Klout, the Social Measurement service, has revised their algorithms again. In the past, this has resulting in widespread confusion and often disdain for the service. Klout purports to analyze a user’s social activity and correlate that into a score that can then be compared with other Klout users. Changes to the algorthm have previously resulting in huge changes in a user’s score, leaving one to wonder whether or not the score is, or was, accurate at all.
This time, however, things are a little different.
In the Klout Blog post from Aug. 14th they state:
Today, we’re introducing some of the most significant product updates in Klout’s history. With these updates, we’ve concentrated on helping everyone to gain a clearer, more accurate understanding of how they influence other people through the ideas they share.
Here’s what we’re announcing today:
Increased accuracy with an updated Klout Score that now includes significantly broader data sets and signals, including our first steps towards including real-world influence. We now include many more actions from Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and more, and for the first time incorporate Wikipedia as a signal. We’ve published more information about what goes into the Score here.
More transparency with a brand new feature called “moments” that showcases your most influential social media activity—the times when your ideas most impacted and touched the people in your world.
New, elegant site design that emphasizes your best content from across your connected networks.
The bottom line is that the new Klout Score attempts to incorporate real-world data like your business title and influence into the equation. For instance, previously, Justin Bieber had a slightly higher Klout Score than President Obama. However, now that Obama’s position and real-world influence are taken into consideration, he’s jumped ahead of Bieber in Score.
Have you ever looked at your own Klout Score? Did it go up or down with this update?