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Klout Survey. Does it Matter?

January 17, 2012 By 54 Comments

(I originally posted this at my notagrouch.com blog, but the host there is having issues), so here it is:

With all the fuzz about Klout, I wonder how you feel. I could ask you to give me your two cents in the comments, and please do. But I also ask that you take a quick few seconds to answer this quick Survey. Thank you:

Filed Under: Blog stuff, Social Networking Tagged With: , ,
About Oscar Gonzalez

Oscar Gonzalez runs Oscarstech, a full-service technology company providing IT, Web and media services. Visit the store or request a consultation today.

  • http://www.facebook.com/anne.thomas1 Anne Thomas

    I like to give k’s as a nice thing to do, the number is pretty, but I don’t worry over it especially while in beta..

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      Do you think when it comes out of beta, you’ll change how you interact with it? What would you do differently if it were in full release mode @facebook-773719449:disqus ?

  • Eleisia Whitney

    I signed up a few days ago and haven’t actively used Klout. I’ve given k’s to EA members.

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      Thank you @190054947bfff55f5af6e884e2665d94:disqus , what was the reason you signed up for Klout? 

  • Tedora

    A lot of questions :-)

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      Definitely @10d0b25defce69070d04373521fe95c8:disqus , necessary to get a good feel. 

  • John Philpin

    Klout is nascient – like peer index and others – including curiously (to some) Empire Avenue – I am writing a piece on this at the moment that attempts to describe that these kinds of spaces are in fact the future. I will be sure to share when it is done — it *is* the wave of the future – but there is a LOT of sorting to do first – a LOT – and I also think that the real POWER will come when it measures OFF line / real world kudos aswell. It will come – right now though – on the whole – truly – who cares :-)

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      Definitely a new landscape @6529d56c8965dbae43e0bc3e40c7d4f7:disqus , I look forward to reading your post. I agree with you in most accounts, but I’m skeptical based on the current execution of things. I also wrote this http://notagrouch.com/blog/the-failures-of-measuring-social-media/

      • Facebook

        thanks for the jog – must finish it :-)

  • DES Daughter

    FYI, I use Klout to engage, make new connections, as a complement to Analytics for some data, possibly to spread #DES awareness, certainly NOT to measure supposed influence… and yes as a “tip tool” to invest in very fresh EAv tickers who do not have EAv scores yet lol cheers Oscar :)

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      Thank you Des. What do you mean by use “Klout to engage” what are some practical examples of this?
      And thank you for stopping by. Greatly appreciated!

      • DES Daughter

        Via +K for example… I have received some +K from people I had never heard of and who probably found me/us via Klout… so it’s an opportunity to meet people involved in social media and to see many of their connections/networks etc…

  • Dana J Lange

    I like Klout even though I’m not sure it provides an accurate picture. 

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      Same here!

  • http://www.dancingdogblog.com Mary Haight

    I have to wonder if Klout knows what they are doing given the score shake up and then odd jumps of 6 points for hmmmm, I don’t know what. I never took the scores seriously, but apparently brands do (eyeroll) and that is a concern if you’re looking for advertising. 

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      I think they know what they want to do and they know how to do some of it, the rest is a learning process. I think it’s one of many factors when evaluating social media interactions. Thanks for participating @maryhaight:disqus 

  • http://twitter.com/ShannonSmith Shannon Smith

    Done! Great survey… look forward to hearing more about the results!

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      Coming soon @twitter-34532322:disqus 

  • http://www.businessesGROW.com/blog Mark W Schaefer

    Yes, Klout matters : )

    For reasons I think most people miss: http://www.businessesgrow.com/2011/09/12/why-klout-matters-a-lot/

    I think it is oging mainstream fast.

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      Thank you @markwilliamschaefer:disqus I agree with you in a lot of things. So far the results are more on the “maybe/not” side, but like you said I think most people are missing the point.

  • http://twitter.com/BobWarren Bob Warren

    “You cannot push anyone up the ladder unless he is willing to climb.” – Andrew Carnegie

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      And that’s a wise saying @twitter-17520649:disqus 

  • Peter Radzio

    I only use Klout because other people I interact with on Empire Avenue use it. It has zero effect on anything else I do.

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      That’s cool, different point of view, how about kred or peerindex? do you use any of those?

  • http://twitter.com/ptarkkonen Petteri Tarkkonen

    Hopefully you share results! Thank You for the survey.

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      Of Course! @twitter-189474615:disqus The results for the Klout survey will be shared soon. Going to wrap it up later this week and results should be posted early next week. 

  • http://twitter.com/candacemountain Candace Mountain

    Klout does matter as it is a good gauge to see how much reach a person has which is important in social media and promotions.

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      Thank you @twitter-24004966:disqus , that’s a good point about Klout measuring “reach” vs “influence”

  • Fervil Von Tripoli

    Awesome Survey. :)

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      Like Everything I do. :)

  • http://twitter.com/jvzelst Jeroen van Zelst

    For me Klout score is a result, not a goal. I do believe that it can play a role in the way people/business make choices – for instance in recruiting processes. For now (in my mind) that would be for specific roles, mostly ‘social media / new media’ related. For hiring a controller I don’t think a lot of people would mind his/her Klout score… ;-)

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      I agree, @twitter-102165317:disqus but what if the controller was being hired for a company like Hootsuite? or Hubspot? Would it matter then?

      • http://twitter.com/jvzelst Jeroen van Zelst

        Interesting question Oscar – and actually I don’t think so… It would be nice if that person would get what that kind of business is all about, but that’s entirely different from having a “higher than average” (?) Klout score yourself. That asks for focussed social activity that does not necessarily contribute to the quality of work that someone in a position like that does.

  • http://twitter.com/TheaBredie Theodora Bredie

    For me it’s not about promotion for me as I own & run my own business. For me it’s about promoting Montessori education. Look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQl-7Lmm4hE or here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcgN0lEh5IA

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      Okay… I think I missed the connection to the survey on the videos, but thanks for commenting.

  • http://www.dotsurvey.com/ Survey

    Waiting for results!

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      Patience my friend.

  • http://www.mikebowler.net mbowlersr

    Great survey, hope you share total results

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      Will do! Thanks for participating.

  • Jackie BIgford

    Interesting survey ..looking forward to the end result

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      Jackie! thank you, results should be shared next week. Early responses were a little slow so I wanted to get more responses. Looks like Friday will be a good day to close this and post results on Monday.

  • Joanne Greco

    Interesting survey Oscar. I participated and look forward to seeing the results. 

    • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

      Thank you so much @google-79ccbf359d9ecdd10c8294217ebb7db7:disqus !

  • http://socialhospitality.com Debbie Miller

    Looking forward to the results! Seems to be a lot of mixed opinions of Klout lately.

  • http://zoeticgeek.com/ Chris Lewis

    Good survey!  Loved the format as well!  I’ll have to give it a try on Google Docs sometime soon.

  • http://lovehateadvertising.wordpress.com/ Mitch Devine

    I can understand how Klout wants to monetize/incentivize the service through Perks, but so far their Perks seem to be mostly irrelevant to the people they’re measuring. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=534229507 Debra Eckerling

    That was fun. Nice to take a look at my answers and evaluate where I spend my time.

  • Anonymous

    Thanks Oscar. I find Klout flawed, but interesting. Obviously it is a much bigger deal if you are working in social media. I just fiddle around with lots of different platforms, not monetising any. Happy to give Klout, but not so fussed about other peoples interactions on Klout. I find their cogs and systems or whatever you clever people call it, a bit dodgy and very easily gamed. I hate that they hold up the giving of Klout to go to another window to prompt you to post a spam tweet or Facebook update. Those kinds of updates are the bane of my timeline. I hate them. Thanks for doing this and have a great day. 

  • http://twitter.com/sbhsbh Steve Hughes

    All Set Oscar…Was actually thinking about a survey as well.  You put this together well.

  • http://twitter.com/Lisapbs Lisa S.

    Can’t wait to see the results.  I only care about my Klout score because of my industry.  After Kloutopolis, I lost a lot of respect for Klout.  It seems that the more I tweet, the lower my score goes.  The perks are never open, either.  I’m mad at myself for caring.

  • http://oscarstech.com/ Oscar Gonzalez

    Thank you everyone so far for answering this, I will be closing the survey tonight and working on the results over the weekend to be posted on Monday or Tuesday. If you know anyone else that should take the survey, please send them this way. There’s about 12 hours left before I close it. 

    Thanks a lot!

  • http://susansilver.info/ Susan Silver

    Klout has become so polarizing. The privacy issue bothers me, but that is true for all social media at the moment. Is it fair, no. But that is how most things operate and you accept that when you use these products. Even if you opt not to use Klout there are other apps that have access to that data, it just isn’t tied so explicitly to your identity.

  • http://tinyurl.com/buildasitefor3bucks Carmengreeneonline

     Taking survey now =) interesting indeed

  • http://www.24x7media.com Dennis Carpenter

    Did you ever share the results from this? Or did I just miss it.