SHAZAM! Justin Bieber has the highest Klout score. On Klout.com‘s 100 point scale, the teenage popstar (whose name I recently learned to pronounce) scores 100/100. With more than 10 million fans and placement on nearly 500K Twitter lists, I don’t think you’re going to get much higher than that. (Note: scores are current as of June 24, 2011.)
If you’re looking for other high Klout scores:
- Lady Gaga (@ladygaga): 93
- Reverend Run (@revrunwisdom): 92
- Rihanna (@rihanna): 90
- Katy Perry (@katyperry): 89
- Pete Cashmore (@mashable): 88
- Barack Obama (@barackobama): 85
Like many of you, I’ve been thinking more about social measurement lately and its many drawbacks. Even in the academic world, this is troubling. Last night, I read “The Impact of New Media on Customer Relationships” which provides a solid breakdown of the current challenge:
“A major limitation of existing research on EWOM (electronic word-of-mouth) is the lack of consistent measurement approaches, with existing measures coming from different platforms (e.g., blogs, Yahoo, Barnes & Noble, Usenet), industries, (e.g., movies, books, software), and—for EWOM valence—coding approaches (e.g., stars, text analysis). So, more work on the measurement of EWOM is needed. The same is true for modeling approaches…”
Klout is part of the first wave of solutions taking social measurement seriously and subsequent waves will improve upon the existing ones. The aggregation of reach, amplification, network size, etc. (like Klout provides) is a good step toward finding some common ground (although there’s still tremendous value in dissecting influence on a per social network basis). While there are a lot of people voicing out against Klout because the scoring system perpetuates the age-old popularity contest, runs the risk of gaming, forces people into a caste, etc., I think it’s fantastic for the industry. With these types of scoring systems and the ultra-fascinating approaches companies are taking in rewarding online influencers by Klout, like Disney has recently done, we’re only going to see the advancement of solid marketing theory in this area. Even if it feels like high school all over again.
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Scott,
I have been a part of 2 different Klout perks… the first was for the ill fated Lone Star TV show on Fox, and I was also a part of the new Disney Tangled promo you mention here.
I think it is a pretty cool program, and Klout does not require you to say anything about it. Granted I did write a blog post on Lone Star, and with Disney I have sent 2 tweets showing my swag.
Anyway, as I mentioned in my blog post, I think this is a great way for studios and brands to get with the general population, and start a ground roots word of mouth marketing campaign rather than going to the traditional outlets like reviewers for example.
Anyway… my point is, you do not necessarily have to be a Justin Bieber, or a Lady Gaga to get perks from Klout.
I would say it is a participation contest rather than a popularity contest… and that is what makes it so cool.
Great post my friend!
Doc
Thanks for chiming in with your experience – you’re one of the few I know who has participated in these programs.
I wonder if Klout has a secret way of determining who is most likely to blog or tweet about a company/promotion (even though participation doesn’t require it) using the various open APIs or crawler technology. That could be very valuable data in the right hands. Thanks, Doc!
I’m all for it. It’s fun and practical, and why the heck not? My only caution is: that algorithms are MUCH better at measuring quantity than quality.
Very true. Nearly every metric that Klout relies on can be gamed. When you think about it, though, there’s very little to be gained by gaming the system right now. It’s kind of like gaming Foursquare. There aren’t enough benefits or mayor discounts to make it worth cheating.
Thanks for commenting, Dane.
Interesting post, Scott. I love this line: “Even if it feels like high school all over again.”
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