Apparently sometime this morning I got caught in a Klout death spiral. How often do you check in with Klout and see your score? I probably do this about once per quarter. I don't check it frequently because I'm still not convinced it means anything. Today is a perfect example - I saw the Mashable story on Klout launching the new +K measure for social media influence. The new product lets people give other users authority on different subjects. I thought, that looks neat so I better go see how that works. I clicked on Klout and signed in with my Twitter and Facebook connections.
Here's where things get wonky. My Profile says I have Klout score of 51, making my Klout style a "Specialist". I thought sweet, I'm a boss! A Specialist is defined as someone who may not be a celebrity, but within their area of expertise their opinion is second to none. Their engagement (content) is likely focused around a specific topic or industry with a focused, high-engaged audience. I think that nicely defines my Twitter presence. I thought, that's a great score - I should share that on my blog with the widget they offer.
So I checked on the "Widget" section of the site. I like these badges, you can post them on your webpage or blog letting people know what your score is, or how influential Klout thinks you are. Imagine my surprise when literally 2 minutes after my awesome 51 score, I saw this:
[This widget is now working properly, it said 46] WTH? The site says Widgets will:
So you've got Klout, but how do you let people know it? We bet this is keeping you up at night, so we stayed up late and made these awesome widgets to solve that problem.
So while I was busy trying to get my Klout widget, I lost some Klout. Then my friend Chris Senger called me. I started explaining to him that I was quickly losing Klout while I was trying to learn more about +K. After I explained to him how exciting my 51 score was, and how I was quickly declining into Klout oblivion, he talked me off the Klout ledge. I was starting to feel better about myself but then 10 minutes later I saw I dropped to a 38. What's up with the inconsistency, what did I do in that 10 minute window to diminish my score? Maybe talking about your clout lowers your Klout? Oh, yeah - just like in real life.
Apparently, as of right this second my Klout score is back to a 51. I think this is why in real life we don't walk up to people and say "Hey, am I important? Do I influence you? Do you like me?" I'll back off the ledge now and get back to real work because I think that's what actually helps me be a voice in my field. Maybe I will check back in next quarter and see if it makes a difference.