I have the Klout app, and I think my score is somewhere around 60. So your score of 69 looks pretty good to me.

I used to track it pretty closely. But I haven’t really tracked it for several months other than a once in a while look on my phone.

There’s definitely a balance in looking at numbers. People often complain about churches that track their attendance, etc. They think they are too focused on the numbers for the sake of the numbers. But I think this is sometimes misinterpreted. Churches are commissioned to go out and make disciples. Part of making disciples involves growing in the number of believers and church attenders. Are we being successful in achieving this mandate? Part of the way to measure success is to look at the numbers.

Similarly, we who are creating and growing our platforms must look at the numbers if we’re serious about getting our message out and growing our platforms. It only makes sense.

Oh another Klout debate! I’ve seen so many of these. While I don’t care for Klout, I do care greatly for numbers and using them to assess something and to inform how you improve it, but not as a sole measure of success.

For instance, in my Air Force public affairs job, we analyze, for instance, story hits and social media metrics to gain insight into what our audiences are interested in, not interested in and why based on experience and professional judgement. Ideally, we’d survey all of our audiences to get better data but do it right is very expensive. Regardless, we use what’s available to us because we’re always looking to improve and better serve the audiences we communicate with.

In my view, if you’re not using the numbers you have available to you as a means to assess performance and grow, you’re failing.

I have the same problem. I have to make myself only check things weekly, it is easy to become obsessed.

Yup. I tossed Klout a while back for the same reason. There seemed to be no logic to its ups and downs that I could see, and it related in no actual way to the engagement I felt (or didn’t feel) with anyone that mattered to me.

Influence isn’t something that can be measured by some silly web site.

At some point we were told that what others thought of our creation, our thoughts, our writing or singing was what mattered. Most of us bought into the lie.

That lie tells us that a negative critique is disapproval, that it makes what we created less valid or meaningful.

That lie tells us that a Retweet equals importance or impact.

That lie tells us that follower quantity equals influence.

That lie leads to FEAR. FEAR of rejection, FEAR of reaction, FEAR of loss. Followers gained means you are doing the right thing. Followers lost means Johnny has been a bad boy and needs to get back with the program.

But he’ll never define the program that way. He’ll never change the world. He’ll only be a sheep in the herd.

One person mentoring one hurting child who lives in abject poverty with an abusive stepfather and a drunk mother…and watches him end up graduating from college with honors…that person has more influence than 99.9% of the people with Klout scores of 70+.

Kind of surprised to hear you are even concerned with this Chris. I’m sure everyone here would agree that your Klout is 110! If that’s even possible?

Seriously though, maybe I’m messing up, but I’ve never worried about my “klout”. Maybe that’s why mine is so low?? Doesn’t stop me from smiling when someone gives me a re-tweet!

Anyway, I’m trying to make a difference in people’s lives. I modeled that from you, Dave, and your team. My theory is that if we focus on that, then our klout and our analytics will blow up naturally!

With that being said, those are two different things. I can be strategic by looking at my traffic through my analytics. I can’t do much to control my klout.

Klout shmout! Maybe it should be CLout? ;)