Social Influence: You Should Stand Up and Be Counted

One way or the other most of us have come across rating agencies. The hoopla around Standard & Poor’s downgrading of US credit rating last August is still fresh in our minds. We are also familiar with our own anxieties dealing with credit agencies and banks when we apply for a mortgage or a line of credit. But, that is life as we know it, until now! There is a new rating agency in town that wants to size you up for your social influence and put a number on it. It is appropriately called Klout. Sort of an S&P rating to measure the perceived social influence of people like you and me!

Similar to the three major credit rating agencies, there are two other players in the influence measurement business who are vying to size you up.  San Francisco-based Kred and London-based PeerIndex both compete with Klout to provide social media analytics to companies interested in adding another dimension to their customer service and support programs. Considering my influence scores are modest at best, I have decided to show below a snapshot of how I measure up in the eyes of the influence industry.

So what is social influence? Without getting too technical, it is a measure of your ability to get your “friends,” followers,” or “connections” to engage or take an action as a result of something that you did online. Simply put, a Facebook “like” on one of your posts would constitute an engagement. So would a “mention,” or “retweet” on Twitter. So, in effect, some of you may have been building up social influence without knowing it. Obviously, with many influential people around us not being very active in social media, such a scoring system can only cover active users of Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and other such social networks. But then, that’s the idea!

Social influence is a leveler of sorts! As per this logic, influence is not confined to the rich and the powerful. Here is what Klout says on its “About Us” page: “Everyone has influence—the ability to drive action. Klout built on this idea to show anyone how he or she can influence the world and its future.” Altruistic? Not really. Klout has been slowly gaining momentum and mind-share in the Marketing world, where a person’s Klout score is factored into the level of service they receive. Check out the following offers that were made available only to people who had Klout scores over 40. The maximum Klout Score that a person can have is 100.

Klout in the airport: A High Score Gets You into Cathay Pacific’s SFO Lounge

JASU Uses Klout to Create VIP-only Access During Launch

As can be expected, the authenticity and the algorithms behind such scoring systems are often called into question due to the fact that these systems can be “gamed.” Meaning, that if you indulge in certain types of online activities, like commenting or retweeting which generate responses from others, your scores will go up. Also, there are limitations in weeding out the folks who pay for followers and likes. In short, it certainly is not an exact science!

All said and done, it is a fact that more and more companies are embracing social media as a Marketing tool and a portal for their customers. On the flip side, companies also worry about social media gaffes like the one recently made by Progressive Insurance: Progressive Insurance Corp. Case Study: How Not to Handle A PR Crisis. As companies look for a modern-day version of How to Win Friends and Influence People, it is safe to assume that a higher influence score will command a higher level of service in the not-too-distant future.

Brings a new meaning to the term social discrimination! So, what’s your number?