| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | San Francisco, California, USA |
| Founder(s) | Joe Fernandez Binh Tran |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Joe Fernandez (CEO), Binh Tran (Co-founder) |
| Employees | 40[1] |
| Slogan | the Standard for Influence |
| Website | klout.com |
| Type of site | Social Networking |
| Advertising | No |
| Registration | Optional |
| Available in | English |
| Launched | September, 2009 |
| Current status | Active |
Klout is a San Francisco based company that provides social media analytics to measure a user's influence across their social network. The analysis is done on data taken from sites such as Twitter and Facebook and measures the size of a person's network, the content created, and how other people interact with that content.[2] The company has been subject to substantial criticism, both for its business model and its operating principle.[3]
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Klout scrapes social network data and creates profiles on individuals and assigns them a "Klout score." Klout currently claims to have built more than 100 million profiles. Klout is not an "opt-in" service, but individuals who register at Klout can ensure that all of their social networks are accessed and therefore evaluated in their Klout score. Klout also builds profiles of individuals who are connected to those who do register at Klout.
Klout scores range from 1 to 100, with higher scores corresponding to a higher assessment by Klout of the breadth and strength of their online influence. Klout scores are further divided into measures, also ranging from 1 to 100, that Klout calls "True Reach", "Amplification Probability", and "Network Score".
True Reach is based on the size of a person's "engaged audience" of followers and friends who actively listen and react to their online messages. Amplification Score relates to the likelihood that one's messages will generate actions (retweets, @messages, likes and comments). Network Score reflects the computed influence value of a person's engaged audience.
The accuracy of Klout Score has been questioned several times[4] by different researchers, Klout Score has been used by social media marketers as a barometer of influence.
Klout measures influence by using data points from Twitter, such as: following count, follower count, retweets, list memberships, how many spam/dead accounts are following you, how influential the people that retweet you are, and unique mentions. This information is blended with Facebook data such as comment, likes, and the number of friends in your network to come up with a "Klout Score" that measures a user's online influence.[5]
The business model is then based around connecting businesses with individuals of high influence. Companies have paid to get in contact with individuals with high Klout scores in hopes that free merchandise and other perks will influence them to spread positive publicity for them. According to Klout CEO Joe Fernandez, about 50 of these partnerships have been established as of November 2011.[6]
Several objections to Klout's methodology have been raised regarding both the process by which scores are generated, and the overall societal effect. Critics have pointed out that Klout scores are not representative of the influence a person really has, highlighted by the fact that President Obama has a lower influence score than a number of bloggers including Robert Scoble. [7] Additionally, some social critics argue that the Klout score devalues authentic online communication and promotes social ranking and stratification by trying to quantify human interaction. [8] The site has also been criticized for violating the privacy of minors, and for exploiting users for their own profit.[9]
John Scalzi has described the principle behind Klout's operation as "socially evil" in its exploitation of its users' status anxiety.[10] Charles Stross has described the service as "the internet equivalent of herpes", saying that his analysis of Klout's terms and conditions reveals that the company's business model is "flat-out illegal" in the United Kingdom, where it conflicts with the Data Protection Act 1998. Stross "strongly advise(s)" his readers to delete their Klout accounts and opt out of Klout services.[11]