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.
Google+ and The Social Media Backlash
by Brendan Delaney
Let's face it. A career in online media isn't always all that its cracked up to be. One of the challenges we face is staying on top of the endless stream of new media ventures launched by startups and established companies alike. Each new venture promises to vanquish rivals and reign supreme. But most end up being mere pretenders to the throne.
Brendan Delaney
However, staying informed is important. Many of us wouldn't have gotten as far as we have without a natural curiosity for new developments in online media. Staying informed helps us avoid that deer-in-the-headlights look when a client casually mentions a new website or mobile app. It gives us common ground, and helps establish us as thought leaders. That's why, when an old college buddy offered via Facebook to send me an invitation for Google+, I had to jump on it. Now, four days later, with five "adds" to my name, my inner dialogue is full of questions. Why am I doing this? Do I really need another social network? Aren't I happy with what I already have? The answer is, I think I may have hit the wall on social media. And I think I'm not the only one.
Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of the "Big 3" social networks - Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. I don't like to brag, but with 267 Facebook friends, I am well over the average number of 150. (Though well under my wife's total of 400. Doh!) Frankly, I can barely contain my contempt for my real-world friends who aren't on Facebook. I wonder, do they ever get dizzy, watching the world pass them by?
On the professional side, I'm very active with LinkedIn. I'm in sales, and I find myself on LinkedIn at least 10 times a day...prospecting mostly, but also reading updates and checking who has viewed my profile. And I use Twitter on a personal level to follow comedians, and on a professional level for sales and marketing. With one of my Twitter accounts I have cleverly amassed nearly 7,000 followers. Which is easy to do, when you can purchase them for a penny each.
So clearly, I know what I'm doing. But when I recently got an email from Flickr saying someone had added me as a contact, I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Flickr? Really? Isn't that the site that I had to join because I wanted to view a friend's wedding photos?
So for me, the time has come to draw the line. I'm sure that market research experts have a term for this...probably "social media fatigue" or something equally nondescript. Whatever it's called, it's fair to say that I don't want to be involved in any new social media. Enough is enough.
Looking back, I suppose I first came to this realization about a year and a half ago, when Philip Kaplan (aka PUD), founder of AdBrite, launched Blippy.com, a service that allowed people to publicly display all of their credit card purchases. I found myself wondering if that was perhaps a bridge too far. Why would anyone want to share that information? To PUD's credit, the venture was strong out of the gate. He secured millions in angel funding. It got tons of press, and even a mention on The Colbert Report. It turns out that there are a lot of people who are perfectly willing to share their online purchases with the world. But evidently there weren't enough. Blippy shut down in May.
So now I find myself asking similar questions with regard to Google+. Why would anyone need another social network? How many balls are we expected to keep in the air? Are the three major social networks not enough? Google+ is asking us to to juggle four balls. I say no thanks.
Like most people, I have better things to do than learn about a new social media platform, even if it is something I think I should be doing for my career. Sometimes being a leader in your industry means championing new ideas. But other times it means knowing when to pass on something because the investment isn't worth the benefit. This is one of those times.
So sorry Google+, I don't want to be your friend. I'm happy with what I've got. I connect with my personal friends on Facebook, my professional contacts on LinkedIn, and I follow my favorite comedians on Twitter. Google+ is just another also-ran that I don't have time for.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. It's just a matter of time until we experience a social media backlash. And Google+ may open the floodgates. It's possible that we're already starting to see it. Seth Green openly mocks the Google+ marketing efforts on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, saying that people who join it are part of "the new technological mafia". That's not a great start for the the company that claims its motto is "Don't Be Evil".
Update: Evidently Microsoft is considering throwing their hat into the social media ring as well, with socl.com. They mistakenly went live with the URL today. Maybe they'll see this blog post and think twice.