Klout can't seem to get it right

Klout, an SMMT, is one of those companies trying to make their mark in the Social Media world.The Klout website defines the tool as follows:

“It’s a tool that measures influence across the social web. Using its core technology, Klout analyzes social network user data and identifies influential individuals based on the impact of their opinions, links, recommendations and other online content.“

The company claims to deliver a product that calculates your influence on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. It measures how much of an influence you have and who you are influenced by. Your score is calculated by the “last 30 days” of activity, but what I don’t understand is from which date Klout starts generating the information. This process makes me skeptical.

My influencers/influencees haven’t changed since I first starting using Klout therefore the same people who influence me apparently still influence me but Twitter changes almost daily and influencers change all the time. This should be updated more frequently.

Another thing I’ve noticed since starting at County Media in the Career Focus programme is some of my influencers/influencees I’ve never even engaged with on Twitter. This makes me question where it’s getting the information from and how it’s labeling these people.

Once you are in Klout you’ll notice a “graph” with coloured circles to show your activity. The colours used in the circles aren’t even explained unless you hover over one with your mouse. I’m not sure how Klout gets this information and how it knows to put it in the suggested fields. Each quadrant represents a type of interaction like creating, consistent, participating and sharing. I specifically have nothing in the creating, sharing, participating field, which has to be inaccurate because every day I participate in conversations. It’s my job! I even create new topics and share new information on a daily basis. Why do I not have anything in these sections?

Klout was designed to help companies and individuals pinpoint where there social media presence is lacking, helping you figure out where and what you should do to have a better “reputation”. If Klout is providing inaccurate information it’s completely contradicting itself ultimately making it unusable.

If Klout doesn’t start coming to terms with their program not functioning properly then Klout is going to quickly lose all clout in the social media world.