Under the Influence

Everyone has influence—the ability to drive action.

Can you quantify influence considering “influence” is qualitative?

Klout says you can.  

When I first looked up my Klout score, I was both excited and anxious about seeing what my score would be.  I would be lying if I said that I didn’t care if it was high or not.  I engage and collaborate with a lot of talented people and they have certain expectations.  Isn’t leadership the process of influencing others?   

Your Klout score is a number between 1 and 100 that quantifies your circle of influence in the social media world.  According to the company’s website; the average Klout Score is 40.  Your score is determined over a large period of time, and it is not necessarily representative of your number of followers and friends. Also, the score is a reflection of influence, not activity.                                                

The site’s nebulous algorithm enables you to drill down in areas and focus on what you said and who you engaged. The more influential the people you engage, the higher your score climbs. 

Despite the criticisms, a Klout score is increasingly useful to help companies determine which job candidate can best engage with the community and key customers and which current employees are growing his or her online influence.

But let’s be real. To truly understand reputation, however, don’t you need to look at the composite of online and offline influence?   The debate continues, but at our company Klout is a fun distraction during the work day where we celebrate the climb.  Ultimately, the game of Klout unifies the team and solidifies our purpose of influence through engagement versus meaningless push of content.