M & A Rainmaker

As you may know Klout just updated the way that it calculates your Klout score. Those of us that care about Internet Influence scores ( and there are a lot of people who a) Don’t know anything about Internet Influence scores and b) Don’t care about them ) were not looking forward to this day as all previous updates have resulted in a ( sometimes ) dramatic fall in Klout score.

Mashable describes the change in the way that Klout is now grading you here:

http://mashable.com/2012/08/14/klout-update/

The essentials are that “Klout now  puts more weight on who your followers are and how you’re engaging with them.  Klout also now takes into account more of your real-world influence.”

So, given the above and the fact that my Klout score rose from 62 to 70 I have to be pleased with this because it appears to be saying that I am connected with influential people and that we are communicating with one another which is actually what I think is happening. The ” real-world influence ” also appears to have been positive.

I also like the fact that Klout is offering  ”  a look back at your most influential tweets and posts over the past 90 days. ” This provides a summary of who engaged with me and why.

Klout is now saying that ” You’re not influential because of a number. You’re influential because of what you say ( and perhaps do ) .” This is a great way of measuring influence. Klout’s objective now is ( apparently )  “ to make you feel important, and make you feel listened to.”

If you are trying to get your Klout score up then Mashable offers a rundown of some of the factors that play into your ultimate score below:

Facebook
Mentions via tag from other people
Likes
Subscriber count
Posts on your wall
Overall friend count

Twitter
Retweets
Mentions
List memberships
Replies from you to your network
Number of followers

Google+
Comments on your content
+1s
Reshares of your content

LinkedIn
Your job title on LinkedIn
Your connections
Recommendations
Comments

Foursquare
Tips completed – the number of suggestions you’ve left at venues that people have actually completed.

+K
+K from your friends now also plays a role in your score. Previously it only influenced what categories you were thought to be influential in, not how influential you were in general.

Wikipedia
Page Importance
Inlinks to Outlinks ratio
Number of Inlinks

Apart from Wikipedia ( should I write something about myself 😉 I have a substantial presence on all of these networks ( and more ) and I always felt that this was not being taken into account. ( My Klout summary seemed to indicate that only my Twitter and Facebook networks were being analysed ).

This may all be a PR exercise but I have to declare myself  ” satisfied ” with the new measurement and also it seems to me to be taking the right factors into account.

Klout is a bit like Marmite – you either love it ( work with it ) or you hate it. My Klout was falling over the last few days despite my networks growing on Twitter, Facebook, Google + and Linkedin; despite masses of meaningful, productive engagement and despite my Kred and Peer Index scores INCREASING !!

I just checked my Klout score before writing this and suddenly it is going North ( up ) again which may ( at last ) be a reflection of what has been happening recently and a trend which Kred and Peer Index have more  accurately recorded.

While I was beginning to get annoyed with Klout’s failure to recognise what was actually happening in my networks I started seeing other people Tweeting that their Klout scores were falling ( inexplicably ) aswell.

Now, lots of people would say ” Why are you even bothered about what Klout says about you ? ” I happen to believe that some sort of
” Internet Influence ” score will be a factor going forward, especially for people who claim to be ” Social Media Experts “.  I really think that it is mainly here – in assessing the effectiveness of ” Social Media ” professionals – that Internet Influence scores matter – oh ! and also with brands effectiveness in promoting themselves via social media which is hopefully being done by social media professionals.

One of the dangers for Klout is that it is losing “Kredibility” amongst even it’s supporters. Another danger is that it is facing new competitors – for example Synthesio recently announced that it is ” Klout for Grownups ” – which is a clever pick-up on the fact that Klout is not ” professional ” enough for ” proper business “.

http://synthesio.com/corporate/2012/synthesio-news/synthesio-announces-klout-for-grownups/

The fact that Synthesio combines it’s ” Internet Influence ” measurement with ” Social listening ” is also an interesting aspect and a massive danger for Klout.

The view that Klout is ” amateur ” and ” Geeks messing about ” is widespread already.

HubSpot talks about assessing social media professionals on the basis of ” D.A.R.C. ness ” ( Do they have a Digital Network ? Can they Analyse the effectiveness of their social media campaigns? Do they have Internet ” Reach “? Do they have ” Chops “?  i.e. some nouse when it comes to social media promotion .   ). This is the basis of assessing ” Internet Influence “.

Klout has got to start taking things seriously. Stop messing with it’s algorithm. Communicate with it’s users and engage with them or it is going to have no Kred at all and be bottom of the Peer Index !!!!

Start up Wahooly starts tomorrow ( Tuesday 31st January ) having used Klout to select it’s members. I realise that this is is all about as clear as mud at the moment !

Let’s start with Klout which is a company ( one of a few that are doing this ) that essentially grades your Internet influence. Here is Klout about Klout:

http://klout.com/#/understand

” Klout was founded in 2008 to help you measure and leverage your influence. We believe influence is the ability to drive action. For example, Oprah’s opinion on literature has inspired millions to read titles from her book club. But you don’t have to be Oprah to have influence. You influence your friend when she listens to a song you recommend on Facebook. You influence your coworker when he checks out an article you posted on LinkedIn and shares it with someone else. Social actions like these are a reflection of influence. ”

Klout uses a ” secret algorithm ” to measure people and brand influence.

A few month’s ago this algorithm was ” modified ” and a lot of people’s ” Klout score ” changed ( many for the worse ) generating considerable reaction from Klout ” members “.

A lot of people say ” Who are Klout and what right do they have to rank my influence ? ” I have my own issues with Klout including the fact that they have a lot of technical bugs that impact people’s scores.

Anyway – let’s get on to Wahooly. Wahooly is a start-up that aims to help start-ups by recruiting ” influential ” people to promote start-ups that they wish to support. In return the influencers get equity ( shares ) in the start-up. So, this is like hiring an Internet Marketing Expert ( Social Media Marketer ) and PR person and paying them in equity rather than hard cash.

Will it work ?? We shall see.

To be a member of Wahooly you needed to have a Klout score of 45 or above ( mine was at the time of selection but has fallen slightly since. I have been as high as 67 in the past ).

More on Wahooly’s use of Klout here:

http://www.launch.is/blog/wahooly-uses-klout-to-add-400-influencers-daily-who-earn-equ.html

I am therefore a founder member of Wahooly and a Wahooligan ( as they call it ).

Given that it has been very hard to raise start-up capital in the last few years there have been many new initiatives to help start-ups get going. Equity for influence is just the latest of them. There have, for example , been a whole host of crowd financing ( investing small amounts of money for small amounts of equity ) initiatives.

Obviously Wahooly has a presence on the main social media platforms:

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/wahooly?ref=ts&sk=wall

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Wahooligans/

Twitter

https://twitter.com/#!/TeamWahooly

Google +

https://plus.google.com/u/0/105465481469156419624/posts

Linkedin

etc

It is going to be an interesting experiment !!