CEO
Klout
Dear Joe,
So the changes at Klout Wednesday, I’m sure, have made for some exciting if not exhausting days at Klout. And, as I’m sure you are aware they have caused some people to get upset. I have followed Klout with interest since the beginning and feel compelled to chronicle these changes and the reaction to them.
I blogged Wednesday about the changes to Klout and how hard it might be for some to accept them. Now it occurs to me that a lot of criticism of the changes might be "cut off at the pass," as they say, if you were to publicly answer a few questions.
Before beginning my college teaching career I was in journalism for 26 years and so I’d like to offer you the chance to answer these few questions and then I will undertake to publish them with the answers in a Q&A format today. ….
The questions are below. Thank you for your time.
1. Some of the criticisms of the new Klout are that it is not transparent enough. In other words you made changes that altered scores in some case by 20 points, but have not given explanations about why those changes were so dramatic. What do you say to this criticism?
2. A quick, early analysis seems to show that those who have linked all of the accounts Klout currently allows users to connect have kept their scores relatively the same or now have higher scores. This would seem to penalize, for example, non-iPhone owners who cannot have an Instagram account of those who blog on something other than Tumblr or Wordpress. Your response?
3. One of the themes in the criticisms is that there could have been an "old Klout" and a "new Klout" or “Klout+” as a way to allow users to decide how serious they wanted to be about their score. Your reaction?
4. Another prevalent criticism: It seems the new Klout Score penalizes people who are genuinely involved with others on social media regardless of their influence scores versus those who are selective and only “talk” to high influencers. This seems to encourage a new form of social media class snobbery. What are your thoughts?
5. Twitter and Google+ have been full of people saying they have or will rescind permissions for Klout in protest, the #OccupyKlout and #KloutPout hashtags have cropped up. Can Klout survive and thrive this reaction to what you consider a big improvement?
NOTE: I did get a response from Megan Berry, Marketing Manager at Klout saying Joe Fernandez is travekling and could she answer my questions. I said "yes, of course." Since then? Crickets.
Now I’m sure everyone at Klout is extremely busy right now, but shouldn’t someone be answering these questions? Somewhere public?
So, what do you think? Should Joe, or someone else from Klout respond to these questions and others the Klout community has?
Posts
Yes they are all busy when it comes to answering serious questions, I agree. Funny and ironic as Klout can be, Klout team has time posting their "Klout beer night" night out on the day of the crisis. This really shows how much Klout care for users and community. Great Post Mike.
ReplyDeleteMike,
ReplyDeleteAll of this could be nothing more than an attempt to gain some publicity. You know, "bad publicity is better than none at all". Stir things up, get people talking, get them upset, say nothing.
Eventually things will settle down and all the hysteria will dissipate and this will end up being nothing more than a fleeting memory.
Or, this could be the next big blunder following on the heels of Netflix; they could pay dearly as has Netflix.
At this moment, I have not taken them all too seriously as the algorithms used to create the scores seem kind of random. After all, why am I an expert in lobster? Simply because it was mentioned in a conversation a few times, does that make me any more qualified than someone sitting down with a nutcracker and a cup of drawn butter?
Cheers,
Marc
Hey Mike,
ReplyDeleteAs I mentioned, I was getting your the responses to these questions. I was in the process of drafting them when I saw this post so I sent them to you in email just now and I'll also post here:
1. Some of the criticisms of the new Klout are that it is not transparent enough. In other words you made changes that altered scores in some case by 20 points, but have not given explanations about why those changes were so dramatic. What do you say to this criticism? Hey Mike, we announced the upcoming changes the week before with Joe's post on why we believe the change was needed http://corp.klout.com/blog/2011/10/a-new-era-for-klout-scores/ and we also had a post on the day of announcement explaining the changes http://corp.klout.com/blog/2011/10/a-more-accurate-transparent-klout-score/. As you know as someone in the field, social media is constantly evolving and as a measure of your influence there, we need to evolve as well.
2. A quick, early analysis seems to show that those who have linked all of the accounts Klout currently allows users to connect have kept their scores relatively the same or now have higher scores. This would seem to penalize, for example, non-iPhone owners who cannot have an Instagram account of those who blog on something other than Tumblr or Wordpress. Your response? Hey Mike, we measure influence equally independent of network. Lady Gaga, for instance (http://klout.com/#/ladygaga), is only measured based on Twitter and has one of our highest Scores. You do not need to connect multiple networks to have influence but if you do influence on a network, it will help you to connect it (we can then give you credit for that influence).
3. One of the themes in the criticisms is that there could have been an “old Klout” and a “new Klout” or “Klout+” as a way to allow users to decide how serious they wanted to be about their score. Your reaction? Hey Mike, do you mean letting people choose which scoring system they want to use? Technologically it takes a lot of infrastructure to process 3 Billion pieces of content and connections daily so apart from any other concerns having 2 pipelines isn't feasible in the long term. We are always looking to move forward and improve, we think once people look at these scores in context and get a chance to see the improvements they will grow to like them.
4. Another prevalent criticism: It seems the new Klout Score penalizes people who are genuinely involved with others on social media regardless of their influence scores versus those who are selective and only “talk” to high influencers. This seems to encourage a new form of social media class snobbery. What are your thoughts? You are never penalized for talking to people with lower scores. We believe *everyone* has Klout and anytime someone takes action based on your content that adds to your influence. Yes, if they have a higher score, that adds to your influence *more* but either way we give you credit for that and you are never penalized.
5. Twitter and Google+ have been full of people saying they have or will rescind permissions for Klout in protest, the #OccupyKlout and “KlouPout hashtags have cropped up. Can Klout survive and thrive this reaction to what you consider a big improvement? We definitely are working to listen to feedback and and are always improving. We believe once people get a chance to interact with our new scoring system they will grow to understand it's improvements.
Hey Megan, I'm glad you answered. The transparency issue is real. Your algorithm penalizes a lot of people who are real influencers - i.e. they share helpful, valuable content and have nothing to do with social media celebrities. You apparently reward people who are in the "cool kid" club and penalize people who are selfless and sharing. I consider myself one of those and lost 17 points - including an apparent downward trend since well before the announcements. Then there's the fact the those of us who want to opt out have no apparent recourse. I have asked to be delisted several times via your support form, direct messages and mentions on Twitter. If you guys are too busy to deal with customer service, then please reconsider being in business at all.
ReplyDeleteAll Thanks for the responses.
ReplyDeleteMegan - thank you for the response which will be part of a follow up post shortly. But I have to take issue with your"As I mentioned, I was getting your the responses to these questions." statement. You asked me if it would be OK if you responded and I said yes absolutely and asked when you would get me answers. I see by the time of this post that the answers arrived 24 hours later. If you had simply responded earlier saying it would take a day to respond then I would known for sure answers were coming.
It seems Megan is confused about the word "transparency".
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