Klout Changes

Klout's tagline makes me laugh

WHAT IS KLOUT?

Mommy of a Monster and Twins has a detailed explanation on her site, but Klout is basically, an online tool that measures, your use and sphere of influence within the world of social media.

THEIR NEW CHANGES

Have you visited Klout.com recently? If not and you have an account you should take a look at your new score. Many Klout users have experienced a change in their overall score. For some of the accounts I follow, I saw dramatic plummets, but for others (mostly non-bloggers and celebrities) their accounts remained the same. When I logged-in I had to do a double take. My sphere of influence, went down and the joy of checking my Klout score again, left. After reading Klout’s non-detailed explanation, which does not tell how the new scores are actually computed, it just states that they are using a new algorithm. As a result, I am curious to know how others feel about Klout’s new changes.

After the change, I really desire to know how the algorithm to determine your new score is computed. Their blog doesn’t go into details, but this blog post does break down my understanding about each of Klout’s headlines such as, Score Analysis,  True Reach,  Amplification,  Network Impact, etc. Klout also claims that the new score is more accurate and transparent.

According to Klout, “Our goal is accuracy above all else. We believe our users will be pleased with the improvements we’ve made.” When I read some of the comments (over 1000) about the changes, I did not see one happy person, some were content, but by far most of the people commenting were outraged.

After several heated exchanges many people decided to delete their accounts. Overall, I agree with Klout user Harold Halewijn “Well, if such a change leads to over 1000 comments in less than a day, it must have touched us. I also noticed that this is not the first drop I’ve seen. There has been one before, a couple of weeks before. And there will certainly come another ones. I don’t mind Klout to change their algorithm. But they should notify before. Now it’s even bad for their own reputation.” He’s right Klout has been making slight changes here and there, but this is by far the most dramatic. If anything, Klout should have notified it’s users before the changes were made. Now, at the end of the day many feel that their company needs more transparency.

Reader Question: How do you feel about Klout’s changes?

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