Beyond Klout: Better Ways To Measure Social Media Influence

readwrite.com

12 points·adampopescu··3 comments

"But perhaps Topsy's biggest selling point is what it doesn't do: the service doesn't reveal user scores. That simple, easy to read score - Klout's calling card and biggest selling point - is also its biggest weakness. Obssessing over that number can quicly become addictive - and separated from geniune social influence."

Absolutely. This has been known for a long time:

http://buildingreputation.com/writings/2010/02/on_karma.html

Do we actually need metrics for 'social media influence?' How is this any different from an e-popularity contest? How does it change online communication for the better? It seems like it is more a play for advertising.

I grew up in the age of the Internet being this nerdy and niche thing where what we said online didn't quite have the levity of offline speech. That doesn't mean it wasn't important; but instead, the disconnected and semi-anonymous nature of the Internet made it such that the boring power hierarchy was not as much of a factor in communication as it would be in real life.

Now, it seems like we want to re-create that using questionable metrics. Remember, if there's one thing humans always get right, it is using metrics properly!

Last week, a friend got himself onto the top 30 Klout influencers list for some conference he wasn't even at. He simply started tweeting lame general platitudes about business with the appropriate hashtag, and by 10 AM he was a top influencer at the conference. I doubt he was even dressed by 10 AM.

The only thing Klout measures is how hard somebody is willing to work to increase their Klout score.

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