MomCrunch
Klout’s New “Scoring Model” Causes Scores to Plummet
Claiming that they’ve made changes to have a “more accurate, transparent Klout score,” today marked the release of Klout’s new “scoring model.” Klout announced the change on their site, saying:
We analyze 2.7 billion pieces of content and connections daily. Reaching this scale, we’ve introduced significant upgrades to our platform, allowing us to handle this explosive growth. Now, we can add more networks and other sources of your influence much, much faster.
Interestingly, Klout also provided a graphic highlighting how the score changes would be distributed.
A majority of users will see their Scores stay the same or go up but some users will see a drop. In fact, some of our Scores here at the Klout HQ will drop — our goal is accuracy above all else. We believe our users will be pleased with the improvements we’ve made. Below is a distribution of the Score changes. You’ll note large decreases in Score are rare.
A more thorough explanation of the Klout score changes can be found in this blog post by Klout’s founder.
What’s interesting, of course, is that “most users will not see a change” element, at least according to my Twitter stream, is not even remotely true. Over 150 people responded to my query about their scores, and 99% saw a decrease in their score with most seeing decreases of 10 point or greater.
In addition, all previous information about Klout scores has vanished so it appears that our scores have always been this low (yes, I saw a 13 point drop).
When I asked Klout for a comment, they pointed me to the posts I linked above and didn’t answer when I asked about the fact that most folks I surveyed saw a score decrease despite their distribution claim. There’s been quite a backlash against the changes at Klout on Twitter, including the creation of a new account called Occupy Klout. When I further questioned Klout about the fact that so many have seen their scores go down, Megan Berry (Marketing Manager for Klout, said,
“…keep in mind is in our experience people tend to speak up if they see a drop and not if they see stability or an increase.”
Which of course is a charming way to say those of us that lost Klout and aren’t happy about it are a bunch of whiners. Frankly, I’m surprised that they are sticking to their guns so firmly that some folks have seen an increase or stayed the same; of the over 150 people I’ve spoken with about this today only two people saw an increase and both were for only a point or two. Everyone else saw dips of 9 points or higher.
What remains to be seen, of course, is how (or if!) this will impact the mom blogging community. Whether we love or hate Klout, the brands and agencies we work with utilize Klout scores to make determinations about our perceived value, so this is an issue important to us (as much as we’d all like to claim that Klout doesn’t matter).
What about you? Did you see a rise or a drop?
Go Back To MomCrunch
16 Comments
Snarky Tiffany commented on Oct 26 11 at 5:52 pmDrop. Big-ass 11-point drop.
Phil Hollows commented on Oct 26 11 at 5:55 pmKlout scores are meaningless metrics. Calling these scores metrics over-dignifies them. How much traffic has Kout driven to a blog, compared to (say) Google, Facebook or your email list?
Exactly.
The Twitterverse is giving Klout much, much too much time and attention.
Focus, people.
Carolyn commented on Oct 26 11 at 5:56 pmMine went up by about 12 points (but then again, it had dipped about 7 in the week prior to the announcement, reaching a new low this morning before the changes rolled out in the afternoon). So I’m at a new all time high if you look at the number, but my graphs still show that I’ve been steadily decreasing for weeks (and I’d love to know WHY it went down, because I haven’t done anything differently!) My guess is that those are the ends of the spectrum saw the biggest changes, and those with medium scores saw more moderate fluctuations.
cecilyk commented on Oct 26 11 at 6:19 pmI totally agree, Phil – but. :) Those that hire us, particularly mom bloggers, use those scores to deem us worthy. So it effects our bottom lines.
gypsie commented on Oct 26 11 at 6:20 pmugh. Whiners? Bs! We worked hard for our klout scores..to have it drop..sucks. albeit mine was by 6 points but still . It stinks!
Cat Davis commented on Oct 26 11 at 7:02 pmThis all seems so trivial to throw a hissy fit about. I dropped 4 points, bummer, I got over it in 10 minutes. Move on people.
C @ Kid Things commented on Oct 26 11 at 7:03 pm10 point drop, here. From a score that was relatively low, now to pathetically low.
Julia Roberts commented on Oct 26 11 at 9:02 pmMine dropped 5 I think.
The Slacker Mom commented on Oct 26 11 at 9:15 pmI dropped 3 points.
mom101 commented on Oct 27 11 at 10:29 amHere’s a way to not care about your Klout score dropping – not care about your Klout score in the first place. Works for me. But maybe I’m weird that way.
Maria @amotherworld commented on Oct 27 11 at 10:35 amWe are spending too much time caring about something that takes away from the joy of social media. With Klout you can’t even take a day off tweeting or else your score will drop – ridiculous.
I think followers on Twitter, fans on Facebook and traffic on your blog carry more weight than one Klout number (even though Klout takes all into consideration for the score).
amberpagewrites commented on Oct 27 11 at 12:08 pmMine dropped 10 points—after it had already dropped precipitously over the last month or so. I got so angry I unlinked all of my social media accounts from Klout. I don’t really work with brands much anyway (and I’m not looking to make that my focus), so the only impact opting out will have is on potential freelance clients. Which is still a concern, but if they want to hire me, it’s usually for my writing first…
I already have enough numbers to worry about. I refuse to be ruled by this one.
Susan (5 Minutes for Mom) commented on Oct 27 11 at 9:43 pmYup, ours also dropped about 13 points. Grrrr.
jeannett commented on Oct 28 11 at 4:42 pmi guess the good thing is that if most everyone’s score dropped 9-ish points, then everyone is still on the same relative field. right? so long as the brands understand this and don’t still have the expectation of 70+ klout scores…
Anne (@notasupermom) commented on Oct 28 11 at 6:13 pmI dropped 11 points.
I’m just not that upset. It doesn’t affect my life or my business at all. If it did, then I would be upset, but as it is I’m just in it for the perks.
Add your take:
Note: Babble is a supportive, diverse community. We encourage a range of opinions,
but any unduly hostile comments will be removed.
Comments are delayed up to 15 minutes
Paula Bernstein 
Cecily Kellogg 
Ria Sharon 
Janice Croze and Susan Carraretto 
Alli Worthington 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
16