Klout Psychic

December 16, 2012 — 6 Comments

I have done a lot of joking on the subject of influence measurement, Klout in particular. I used to have a lot of fun over at Klout, but never took it seriously. Now I do wonder about one thing. How does Klout know that Chris Brogan belongs at the top of my influencers list? This happens to be true, but there are no FB connections, no tweets between us. He contacts me, as does the fabulous S. Anthony Innarino, by e-mail each Sunday.

S. Anthony’s Influencers list shows Brother Brogan at the top, which does make sense, but how do they know about me? My Klout influencers list has had Chris at the top forever, but also lists one person I don’t even know. They have no record of the books or e mails, and they do not seem to be accurate, let alone psychic. It reminds me of a joke my father used to tell about a thermos bottle given to a hillbilly. The fellow wondered how the thermos knew weather to keep the contents hot or keep them cold. The punch line of the joke was “How do it know?” I add this to the list of questions I ask about the meaning and accuracy of influence on Klout.

I have joked lately about the topics being yanked and the humor involved in the influence categories. I don’t pay much attention to it any more since all my fun food topics were tossed by the influence bosses. Apparently one can grow influence in strawberry guava one week, and have all your important and valuable influence wiped out whimsically the next. Some seeds fall on fallow ground. I feel that I have been, and many still are unduly influenced by influence fascists.