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Social Media and Klout: How Do You Measure Up?
What's your Klout score? Do you even know what your Klout is? When I use the word Klout, I'm not misspelling it ("Clout" would be the properly spelled word per the dictionary) and I'm not talking about what kind of power you may wield in your physical profession, I'm talking about what kind of Klout do you hold online and in the world of social media?
For those that don't know. Klout is a relatively new website (founded in 2008) that is much like Facebook or Twitter, except with one big difference, your Klout profile measures the influence you have across social media sites, including your activity on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and other social networking sites like YouTube, Foursquare, Tumblr, Instagram, Wordpress and Blogger.
Klout measures your activity and assigns you a "score", which shows how influential you are on your social networking and media sites, including your activity on the Internet through pages that you write and have been tagged in. The more you write, the more you interact with your fans, friends, family and readers, the higher your Klout score will be, and according to Klouts algorithm, the higher your social influence online.
My Klout profile
My Klout score is 60-61 - putting me in the top 5% of online influencers
I just signed up for my Klout profile last week, and it was very easy. I linked my social sites to Klout, and I was curious to see what kind of "Klout" I hold in the online world. I was assigned a score of 10 at first, which was pretty dismaying given the amount of time I spend online writing, tagging, posting, responding and interacting with both friends/family and fans.
However, by the next day, when Klout had had time to analyze all my social media and online activity, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had a Klout score of 61, which according to the reports, puts me in the top 5% of worldwide influencers. Pretty cool to know that I have that much "Klout" online!
Your Klout is not just a number
Klout has been working on and tweeking it's system since it's founding, and continues to evolve. It will be interesting to see what kind of "clout" that Klout will carry in peoples worlds in the future. Apparently not having a Klout score can even affect your getting a job (especially if the job is a high profile one) I recently read an article about a highly qualified man who failed to get a high profile job because he did not have a Klout account, and therefore had no score (he immediately signed up for his Klout account after that)
Most of us do not like being assigned a "number", but I could see where using your Klout score as leverage could help you get a better paying job (especially if you are in social media, a writer or online entrepreneur) Much like your eBay score, your Klout could reflect your trustworthiness online, in addition to what type of influence you hold with your peers. Klout could be used to build brand awareness and in an interesting twist, companies like Wahooly are now offering stakes in start-companies like FrostBox for those that have alot of Klout. The companies then offer you perks for having a part of the pie, including points you earn for wielding your Klout and helping bring brand awareness to start-ups,
Points can then be used for various perks from the companies that you have a stake in, and I have heard that some people have even used their points for Apple iPods.
I was offered a "piece of the pie" of several start-ups, and am reviewing those to decide which ones I would like to contribute too (part of earning points of course would be how much brand awareness you help bring to "your company") There are start-up companies like non-profits working to end unemployment, to tech start-ups offering things like paid videos.
Depending on how much Klout you have will depend on what companies are offered to you.
Poll on Klout use
Did you know about Klout before you read this hub?
What is my Klout score?
My Klout profile is here: Dorsi Diaz on Klout, if you would like to see how Klout is set up, or if you want to sign up for your free Klout account. I do not receive money for referring people, and I'm not sure how people signing up on my page affects my "Klout" (although I would imagine that people that sign up from your page would definitely factor into your Klout score)
It will be interesting to see how Klout comes along, and if Klout will become the next big social media site next to Facebook and LinkedIn. Since I have been doing social media and online marketing for several years, I have seen the rise and fall of many sites that had good ideas but either got in too late in the arena, or were already facing stiff competition (Lunch, Yuwie and Digg come to mind) But one thing I do know is that as a writer who is always looking for her next gig, I definitely want my Klout score to be factored into my visibility. I also want to be able to produce my Klout score in case I am asked by a potential employer what it is. And, it's also a good way for me to see what things I post that receive the most attention, and what online activities are successful for me from a branding perspective.
One thing is for sure, social media is here to stay and using your Klout online will definitely help you know where you stand in the online world.
Klout headquarters are in the San Francisco Bay Area
The Mission: Klout's mission is to empower every person by unlocking their influence.