What Is Klout
Klout, as the tagline suggests, is quickly becoming “The Standard for Influence” for the social web. Using a scoring system which is initially based on your Twitter activity, the people at Klout have developed yet another algorithm to rank user relevance. Similar to Peer Index and Twylah, viewing your Klout profile can give a good indication or an overview, of the topics you discuss most often in social media.
Connect Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to Klout
Log in to your Klout dashboard and authorize the connections with your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. Making these profile connections will give Klout more of your data to sift through which should uncover more details about your contacts and give you a clearer picture of your influence within your networks. Although some argue that Klout scores aren't completely accurate, I find the information very useful and perhaps the complaints from naysayers are nothing more than “sour grapes” from users whose scores aren't quite up to par with expectations.
Take Advantage of Your Klout
Based on some questions about Klout that came my way via Twitter, I recorded a video to demonstrate how to access the Klout dashboard to find scores on new Twitter using the extension for Chrome from Kynetx and the Hoverme tool.
[leadplayer_vid id=”50525427856E6″]
The interface was recently beefed-up by allowing users to give each other a +K in the topics they have influence. This adds a human dimension to the algorithm, which can only get better over time. Since users are limited to 5 +K votes per day, it should prove an effective way to avoid gaming of the system, while at the same time encourage further engagement between you and your followers and contacts.
Let's here your thoughts on the idea of using Klout? Can you think of a way to use it to your advantage? Who knows, you might even gain the attention of an influencer in your niche by awarding them with a +K on Klout!
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Hello Ileane, this is a very timely article as I have noticed people assigning me +k over on twitter for the last few days, I was committed to research it today. It will be interesting to see how this site progresses over time, the concept certainly sounds fantastic.
Heading over to hit you with your +k
Hey Janet! My oh my, what a lovely Klout profile you have! You can see that you’re doing things right and your score of 62 is a reflection of that.
I don’t think your following my @ileane profile on Twitter yet, but the +K counts just as much. Thanks!!
I thank you very much for your reply and I corrected the twitter follow issue as well. I hope all of our Klout continues to grow!!
Fantastic explanation of what and how Klout works Ileane. I concur with you that it may not be 100% accurate but it does a pretty good analysis of a “bloggers” influence over the social web. The thing I like most is what Klout thinks about the topics you are in, it gives as an idea that what we are doing is the one that actually matches our interest and this is great. I never heard of HoverMe before but then again I am not (yet) an avid Chrome user. Will install it nonetheless. And thanks for “featuring” my Klout in your video and for the +K. You rock 🙂
Hi DiTesco, I’m glad you agree about the usefulness of Klout. Combined with Twylah and possibly Peer Index we can all gain an overview of effectiveness of our social engagement.
For example, small business owners, might be looking at Google Analytics and wondering why their Twitter traffic isn’t converting. I’m willing to bet that a low influence score on Klout can send out a signal that adjustments need to be made in the content that’s being shared. Every metric we can get our hands on adds another piece to the online marketing puzzle, so why not get all we can out of Klout?
It’s my pleasure to send some +K luv your way 🙂
Hi there Ileane, I read this post on several blogs and have left similar comments. How accurate is the calculation, also is it really benefiting bloggers in terms of analysis of social media. The reason I ask you this is because, its not just standard across industry.
Hi Eddie, what are you comparing it to? The only thing I’m aware of is Peer Index and I suggest you look at both. Let me know if you find another method, ok? Thanks for your comment.
I don’t recall using Klout. Thansk for making a video. When I saw the “+K” , I was reminded of google’s +1 in some ways.
Tikyd, I’m glad you mentioned Google +1. If you notice in the video there is a +1 anywhere button on the list of tools from Kynetx and a few other extensions for +1 have surfaced as well. Thanks for reminded me to say that!
Hi Ileane, I’ve been “+K’ing” a few times lately, it’s a great program to find info on tweeters as well as finding new tweeters to perhaps follow, for me though I use it to have a bit of fun with my friends/followers, giving those +K’s to those that really deserve it 😉 😉
Hi Karen, it reminds me of One True Fan that way. What’s really neat is that yesterday the added another feature called “Friends” http://klout.com/#/friends so we can quickly scroll through a list of our connections from Twitter and Facebook and view their Klout scores and top topics.
Thanks for sending those +K’s my way. I’ve got some for you soon too!
Just been over and checked the “friends” feature, may find that very handy 😉
I agree. It lists recent followers/connections first but I haven’t explored how far back in history it goes. It can be another fun way to give new followers some +K luv too 🙂
Have a great day Karen, it’s always a pleasure to see you.
I don’t get what these things are rally good for; who watches them and why?
Hi Dennis, if you get a chance, watch the video where I explain it all. If you don’t have time to do that, here’s a quick question. Do you want “Tennis” to show up in your social footprint? If yes, then you don’t need to do a thing, because it’s there already. But if no, then log on to Klout and remove it from your profile. 🙂
I didn’t know I had a profile…
Dennis, everyone on Twitter has a Klout score and profile. We also have profiles with Peer Index. All you need to do is log in to Klout with Twitter, track your progress and remove any topics that aren’t relevant. Let me know if you need any help with specific tasks and I’ll be happy to assist 🙂
Klout.com seems to be having problems connecting; I’ll check it out ASAP.
Hi Dennis, Did you ever get a chance to sign up for your Klout account?
Ya know, I tried for a few days and gave up.
Thanks for the reminder though, with the ProBlogStats plugin finished, I need to sign up to a few sites still.
Hey Ileane,
I did sign up with them some time back but I still hear mixed reviews on this service. I started receiving some +K1’s as well and wasn’t quite sure that that meant so thank you so much for explaining this in much more detail for us all. It’s starting to make a lot more sense to me now.
Wonderful video and I did download those plug-ins now that I’m using Chrome as well. Appreciate the time it took to put this together for us. You’re the best.
Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, I’m glad you found the video helpful. We all know that there’s no perfect ranking system for any of our social activity but I like the way Klout is letting us interact with the system by adding the +K feature. Hopefully it will get better over time.
Thanks Ileane! I will have to checkout Klout and you just reminded to checkout Peer Index. I haven’t logged in there in a while.
Hey Alvin, I’ll try to give you some +K’s soon.
Great article. I was just recently introduced to Klout through an SEO webinar hosted by John Pohly. I had no idea how popular it is becoming. I look forward to reading more posts from you.
Hi Lisa, Klout seems to be adding new services too. They recently added Foursquare. I haven’t heard of Mr. Pohly, but good to hear that he’s introducing Klout to his followers.
I appreciate this information Ileane. I first heard about Klout during a stay in Las Vegas–the hotel was upgrading the room to guests who were big influencers. I did not understand it at the time and forgot about it until today. You did a great job explaining this tool. I signed up and I suppose the next thing to do is engage my followers more.
Hi Rachel, welcome to Basic Blog Tips! It’s great to meet you. I’m following you now and I’ll get you some +K luv soon!
Thanks Ileane for this informative post. your every post delivers me something new to learn. i will surely connect all the social medias through Klout. great informative post
Hi Ileane, I’ve just found out that you can now join it to you FourSquare account so that’s probably another what you can increase your Klout.
They say Klout judges your Klout by how active you are on twitter. Reckon I should pull my finger out and become more active. Problem is I don’t always have something to say and I’m not about to start tweeting inane comment.
Hey Sire. Great to see you today. I understand that they will also be offering more Klout Perks with FourSquare. That’s pretty cool. I just got a Klout Perk to attend a movie premiere for The Change Up. I’m not sure if I’ll go but it’s pretty cool getting the perk anyway.
Thanks for the comment and the +K!
I am using Klout now as part of my author-bio at the end of my posts. It’s pretty cool according to @dragonblogger 🙂
Hi Ramcel! @DragonBlogger and I agree on a lot of things about blogging and social media. I love his poetry too. Thanks for letting me know I need to go over to his blog and get the latest from him on Klout.
I am having the Klout score of 64 but I do not think that Klout algorithm works properly. Specially in deciding the field of expertise, Klout is a big fail
I see you have a great Klout score. If you don’t like the topics on your profile, you can delete the ones you don’t want to be associated with. One thing I did notice is that none of your friends has given you a +K. Well let me be the first one.
I’ll make a believer out of you one day…..
Thanks for the comment Shaan.
Hey Ileane! Just getting around to Klout! Thank you for being the one to introduce me to it!
Should be all signed up this week 8)
I heard you mention Klout before but untill now I didn’t really know what it was.
But I’ve seen it before.
To me it looks like it is still in the beginning stage, they will probably add more features making it more usefull for finding interesting influencers.
I started receiving some +K1′s as well and wasn’t quite sure that that meant so thank you so much for explaining this in much more detail.
Excellent and detailed explanation about Klout. I haven’t yet tried it but I am looking forward to check it out very soon.Thank you for including the video too. It’s a motivation factor.
What can I say, never heard of this one either. First things first, I need to get on this well. Thank you for showing the klout.