Microsoft giving away free Windows phones to higher ranked Klout users. | Hacker News Reader

Microsoft giving away free Windows phones to higher ranked Klout users.

klout.com

21 pointsbrackin10 comments

Am I the only one who's never heard of Klout until now? To me, they've failed at their own service.

So for an individual, Klout just reaffirms one's ego and then rewards with special opportunities for consumerism?

Heard of it months and months ago, but otherwise your opinions are common to pretty much everyone I know.

I'm sure you're not the only one who hasn't heard of it until now, but I've been using it for awhile and it's actually pretty useful. I like their topics feature. I can see who the most influential people are in the "startup" topic and immediately start interfacing with them via Twitter.

I'm part of the 50% of Twitter users who are active every day, so I can see why if you're a part of the other 50%, or you just don't use Twitter at all, this wouldn't be very appealing.

So a startup has failed if it is growing fast but hasn't totally won at the point in time you happen to hear of them?

This is either desperation, great biz dev work from Klout or a smart way to get influential people to use Windows Phone.

I think the reason it's New York only could be that they want to target as many New York influencers as possible, then treat to them a concert. If they can get lots of influential people on Windows Phone it could spread in one of the largest US markets.

The question is does Klout equal influence and am I over analysing their intentions?

This seems like a pretty clever promotion. Worst case, it's not that expensive and there's no real risk. (Well, unlikely worst case: influential people get these phones, hate them, and tell everyone not to buy them. But Microsoft's data shows that when people try WinPhone they generally like them, so they can afford to take that risk.)

Best case: some actual influencers take them up on their offer and generate lots of influence about how great these phones are. And even if very little of that happens, early adopters (i.e. people who've heard of Klout in the first place) are likely to hear about the promotion, and generating even a little buzz among early adopters is a good thing for them.

And for Klout, having sign up and climb leaderboard = might get free stuff can only be a good thing.

Apparently my new phone is on the way and my spot is reserved (if anyone else is going and wants to meet up, I'm in NYC and picked the first day). I'm curious as to which phone it is, though; I've been looking to replace my HTC HD7, so I'm hoping that's not it, which I'm assuming it's not since that's a previous generation. I absolutely love WP7, but the HD7's hardware is just not very good build-quality-wise. Pretty excited to try out something new.

Can someone who logged in from facebook or twitter post a screenshot of the relevant page?

Basically it just comes up and says that I'm not eligible for the free Windows Phone, because I need a Klout of 55 and to live in New York, NY (easily cheatable with Twitter, I suppose). My "Klout" is only 20. Not sure where that puts me on the newbie<->Bieber continuum.

http://www.uploadscreenshot.com/image/514689/3393856

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