All I Wanted Was An Answer

OK, I am gonna start off this post by saying that, I probably wouldn’t even have written this post if someone at Kred had answered my question directly.  I am just curious what this marketing play by Kred (@Kred) was all about.  Last I was told, when I asked why they “aligned/piggybacked” on Klout, rather than keeping their differentiation was “It’s really busy in the office today. We will craft a response soon.” (As a writer, I noted the word “craft.”  It seemed odd to me) As of this posting, I still don’t have an answer. So, I am going to see if anyone else does. Why? Because it seemed like a very strange move for a company of data specialists to call itself an “alternative” and then “piggyback.”

I’ve seen many a varied marketing tactic over the years…and I was just curious why they went this route.  I really just wanted to understand, maybe even learn something deeper about the new little niche.

The Scientific Study of  Social Influence

I have been studying the “Social Influence” utilities for a bit of time now: quietly, in the back ground, just a little geeky project.  A lot of my clients have started to ask me questions about it, and many people I know in the Speaking industry have started using various tools (mostly @Klout). The problem was that everyone was equating social influence metrics to social media “stuff.” I wanted to be able to explain it to them with some knowledge, so I started studying it.

Now, I am NOT a highly influential person…I produce goods for people who are influential. This allows me to just sit and watch. Which, having the data background I do, is cool in a geek way.

Over the last few months, I have had many conversations on the topic of “social influence” tools with knowledgeable peeps. Some people call it phooey, and “nothing more than high-school cliques revisited.” I can see where they are coming from, but I differed in my opinion of it. I found it rather interesting that a new metric was emerging. I wanted to know:

• How will it be measured?
• Who is gonna get it right?
• What are people going to do once they know that they are being measured?
• How is this going to be used in business?
• Will a high “social influence” score allow a person or brand to charge more for their services?
• Will persons/brands with high scores start selling their tweets ? (Note: I discounted celebrities, since they openly do this and well, we don’t really care that they do. I was thinking more about powerful mom-bloggers, academics, and the like.)

See, I am one of those that does believe the metric can be a good one. Now, how you can announce that you are measuring something and than not have your measurement affected by it is a whole ‘nother story.  Once you say “we are gonna measure this,” there will be those that want to “game” the scoring and get a higher score.  So, the measurement is only valid (or rather, truly pristine and uninfluenced, accurately measured) before people realize they are being scored. After that, the analysis will have to account for people who are “working the system,” so to speak.

Regardless of whether or not it has lost it’s data derived innocence , I believe the metric will be an important one. Or rather, one that might be important IF 1. It gains long-lasting recognition as a valid metric that has meaning (in business, this typically equates to sales) and 2. If solid companies come out and truly seek to measure the influence data and not taint it.  No, I am not saying that they should not PROMOTE it’s use, but there is a line to “education, explanation and promotion” and “creating your own data to measure.”  The line isn’t all that clear yet, but it’s there and we will find it.

Kred – Oh, You Look Really Cool

Read More…