M & A Rainmaker

The Silicon Crossroads Technopolis is a private High Tech. facility that supports Silicon Crossroads VCT investee companies globally. It also supports companies advised by M & A Rainmaker and the Silicon Crossroads VCT.

The Technopolis is currently supporting companies in ( for example ) London, San Francisco, Israel, New York, Costa Rica and India. the list is continually changing and evolving so this is just a sample of cities and countries supported.

The Silicon Crossroads VCT does not invest in all the companies it supports, it may simply provide advice and guidance. It is particularly interested in assisting startup and growth companies who want to expand from the U.K. to, for example, the U.S.A. and vice versa and also from other countries around the world into the U.K. and Europe. It is one of very few companies in the U.K. to provide these sort of services.

Lichfield Cathedral at night across Stowe Pool.

Managing Partner, Chris Windley, has established global networks via social media networks like Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook and Chris is regarded as one of the most influential people in the world by Internet Influence measurement companies like Klout, Kred and Peer Index. These companies operate mainly from e.g. London, New York and San Francisco. Since his days at Optical Fibre Network company Fibernet, Chris noted that U.S. companies tended to lead the European market by between 6 and 18 months and therefore it is vital to maintain contacts with High Tech. industry leaders there; especially the West Coast ( Silicon Valley etc. ) which remains the frontrunner when it comes to angel and venture capital support.

It is no surprise that some of the most important High Tech. companies in the world have emerged from the Silicon Valley/San Francisco area.

Chris maintains contact with Angels, Venture Capitalists and Founders via Internet networks like Linkedin, Google + and AngelList.

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 !!!!