I Want Out of Klout
by Brendan Delaney
Twitter's Complicity is Reckless
Klout is a site that claims to measure your influence in social media. Based on your activity and interactions on Twitter, it assigns you a number from 1 to 100. People with higher scores are considered better influencers, and they're rewarded with free stuff from advertisers. If they keep their Klout score high enough, they keep getting free stuff.
Most people seem to think that Klout is pretty harmless. It's a marketing scheme; a way for brands to connect with those people most likely to influence others to buy their stuff. And it's clever. But there's more to Klout than meets the eye. And not in a good way.
For starters, it's not an opt-in service. They rank everyone on Twitter. If you have a Twitter account, you have a Klout score. Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself. Go to www.klout.com/yourtwitterusername.
- Unfortunately, you can't cancel Klout
So, when I signed up for Twitter, I didn't know that I would be automatically enrolled in an enormous online contest without my consent. Had I known, I would have thought twice about joining. Will employers take my Klout score into account some day? Will I be turned down for a job because my Klout score isn't high enough? I would never want to work for a company that takes my Klout score into account, but that's beside the point. I want to know who died and made Klout the central authority on social media.
But let's not overreact. Perhaps my fears are unfounded. It's not like I can't opt out of it, right? I mean, if I send Klout an email saying "please cancel", they would be happy to oblige. Right?
Wrong. You can't opt out. And if you email them, they will tell you that.
And that scares me.
In short, Klout has created an account for me without my consent, harvested my tweets, and assigned me a grade based on the nonsense I post on Twitter. It's impossible for me to opt out, and everyone in the world can see my score. Employers could use my Klout score as an evaluation tool, and a lot of people take it seriously. Yikes.
But let's not forget...the real guilty party here is Twitter. Their complicity in all this is truly mind boggling. They're making a huge mistake - they violate their users' trust. Because right now, a signup for Twitter is basically a signup for Klout. You can log into your Klout account by using your Twitter credentials, even though you never signed up for Klout. Since Twitter is silent on the matter, I guess they're saying that if you don't want a Klout account, don't sign up for Twitter. It's as simple as that.
Clearly, Twitter needs to put a stop to this. If you want a Klout score, you should have to sign up with Klout. The fact that you're automatically enrolled and can't opt out is practically criminal. Eventually, they may change that. Klout says that they'll be introducing a set of privacy controls in the future. But they don't say when, and I shouldn't have to wait. I want out of Klout. And I want out now.
