How influential are you as an online opinion-former? A San Francisco-based social networking index believes it has the answer.
Klout, tipped as the next big thing in the rapidly evolving world of social media, is being described by its creators as “the standard for online and internet influence”.
Using a complicated series of algorithms, the system adds up a person’s tweets, likes, pings, LinkedIn connections, Google mentions, status updates and other social media musings. The ripple effect of that online contribution is used to measure how much influence a person has online and, by inference, whether they are worth listening to.
A quick look at Klout’s top 20 rankings shows how confusing the social media landscape can be. Justin Bieber, mop-topped pop sensation, has the highest score at 100, 10 spots ahead of Barack Obama at 88, who also trails the Dalai Lama (90) and Lady Gaga (89).
The idea is the brainchild of tech entrepreneur Joe Fernandez. Two years ago, he was using Twitter and Facebook to keep his friends and colleagues up to date with his recovery from a jaw operation that left him dependent on online communication. What struck him was how hard it was to filter all the information being thrown at him. “How does anyone know what is and isn’t important?” he says.
Size isn’t everything. Having thousands of Twitter followers only gets you so far. It’s the impact of what someone says that matters and who is listening, according to Fernandez. “In a way it’s the opposite of advertising,” he said. “For some things it’s reaching the few that matter. If you say you like something, how many people and who does that affect? We are living in an attention economy. We have too much information coming at us. Who do we trust, whose links are we going to click?”
Klout’s ability to identify who is influential on different topics has already attracted serious interest from companies looking for online impact.
Disney recently used the service to identify influential social media types who were then invited to sneak previews of Tangled, its latest animated outing. Vegas hotels are using it to identify the new media rat pack and give them an upgrade when they check in. Virgin America used Klout to promote its latest route between Toronto and San Francisco. “Every lobbyist in Washington is coming to us for data. They want to know who is driving opinion,” says Fernandez.
The system has its critics. Trey Pennington, a social media consultant, says Klout is “snake oil”. Pennington challenges the site’s numbers and the transparency of the way they are collated. “That’s not to say there isn’t value in what he’s doing,” says Pennington. “Companies want a simple quick, third-party source to tell them who to listen to.” Fernandez concedes it’s early days. “We are working very aggressively to generate the best numbers we can,” he says.
Sree Sreenivasan, digital media professor at Columbia University, believes social media today is where radio was in 1912 or television in 1950. “We are at the very beginning of understanding the nature of influence,” he says. “What Klout has done – faster than anyone else – is put a number to that. It may not be the right number, but having a number at all is very useful.”
Sreenivasan points to network theory – an area of computer science that has been used to map relationships in a variety of spheres. “Network theory tells us that if you find the nodes, you can do anything. Who are people really listening to? In an era of information overload you are going to find more and more value in individual voices.” Klout is one of the first serious attempts at independently identifying whom we should listen to, he says. -guardian.co.uk
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