I have known about Klout for a while but only recently did I start using it frequently and recommending it to clients as a tool to track their social media efforts as well as gain insight into their network, etc.  The fact that Klout now pulls in Facebook in addition to Twitter makes it a really nice tool for metrics. 

One thing that I really like about Klout from a business perspective is the fact that it allows you to see who your most influential customers are.  Another tool on the market that is very similar to Klout, but not as impressive is Peerindex.  I just think Klout is a lot more usable and easier to understand. 

What is a Klout score?

The explanation for Klout scores found on their website is: 

The Klout Score is the measurement of your overall online influence. The scores range from 1 to 100 with higher scores representing a wider and stronger sphere of influence. Klout uses over 35 variables on Facebook and Twitter to measure True Reach, Amplification Probability, and Network Score.

True Reach is the size of your engaged audience and is based on those of your followers and friends who actively listen and react to your messages. Amplification Score is the likelihood that your messages will generate actions (retweets, @messages, likes and comments) and is on a scale of 1 to 100. Network score indicates how influential your engage audience is and is also on a scale from 1 to 100. The Klout score is highly correlated to clicks, comments and retweets.

We believe that influence is the ability to drive people to action — "action" might be defined as a reply, a retweet, a comment, or a click. We perform significant testing to ensure that the average click-through rate on links shared is highly correlated with a person’s Klout Score. The 25+ variables used to generate scores for each of these categories are normalized across the whole data set and run through our analytics engine. After the first pass of analytics, we apply a specific weight to each data point. We then run the factors through our machine-learning analysis and calculate the final Klout Score. The final Klout Score is a representation of how successful a person is at engaging their audience and how big of an impact their messages have on people.  (excerpt from the Klout website, http://klout.com/kscore)

I recently read an article that asked the question, what if we were paid based on our klout scores?  That’s pretty interesting when you think about it.  Recently I have even seen perks for users with a high Klout score.  Klout even has “Klout Perks” listed on their corporate website from Virgin Airlines, Dove, Starbucks, Danone, and Covergirl.

What is Your True Reach?

One of the factors Klout uses in it’s scoring process is True Reach.  True Reach more or less is the size of your engaged audience.  Klout takes into consideration the value of each individual relationship and takes into account whether an individual has shared or acted upon your content as well as the likelihood they saw it in their stream. According to Klout’s website, True Reach is broken down into the following:

Reach & Demand: (excerpt from the Klout website, http://klout.com/kscore)

• Are your tweets interesting and informative enough to build an audience?
• How far has your content been spread across Twitter?
• Are people adding you to lists and are those lists being followed?
• How many people did you have to follow to build your count of followers?
• How often are your follows reciprocated?

Some of the factors measured include: Followers, Mutual Follows, Friends, Total Retweets, Unique Commenters, Unique Likers, Follower/Follow Ratio, Followed Back %, @ Mention Count, List Count, List Followers Count.

What is Your Amplification Probability?

Amplification Probability is the likelihood that your content will be acted upon by your friends / followers. How often do your tweets get retweeted? How often do your Facebook Statuses spark conversations? Having the ability to create content that compels others to respond and having your content spread outside your own network is a key component of influence. According to Klout’s website Amplification Ability is a composite of Engagement, Velocity, and Activity. Here are some factors listed on Klout’s website:

(excerpt from the Klout website, http://klout.com/kscore)

• How diverse is the group that @ messages you?
• Are you broadcasting or participating in conversations?
• How likely are you to be retweeted?
• Do a lot of people retweet you or is it always the same few followers?
• Are you tweeting too little or too much for your audience?
• Are your tweets effective in generating new followers, retweets and @ replies?

Some of the factors involved include: Unique Retweeters, Unique Messages Retweeted, Likes Per Post, Comments Per Post Follower Retweet %, Unique @ Senders, Follower Mention %, Inbound Messages Per Outbound Message, Update Count.

What is Your Network Influence?

Network Influence is the influence level of your engaged audience. Engagement is measured based on actions such as retweets, @messages, follows, lists, comments, and likes. Each time a person performs one of these actions it is a testament to the authority and the quality of your content. Capturing the attention of influencers is no easy task, and those who are able to do so are typically creating spectacular content. Network Score looks at the Klout score of each person who interacts with you to determine:

(excerpt from the Klout website, http://klout.com/kscore)

• How influential are the people who @ message you?
• How influential are the people who retweet you?
• How influential are the people who follow you?
• How influential are the people who list you?
• How influential are the people who follow the lists you are on?

Some of the factors measured include: List inclusions, Follower/Follow Ratio, Followed Back %, Unique Senders, Unique Retweeters, Unique Commenters, Unique Likers, Influence of Followers, Influence of Retweeters and Mentioners, Influence of Friends, Influence of Likers and Commenters.

The Klout Dashboard

One thing I really like about the Klout Dashboard is the way they have this set of graphics outlining your Klout score for you and breaking down your individual achievements.

• Do you use tools like Klout?
• What other tools do you use for tracking your social metrics?