Klout Score

[tankman]

I'm not sure how many people have heard of Klout or know what their Klout score is so I thought this might be an interesting thing to discuss.

Recently Wired wrote an article about how employers are using klout scores to determine who should be hired. I don't really understand how this is a good practice and perhaps someone could enlighten me. I feel like hiring people based on klout score is counter-intuitive.

Is there something I am missing or not understanding since this is a growing trend?

Here is a link to the article:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/04/ff_klout
Here is a link to finding your own klout score (mine is a glorious 10) if you are interested:
[url]klout.com[/url]

[tankman]

Another question: Are there serious implications to relying on klout score for hiring?

[Zamfir]

Looks like shiny candidate for Campbell's Law:

The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor

[aoeu]

I can't even sign up.

[Роберт]

Hmmm.... whom should I hire, the person with good real-world people skills, or the person who consistently tweets and otherwise jacks about on-line when they are supposed to be working?

Let me check Klout and see. Oh, gosh, I guess the second option then. Right on.

[Derek]

Looks like shiny candidate for Campbell's Law:

The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor

Yep. If you're actually going to use some metric like this, it is imperative that you keep your use of it secret from those you're monitoring.

[morriswalters]

I see another possibility for a new startup. What one person can do another person can use to profit off subverting it.

[Zamfir]

we already get a healthy supply of Chinese SEO spam. i am not particularly looking forward to klout optimization spam

[Роберт]

we already get a healthy supply of Chinese SEO spam. i am not particularly looking forward to klout optimization spam

I know of some Twitter bots that (presumably unintentionally) increase Justin Bieber's Klout score. He's on top.

[Zcorp]

Hmmm.... whom should I hire, the person with good real-world people skills, or the person who consistently tweets and otherwise jacks about on-line when they are supposed to be working?

Let me check Klout and see. Oh, gosh, I guess the second option then. Right on.

One problem with the article is that it presents the idea that every job might be dependent upon social media influence through things like klout. The guy was going for a marketing position specifically.

Implying, like this article does, that it will be important for all jobs is incredibly stupid. But for people who sit around all day tweeting and jacking about online to create public interest in products through social media it is not quite as stupid to expect them to pay attention to trends in social media marketing. Not that this is a good reason not to hire someone.

[Zamfir]

we already get a healthy supply of Chinese SEO spam. i am not particularly looking forward to klout optimization spam

I know of some Twitter bots that (presumably unintentionally) increase Justin Bieber's Klout score. He's on top.

But that's correct, right? Klout is apparently intended for hotels to decide whether to screw over their guest, to lend them an audi, or hire them as twitterer-in-chief. In case of the Bieber, it is wise not to give him the room with the smelly toilet and the flickering lights, and the klout score will affirm this.

The trouble starts when Cheap Jersey Louis Vuitton walks into your hotel, and the klout score suggests to take away the Audi from the Bieber, and give it to Mr. Cheap Jersey UGG BOOT.

[Роберт]

we already get a healthy supply of Chinese SEO spam. i am not particularly looking forward to klout optimization spam

I know of some Twitter bots that (presumably unintentionally) increase Justin Bieber's Klout score. He's on top.

But that's correct, right? Klout is apparently intended for hotels to decide whether to screw over their guest, to lend them an audi, or hire them as twitterer-in-chief. In case of the Bieber, it is wise not to give him the room with the smelly toilet and the flickering lights, and the klout score will affirm this.

The trouble starts when Cheap Jersey Louis Vuitton walks into your hotel, and the klout score suggests to take away the Audi from the Bieber, and give it to Mr. Cheap Jersey UGG BOOT.

I don't know what you mean by "correct".

It's true that people tend to treat people of a higher class better and a lower class worse, including in ways where rich people end up paying less than poor people for the same service, at times. Is that "correct"?

[Azrael]

The objection is not one based on class.

The "system" is trying to identify people with broad social followings to use to bolster a brand's reputation.

Unfortunately, this adds incentives for people to spam their way to appearing to have such a following. At which point, the company offering the incentives is damaged (incentives are wasted) and all the people who've been spammed have been damaged. So some lazy, boring jerk could get a freebie.

[Роберт]

The objection is not one based on class.

The "system" is trying to identify people with broad social followings to use to bolster a brand's reputation.

Unfortunately, this adds incentives for people to spam their way to appearing to have such a following. At which point, the company offering the incentives is damaged (incentives are wasted) and all the people who've been spammed have been damaged. So some lazy, boring jerk could get a freebie.

I agree that highjacking the system is potentially problematic, but I find the idea of treating influential people better than non-influential people problematic, so I'm actually sympathetic to people who make that bigotry less effective.

(I'm aware of the rational reasons why someone would want to treat rich people better than poor people, that does mean I like it when they do.)

[morriswalters]

This is not a new issue, people have been used as "cool" indicators since "cool" has been "cool"(pick your euphemism of choice), social media simply amps it up several notches. At one point in time this was the purview of gossip columnists. They were used and abused. And this will be used and abused. If I were a VC I would fund a business that looked for this type of activity, fund a countering business that would operate until the meme was exhausted, and them move to the next meme. Low risk, high reward.

[Роберт]

This is not a new issue

Of course not. Have you watched Fawlty Towers?

Some companies feel a need to treat people based on various factors that really have nothing to do with the service they paid for. Usually based on some sort of social status or economic class, because they feel it's "worth more" to treat higher status people better.

Sometimes people try to trick companies like that into miscategorizing them. Klout is just another version of this.

[rdm]

Another question: Are there serious implications to relying on klout score for hiring?

Depending on the nature of your work, you might use this as a way of filtering out desirable employers, or as a way of finding desirable employers (this would be if you enjoy doing the kinds of things that drives up your klout score).

Personally, for the things I enjoy doing, I do not deliberately plummet my klout score but I do engage in a number of practices likely to reduce it.

Anyways, if you want to get a job that's good for you, you need to focus on the sort of things you enjoy doing on a long term basis. It can take a decade, or longer, to get to where you are getting paid decently, and if you do not enjoy the time it takes to build your skills and reputation that would be extra misery for a lot of years.