Using your Klout – Online Store’s Strict Door Policy

Flabbergasted by this articles opening paragraph, I had to share it as my #1 Five Finds Friday today! Read it and weep: 

"When Jasu launches on Monday with Australian labels including Ellery, Josh Goot and Romance Was Born, shoppers will need a Klout score of more than 40 to access it for the first fortnight."

Really?! Although this is an obvious marketing scheme for publicity and a great way to gain attention before the launch of the store, I truly hope this won’t become a trend used at our favorite retaliers! Can you imagine trying to apply for a Macy’s card and the first two questions ask about your credit AND Klout scores? Imagine if you were denied access to Walmart without a score higher than 45? Let’s hope this trend dies on Monday with the launch of Jasu!

PCWord.com - Klout Now Wants To Measure Your Real-World Influence

Now that Klout is using your real-world influence as a factor into your Klout score, PCWorld believes this is their best attempt at avoiding those that know how to play the system. While many people knew how to raise their scores without actually influencing anyone, Klout’s new analytical method used to calculate scores tries to provide a much more accurate and realistic score – and avoid those that were "gaming the system". 

"Klout has been criticized for the way it computes its scores. Regardless of your actual importance in the real world, you may have a high score just because you know how to play the system. Tuesday’s update attempts to change this. In addition to including additional actions on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and other networks already included, Klout now uses information from Wikipedia."

B2B Community - If Klout Is Fixed, Why Are They Profiling An 11-Year Old Kid?

Now that we’ve all heard about the newest algorithm updates on Klout and checked out our improved scores, wouldn’t it seem to be a complete oxymoron to discover that Klout is profiling minors? It’s hard to believe, but apparently their system is still a BIT wonky. There have already been many discussions about Klout’s unfair policy for those looking to opt out of their rating system.  Their current policy is that all user profiles are created without the explicit permission of users, and you would actually have to opt out of the service if you don’t want to be profiled.

Worse still, though, was the discovery that minors under the age of 18 were being profiled by Klout, from something as innocuous as being connected to their parent on Facebook. Due to the backlash against this practice from numerous bloggers, Klout CEO Joe Fernandez came out and stated “Klout has no interest in profiling minors”. So, why does the Klout website have a profile for an 11 year old kid ?

Read more about how Klout is profiling minors over at the Business2Business Community website!

MemeBurn – 4 Reasons Why You Should Start Taking a Much Closer Look at Klout

 I stumbled upon this article just in the nick of time as this topic was being discussed in my blogger support and media group, BloggerPR. Out of nearly 300 bloggers – not one of us could give a straight answer on WHY we are actually using Klout, or concerned over our scores. We all shouted out "perk" and "for fun!", but there didn’t seem to be a concrete answer that one seem logical and reasonable to someone that had never used Klout. Imagine if you were trying to explain your Klout usage to grandma. Where would you start? End? Exactly!

MemeBurn recently published an article trying to resolve the debate concerning the meaning and purpose of Klout, which they outline is great bulleted list style article of four reasons why we should care – or, start to care. Although their old algorithm seemed to be a farse, easy to get around and raise your score without anyone even hearing your online voice, Klout’s recent update may serve purpose and give us concern to actually pay more attention to the magical number on our account. 

Did you know that Klout has capped their +K topics votes? Users can add topics where they believe to be influential for themselves, or give another user a topic (at the cost of 5 +K’s per topic). Thereafter, users can ‘give Klout’ and click the +K button to apply a "vote" of sorts to the account users topic. While this feature was once highly abused by users gaming the system, Klout has recently announced that there is a cap on the amount +K can increase your score.

MemeBurn closes off the article with an excellent question: "For those that still question whether Klout adds any value, they should ask the question why nearly every one of the Top 50 Social Media Influencers in the United States participate on the platform?"

Read more and discover the other reasons why you should pay attention to YOUR Klout Score!

RedAndBlack.com - Klout.com measures online social influence, assigns score between one and 100

We now know that Klout is using our real-world influence to rank us on a scale of 0-100, but did we also consider how our Klout score will influence our real lives? According to RedAndBlack.com, University of Georgia’s independent student newspaper, students and job-seekers are starting to pay attention.

"Klout has not yet drawn an audience as large as Twitter or Facebook, but some students and job-seekers are using the website to take a critical look at their social media influence."

Remember the days when you could write anything on your Facebook or MySpace (huh? what’s that?) wall without any concern over who was looking or interested other than friends and family? Those days came to an abrupt end, so we all started closing our profiles to unapproved lurkers. Now that Klout is beginning to gain some momentum and attention in the social media world, will it become a part of our employment interviews and resumes? Can you find a spot between your eduction and previous employment to stuff your Klout score onto that resume? It seems outlandish, but possibly something we will have to consider in the near future!

Read more and gather up your own opinion about Klout’s online social influence in your life!