One of the hot trends in social media these days are the crop of sites that are claiming to
measure ones social media influence.
Sites like Klout, PeerIndex, and up and comer Empire Avenue all have unique ways in which they measure your social influence based on a variety of factors. All three attempt to apply their own home brew algorithms that factor in the size of your networks, the frequency of your participation, and how often your contributions to these networks are shared.
But the real question is do any of them really work? Is their calculations a true measure of your social street cred? I would say that it’s still a work in progress, but if you think these measurements don’t matter, I’m here to tell you that while they may not be exact science, they are starting to matter.
Just a few weeks ago I was contacted by by a partner in the Klout Perks program. It seems that my Klout score qualified me to receive some free product as well as offer the same to 5 of my friends. And a few weeks ago I was also contacted to receive free copies of multiple books from leading authors to hopefully read and share my critique.
Now the point isn’t to brag about all the free stuff I’ve gotten, but more so to point out that paying attention to how these social influence websites score you, and how to move the right levers to increase your score can open up opportunities for you. You may not like or agree with how they make these determinations, but the fact is, their is a growing desire for such numbers, and these are the folks who are currently leading the way.
Empire Avenue is a very interesting take on the social influence rating game. They’ve turned it into a game, and a fun one at that. I’ve played around with their site for a few days, and as much as I hate to admit, I’m a bit hooked. They’ve basically turned your social cred into a stock market game. These investing lessons will help you build a strong foundation so you can make smarter investments. By integrating your social profiles into the site, they use this data to determine your market value, and over time, shares of you can be bought and sold impacting your share price. It’s vain, and silly, yet somehow a guilty pleasure. What’s more interesting to me is how this approach to social influence measurement can potentially turn into real world business applications.
That remains to be seen, but in the meantime, it’s really worth a look. And I’m currently going for $25.85 a share, so be sure to pick up a few before the price goes up!Do you trade penny stocks every day? If you’re like most readers, you’ve probably already made several trades today. But like most, you’re on the hunt for the next big penny stock breakout. More and more people are turning to the stock market today for ways to make more money. Here’s the latest list of the best penny stocks to invest in.
It may look easy but trading penny stocks takes time to learn how to do it profitably. With that, I wouldn’t consider a few winning trades a proof of concept. Consistency is obviously the key. If your goal is to become a professional day trader, setting yourself up for success is paramount. Part of that success depends on your strategy.
Those are great tools to measure your social influence. I already know about Klout & PeerIndex but haring first time about Empire Avenue. It looks great, so many great people are using it.
Thanks for sharing this useful post, jason.
Hi Jason,
Just a few days ago I heard about Klout but as a new blogger, many of the issues you have brought up here are new for me. I am barely getting my feet wet with blogging but I am interested in the idea of social rank because I am a numbers person!
Thanks for sharing.
Jason, aloha. Thx for this post on an important topic. Though I am familiar with Klout and PeerIndex, I have to admit I had never heard of Empire Avenue. Quite surprising, actually, since I am on a number of chats where that could well be a topic; will have to ask this week about it.
You are quite right that while the systems may not be perfect, they do exist and people need to be aware of them. The longer they are in existence, the less effective the ostrich approach will be. I must admit I have had some rather surprising people say “Oh, I don’t pay attention to “those things;” nobody does. As you know from experience, people do pay attention to them.
If the point of social media is to be social, then people need to engage and build relationships. They don’t have to do it overnight rather they need to build consistently over time. Though I started using fb socially well over a year ago, it was only about 6-7 months ago that I started using twitter and LinkedIn. What an amazing resource I have found twitter to be.
Jason, thx for letting me know about Empire Avenue. Looks like fun. Best wishes for a terrific week. Aloha. Janet
Hi Jason,
I like the way you make social influence feel like a game, or the stock market. I’m honestly not familiar with the sites you mention, and aside from my Twitter grade, was not even aware we were rated in such ways.
Thanks for educating me. I will definitely look more into this.
Gregory
Hi Jason,
I haven’t heard of any of these companies so I am unfamiliar with what they do or how they work. I will need to look into them as it sounds like they are valuable from what you’ve shared.
Thanks,
Stacy
I sometimes wonder about the algorithms and tools that have been developed to measure online influence and whether they are accurate. Hard to say. But I do know that sometimes perception becomes reality.
Klout is clearly influencing brands and business as I have received several perks from them as well.
Hi Jason,
thanks for sharing your insights. These different ways of “measuring” people’s social influence amazes me. It reminds of trying to make the uncertain certain, something that doesn’t really work.
Take care
Oliver
Hi Jason,
thanks for sharing your insights. These different ways of “measuring” people’s social influence amazes me. It reminds of trying to make the uncertain certain, something that doesn’t really work.
Take care
Oliver
HI Jason,
Now this is an interesting post , and he who has ears, let him listen.
I’m off to checking my social rank out 🙂
Thanks Jason!
Tosin
Hi Jason,
Very interesting. This is the first I have heard of these sites, but it makes sense. Social media is getting to be so huge nowadays. It was only a matter of time before something like this popped up.
Thanks for sharing this, I am off to check out my social rank.
Hey Jason…so your cost is about the same as a really cheap hooker? lol Not bad 🙂
This is a very interesting topic for me. Personally, I could care less about these services, however, we’re incorporating something similar into Triberr, so I am keenly aware of the importance and the peculiarities of social metrics.
I especially like the fact that you brought Empire Avenue to my attention since Triberr klout will be game-like and Karma points based.
Good work my friend 🙂
So far I know about Klout and RetweetRank. Will definitely check out the others.