang the bad luck! 😉

 

Why I LIKE the new @klout algorithm

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So I log into my klout account yesterday and I see that I’ve lost some serious pointage.

Just the day before, my klout score was 67 and I was classified as a Pundit. I liked that.

I look into my twitter stream and I see everyone is up in arms because their klout score has gone down. Well, I’m not too interested in my over all klout score.

I was never going to use my “klout” to get some poster or other little trinket. (Note: if they offer me a new Chevy Camaro as a klout perk to get me to tweet about what I’m getting, I sincerely will consider it).

But what I really like to see is my true reach number. That’s the one that’s important to me. I’m on twitter to meet people and build relationships so I feel that my true reach number should be relatively close to what my follower number is.

As I looked over this whole klout situation taking place in my stream, along came @mrautotweetwhitenoise (name has been changed so as not to insult anyone directly). I have blogged about him before. He, to me, is someone who just doesn’t get twitter.

Back when I first blogged about him, he had 50,000 followers and now he’s almost doubled that number.

But check this out:

My twitter follower count

His twitter follower count

And the very best thing:

Whoa! I have a higher klout score than he does, I have larger network influence, I have a larger true reach. Woo hoo!

Social media at the very minimum should be SOCIAL! It used to bother me to see @mrautotweetwhitenoise carrying a higher klout score when he was simply not present. Not social.

I feel vindicated, justified. I feel like my theory has been proven out. So, while you may bemoan your loss of klout points, realize that correction may provide a more accurate reflection of your true social media influence.

At least I’m going to go with that even though I still feel sad not to be classified a Pundit anymore. 🙂