Was meaning to write this post about Klout but didn’t have the time and have been penning it for a few days – and

.. I suppose if a person were to go  on vacation, or just “live” off the Web for a few days, like taking a trip to Hawaii, and actually relaxing, then their Klout score would go down.   Having said that – I think Klout is doing some things right, perhaps taking a cue from Empire Avenue (where I’m told many of the ideas Klout is implementing are coming from – can’t really speak to that since I don’t go on Empire Avenue much, maybe I should).

This sets up an interesting dynamic where having a life off the Web, perhaps off of Twitter, which is kinda what “life” is really all about – actually lowers your “engagement” scores.  Perhaps, Klout ought to let people notify them when going off for a vacation, or getting sick, because those things will affect your Klout Score negatively, yet they are a real part of life, and people do take vacations, and they do get sick – or need to withdraw, from time to time, yet should not be penalized for it.

I’m not so much speaking about the algorithms Klout uses which are easily gamed, but more about what surrounds them.  I don’t take Klout seriously for the Influence part yet (though they are getting better), but I do like the idea that people can actually use Influence as a currency – and actually get something for it (more often than not, it’s a bag of potato chips, or something like that… probably there’s a bit of horse trading in the back ground arranging perks, associating perks with accounts, and so on).  To be honest with you – none of the perks really do anything for me – though I suppose if I were really hungry, and had only a few bucks in my pocket, I could use my Klout score to get a  sandwich – ha!   However, every time I look at the Perks – they all seem to be “filled” … so I’m yet to get any perks – and they aren’t the one’s I’d pick… but I digress.

First thing Klout is doing right is sending me emails constantly, when there is a change in my account  – they don’t why most of the time, but they make it so I have to go and login (visit) Klout.com) which counts as a new visit (unless I was there in the last half hour, via Web Analytics, which is almost never going to be the case).   I suppose they could just tell me what the notifications are in the email – so I could decide if I want to visit Klout or not, but they don’t tell me – so if I really want to know I have to visit the site.

As a result, as far as I can tell from Compete.com (which doesn’t yet have July 2011 data) Klout.com and Perks.Klout.com are way up.  Of course, all of that is being generated by the marketing programs Klout is doing – so it’s more than anything else, a reflection on it, I see it more like direct response – you put out energy, and hopefully, get responses – it’s not a measure people like or agree with anything – and it’s not clear what notifications or perks one is actually getting until you go and look.

I suppose the first to parts of the following screen shot are addictive – we don’t know what the FourSquare output is going to look like yet – since there’s nothing yet to do but link your account, but the idea of giving Klout points is intriguing.  It’s a double edge sword, no doubt, as your Klout Score is going to be more about a popularity contest with who you know, and not so much what your doing on Twitter and Facebook.  On the other hand, you can argue that by giving people scores – Klout has made a more “human” approach that actually compensates for the deficiencies of their algorithm  – by letting people tell Klout who is influential to them.  That’s no different, in a way than Google + allowing people to vote on sites they like, or Facebook allowing people to “like” a page.

If Google and Foursquare can do it – why can’t Klout?  Or, for that fact, the other influencer platforms?

I would say the last part, who I influence and who influences me, has gotten somewhat better than before – but I can’t say I have much confidence in it yet.  However, Klout continues to get better with it’s topics of influence – and I do feel that is important and worth mentioning:

I think being influential for “edelman” might be a stretch – though I did write about TweetLevel 2.0 recently, which they put out, so maybe it’s right on.

I think the thing that I both like and dislike about Klout the most, is the change in the classification of what type of person I am – every time I look, it looks like I’m something else than the last time – the last few times I looked it said I was a “Broadcaster” while before that it said I was a Specialist, and before that, something else.

I suppose if you want to look at Klout as an oracle, like the I-Ching, or a Tarot Card deck – what you get in every reading is going to be somewhat different – and while I like and believe we are always changing, and that we can be a different people every day, or every couple of weeks – I find it somewhat stretching it that  I can be a Specialist one day, and a Broadcaster then next – though in reality, that’s true – it could be that does describe me.   The larger question is weather there is any value in classifying people in such a variable way, week to week, or month to month.

And look, it could be that some people’s characterization doesn’t change much – and others, such as myself are in a “cusp” position where we can change what Klout calls us, based on a few tweets and retweets, here and there.

And certainly, some of the things that Radian6 is doing with Klout, by passing on the Classification type to a topic profile is interesting – but if we don’t have a handle in what that classification really means, or what you can do with it once you have it – then why bother?

I mean, it’s no surprise that at SxSW, the majority of profiles were of Specialists and Neworkers – and by digging down you can see who the accounts are who talked or were at SxSW and which classification of Klout they were.

Sure enough, most of the “Broadcasters” was a single account, @SxSW itself.

So in short – a lot of good things to say about Klout because they are getting be involved in a way that is somewhat novel – people can actually trade in on influence, and can give influence to each other.

On the other hand, we have to then look at the next question … To What End?

Can I go and buy a new car based on my Klout Score?  No.  Can I get a bag of Frito Lays – maybe, but it’ll probably take 6 weeks for it show up in my my mail.   Can I do anything much actionable with the data I get from Klout?   Yes and No – I can find out who is influential for what they are talking about recently, and I have mentioned that in my book.

Except, right now, I can’t search by topics, which I could do before.   Nevertheless, to begin to make Influence a currency is a move forward – something I think which distinguishes Klout from the other influencer platforms.  If Influence is a currency of sorts- Klout lets you trade it – and that is actually closer to the way markets work – its how we buy things  – it’s how commerce works.    Most social media isn’t able to be translated into a currency – we know that the “currency” exists – but its’ not formalized, while Klout has taken a step in that direction – perhaps the right step, at least in this context.