Klout Inc Rise and Fall of a Social Media Influencer Platform

Klout Inc was founded in 2009 by Joe Fernandez, with the goal of measuring a user's social media influence.

The platform used a complex algorithm to assign a score to each user, based on their social media activity and engagement.

Klout's algorithm took into account over 400 variables, including the number of followers, engagement rates, and content quality.

In 2012, Klout launched its Perks program, which allowed users to redeem rewards and discounts from partner brands based on their Klout score.

Klout Inc offers a range of features and benefits that help users measure their online influence and reputation.

Klout scores are calculated based on a user's social media activity, engagement, and relevance, taking into account factors such as the number of followers, likes, and comments they receive.

Klout's algorithm also considers the user's content quality, including the type of content they post and how often they post it.

By providing users with a clear picture of their online influence, Klout helps them identify areas for improvement and optimize their social media strategy.

Klout measured influence by using data points from Twitter, such as the following count, follower count, retweets, list memberships, how many spam/dead accounts were following you, how influential the people who retweet you were and unique mentions.

The data points from Twitter were combined with information from other social networks to come up with the Klout Score. Klout scores were also supplemented with three more specific measures, which Klout calls "true reach", "amplification" and "network impact".

True reach is based on the size of a user's engaged audience who actively engage in the user's messages. This means that the more people who are actively interacting with your content, the higher your true reach score will be.

The amplification score relates to the likelihood that one's messages will generate actions, such as retweets, mentions, likes and comments. This score helps you understand how effective your content is at sparking conversations and actions.

Network impact reflects the computed influence value of a person's engaged audience. This measure shows how much influence your audience has over others.

Klout's methodology was created by Joe Fernandez, who was inspired by his own experience of using social media to interact with others while recovering from surgery.

Perks were a key feature of Klout's business model, allowing companies to pay for campaigns that offered free services or products to Klout users who fit specific criteria.

Companies could establish partnerships with Klout, as CEO Joe Fernandez mentioned around 50 partnerships had been established by November 2011.

Klout users who received Perks were not obligated to write about them, but the hope was that they would organically advertise the products on social media.

By May 2013, users had claimed over 1 million Perks across more than 400 campaigns, showcasing the program's popularity and reach.

Klout for business is a powerful tool that helps brands understand their online audiences. In March 2013, Klout announced its intention to begin displaying business analytics aimed at helping business and brand users learn about their online audiences.

Klout's business analytics provide valuable insights into how your brand is perceived online. This information can be used to refine your marketing strategy and improve your online presence.

By leveraging Klout's business analytics, you can gain a deeper understanding of your target audience and tailor your content to resonate with them.

Klout made a significant move in September 2012 by partnering with the Bing search engine.

This partnership allowed Klout scores to be displayed in Bing searches, giving users a better understanding of the credibility and influence of online content.

Klout users could also share items selected by Bing on their social media platforms.

This integration showed Klout's commitment to providing users with a seamless and connected experience.

Klout's methodology was widely criticized for not accurately representing a person's real influence, with Barack Obama having a lower score than several bloggers.

Critics argued that Klout devalued authentic online communication and promoted social ranking and stratification by trying to quantify human interaction.

The site was also criticized for violating the privacy of minors and exploiting users for its own profit.

John Scalzi described the principle behind Klout's operation as "socially evil" in its exploitation of users' status anxiety.

Charles Stross blogging that his analysis of Klout's terms and conditions revealed that the company's business model was illegal in the United Kingdom.

Ben Rothke concluded that Klout's results of influence should carry very little influence, and that the site had its work cut out to improve.

Klout's methodology was also criticized for being opaque, with some arguing that it was overly simplistic, relying on just the logarithm of the number of followers to explain 95% of the variance.

Klout's methodology was heavily criticized for not accurately representing a person's real influence, with critics pointing out that Barack Obama, the President of the United States, had a lower influence score than several bloggers.

The site was also accused of devaluing authentic online communication and promoting social ranking and stratification by trying to quantify human interaction.

Klout's algorithms were updated to better reflect Barack Obama's importance, but the damage had already been done.

Several experts, including John Scalzi and Charles Stross, described Klout's operation as "socially evil" and the Internet equivalent of herpes, respectively.

Ben Rothke concluded that Klout's results of influence should carry very little influence, and that the site had its work cut out to improve its methodology.

The company was also criticized for the opacity of their methodology, with some experts claiming that a simple logarithm of the number of followers was sufficient to explain 95% of the variance.

Klout's business model was even deemed illegal in the United Kingdom, where it conflicted with the Data Protection Act 1998.

Some employers made hiring decisions based on Klout scores, with a man being eliminated as a candidate for a VP position specifically because of his low score.

Klout, Peerindex, and Kred were amongst a number of social influence ranking tools that became popular, but eventually got built into other tools or evolved into influencer marketing platforms.

The concept of reducing influence to a single number based on a single digital data source is flawed, as any decent comms or PR practitioner will tell you.

Klout scores can be gamed, which led to a focus on increasing scores rather than genuine engagement. I personally tried to increase my Klout score and got up into the 70s, which was a useful experiment.

The pursuit of a high Klout score can lead to a boring and one-dimensional Twitter feed, stripping the fun out of social media.

A single number like Klout score can't determine genuine influence, and it's an unsophisticated way to measure it.

Four key criticisms of blunt social scoring tools like Klout are:

Klout Inc has had its fair share of exciting milestones and partnerships over the years. One notable event was in September 2011 when Klout integrated with Google+.

In October 2011, Klout changed its scoring algorithm, which unfortunately led to many users complaining about the changes. This was a significant move for the company, but it didn't sit well with everyone.

Klout partnered with Wahooly for their beta launch in November 2011, marking a new phase of growth and expansion for the company. This partnership was a key moment in Klout's journey.

By January 2012, Klout had raised an estimated $30 million from a host of venture capital firms, giving the company a significant boost. This influx of capital helped Klout to further develop its services and expand its reach.

In February 2012, Klout acquired local and mobile neighborhood app Blockboard, expanding its offerings and capabilities. This acquisition was a strategic move by Klout to strengthen its position in the market.

Here are some key milestones in Klout's history:

Klout and other social capital tools played a role in creating fake influence, but at least you had to work at it to game the system.

Today, many brands are working with social media influencers who have huge numbers of followers without checking whether they bought them or the quality/demographics of their fans.

We've got a long way to go to work out a way to measure real influence with AI and not Human Intelligence.

Technology companies are analyzing whether it's ethical to be reductive about our digital behaviors and the possible implications to society.

There's an appetite for using artificial intelligence to simplify the process of identifying influencers, rewarding positive behaviors, and reaching mass audiences through those with 'social capital'.

Klout isn't dead, it's just resting.