Skip to main content



Klout.com: The PageRank of the Social Web

http://gigaom.com/2011/01/10/klout-gets-8-5m-to-create-the-page-rank-of-the-social-web/

As social media sites become more and more a part of daily life, they are becoming useful for more than just staying connected with friends and family.  Companies are taking notice of the effect that social media can have on their products and their marketing strategies.  In particular, certain people have more “influence” on the internet than other people, and have the ability to possibly help a company in advertising and promoting their product.  Pages have begun to pop up with the purpose of analyzing just how influential people are online.  One such page has recently become very popular is Klout.com.  On Klout’s website they give a general description of the way that a Klout score is compiled.  It takes into account three basic areas of influence; true reach, amplification, and network.  True reach is an analysis of “the number of people you influence”(1), which includes the people who respond to or repost a message you create.  Amplification is a measurement of how often, and how many people respond to your posts. “If people often act upon your content you have a high amplification score”(1).  The third component is Network, which “indicates the influence of the people in your true reach”(1).  This measures how frequently people in your true reach interact with your content.  Klout uses information from various sites to calculate your final score.  You can integrate Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, Foursquare and more to contribute to your Klout score.

Klout is similar to PageRank, as it assesses the influence of people as well as the influence they pass on to other people within their networks.  It is a way to quantify the effect someone can have on other people they are connected with.  What separates Klout from other influence sites is the way Klout works with outside companies to pair select ‘influencers’ with companies.  Klout scores not only generate a number on a scale of 1-100, but also tell what topics a certain person is influential about.  Perks are part of Klout.com, and are awarded to certain people with high scores, or who are particularly influential about certain topics.  These perks can range from such things as samples of food or beverages, tickets to events, free electronics, and the chance to preview products before they hit the public.  Most likely, the companies involved realize that today more than ever, and see the opportunity to take advantage of this basically free advertising.  For example, a person with a high Klout score may be influential in certain topics such as food or beverages.  If company x decides to send them a sample package of their newest snacks or drinks, the company is hoping they will tweet, post, or share in some way their experience with these products.  The company is likely correct that they will talk about the products because in order to have a high score, the person is likely a frequent poster.  In this way, the company is getting free press from someone who is able to reach lots of people and according to Klout.com ‘influence‘ them in some way.

Sites like Klout.com are a great way to get an idea of how people interact online, and the degree to which people influence each other.  I think that going forward they will play a larger and larger role in advertising and the way companies target people and execute their marketing plans.

1.) http://klout.com/corp/kscore

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

Leave a Reply

Blogging Calendar

November 2011
M T W T F S S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
282930  

Archives