Saul Colt describes Klout as “Not influence but audience”. He further says “Real influence is getting people to change their mind or opinion on something…not introducing something to you…and all I see with most “influencers” is a lot of introducing you to things.” Is Saul right?

I am not a big fan of “Numbers” for the sake of numbers. Numbers can be manipulated. When it comes to Klout numbers, we have to use care.

Here are some things to keep in mind as you read along:

  1. Google is looking at your Klout, your Twitter and your Facebook to see how much sense it makes in their rankings
  2. People, whether we like it or not, are influenced by numbers
  3. Businesses may hire you based on their perception of your Klout score

So what does Klout really measure? Here are the comments they make on their main sections:

  1. Network Influence: “Network Influence is the influence level of your engaged audience. Capturing the attention of influencers is no easy task, and those who are able to do so are typically creating spectacular content.”
  2. Amplification Probability: “Amplification Probability is the likelihood that your content will be acted upon. The ability to create content that compels others to respond and high-velocity content that spreads into networks beyond your own is a key component of influence.”
  3. True Reach: “True Reach is the size of your engaged audience, eliminating inactive and spam accounts. Klout calculates influence for each individual relationship.”

Klout is a measurement tool, pure and simple. Can it really measure your influence? There are some things that cannot be measured. If influence is described as motivating people to change, this could be hard to measure. I understand what Saul is saying about audience. Sometimes Klout simply measures how your audience is responding to the information you are putting out there. There may be not change or influence happening at all.

The real question I see is this, can Klout really measure true influence? I believe it can. When I truly am effecting change and motivating others to act, we will see this in retweets, posts and a whole lot of buzz. Now Klout cannot measure your actions when you respond to a request to donate money; the dollars and cents. Klout can be a good measuring tool that indicates that something is happening. It can give us a heads up.

Is Saul right? For the most part “Yes”! Klout is more about “Audience” and not really about “Influence”. You get a measurement of how you are doing with those connected to you. Just because people are listening and passing information along does not mean that they are being motivated or changed. They may simply “Like” it and want to pass it on without changing themselves.

Where I think that Klout will truly succeed is this: when true influence or change begins, it can be measured by Klout. We can get an indication or heads up that we are causing others to do something. To that end, I believe Klout can be a measurement of influence and not just audience.

After all, chasing numbers is meaningless. Effecting change is truly what you want to accomplish. This is what I hope this blog is about. I want to change or influence how you “Think and “Respond”. I want to motive you. Klout can give me some indication that I am doing it; as long as I keep the big picture in mind. When I see true change happening, I won’t need a Klout score to tell me. But until then, it can be a help to some degree.

And by the way, Saul Colt is a smart man. I have had a few conversations with Saul and I respect his opinions. He has had “Influence” on my thoughts. You might say he has some “Klout” in my life 🙂