This poll analysis was written by Jeremy Victor, editor-in-chief of B2Bbloggers.com. For more of his writing, visit B2Bbloggers.com and follow him on Twitter or Google+.
SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues.
Our poll this week asked:
What’s your opinion of sites that try to measure social media influence, such as Klout? The results:
- They’re important, but they’re not the only factor worth considering: 45.45%
- They’re not to be taken seriously: 32.73%
- Not sure: 18.18%
- They’re the best measure of social media performance: 3.64%
Interesting, no? That said though, with this week’s analysis, I thought I would do something a little a different. Rather than me share my thoughts and analysis of Klout, I turned to the blogosphere in an attempt to share a point/counterpoint on the topic of influence. Below I’ve chosen to summarize key points from two of the smartest individuals on the topic.
POINT: Mark Schaefer: Klout is key to building influence with content.
Schaefer argues that the ability to promote content is an essential part of any social media strategy. The ability to promote content is known as “influence.” A social media program needs to be able to gauge that ability if its going to be successful — and that’s what Klout is trying to accomplish. It gives you the ability to see who can really push the conversation in a space forward. Read the original article.
COUNTERPOINT: Tom Webster: It’s not the intent, it’s the algorithm.
Klout’s scores are based on a variety of factors, none of which is truly indicative of influence, because they’re based on a flawed set of assumptions about how people relate to one another. At best, it’s creating a score that tells you a person’s potential to influence others. But that score doesn’t tell you whether or not they’ll actually influence the people you’re hoping to reach. Klout is flawed because its assumes too much. Read the full article.
Who do you agree with? Schaefer or Webster or neither?
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It's quality of content for the win. Systems can be gamed and scores can be arbitrary, but there's no substitute for actual thought, cleverness, or some form of talent besides getting followbacks. I documented my declining Klout score after a week of abnormally high social activity, then saw the score change yet again when Klout adjusted their algorithm. ?!?! But nothing changed about my content. That said, Klout scoring could potentially unmask someone touting themselves as a social media expert if they rank in the single digits, but even then the content should be worth a look.
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I really like the Klout system. Sure, I agree the metric is flawed, but I am not sure there is a better way to measure it. When I have looked at the scores of people I find to be influential in my twitter firends, it is surprisingly accurate in my personal assessment of how I would "rank" them. It may be a flawed metric, but it is far better than no metric or going off just metircis like follower #'s that can be 100% gamed.
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I am not sure the choices are mutually exclusive.
Influence is key. Gladwell discussed how some trends have been assisted by a select group of people who influenced the rest.
However, given this is human interaction, there is an unlimited number of factors that can come into play and will make an impact. Not all of these can be picked up from on-line behavior. And people who have a vested interest in high scores will game the system.
Both articles have a valid viewpoint. Synthesized – influence is important and it is difficult to systematically measure.
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So tell me why didn't you include a choice in your poll that said:
"I think Klout is an outrage and we should all delete our profiles"
I think especially after all of the news articles in the NY Times and elsewhere about Klout's practice of publishing profiles of people who haven't registered (or are even aware) and profiling kids under 18, and the blog posts about opt-ing out of Klout, I imagine that choice might have gotten more than half the votes.
See how I really feel here: "Delete Your Klout Profile Now!" http://take5interactive.com/wordpress/?p=1391