Does anyone remember this childhood story by Hans Christian Andersen? ( Story ) After spending a ton of money for real gold fabric and months of labor, the Emperor was sure he had the finest outfit ever made. He strutted down the street wearing it, and everyone said how fine he looked. But his subjects secretly snickered because he was wearing nothing at all! Over the months, they had all pretended that he was getting real fabric and thread and labor.
What does @Klout "wear"?
I read (at least a year ago) that if you don't have a @Klout score of over 60, you'll be treated badly at the big hotels and restaurants in New York and Las Vegas. So I decided to get my score to 62 before my next trips to those cities.
With great anticipation, I waited for the desk people at The Carlyle to mention - or ask for - my 62 score. They didn't. Further, when I asked if they wanted it, they looked at me like I had two heads! The next try at The Wynn (what a completely fabulous hotel, by the way) produced the same (non-) results!
Deciding that the @Klout was new, I gave it another year. But the effort to stay at 62 became increasingly difficult since I only have about 30 minutes/day for social media. Sadly, I have to work at my day job, too. I began to feel like a hamster on the proverbial treadmill!
Then it got even worse this past Fall. @Klout "demoted" me because they started using a new, "better" "algorhythm." I fell to a 47!! Back to the drawing board: I began to "work" like crazy to get up to...a 52? Holy cow! So I became an addict...tweeting more and more and then checking my daily "score" to see if it had gone higher. It reminds me of when I used to go on diets: I'd get on the scale morning, noon and night hoping that the needle had moved in the right direction. It rarely did!
So gradually I had to stop and ask myself the question: "If I can get a better @Klout rating, what will I get?" Will it help me make more money? More friends? Or help me become happier or smarter?
No, no and no. @Klout may be important for the movie stars. But I'm no movie star. And in the great scheme of things, I am just a 37 in life (or lower because Hillary Clinton is a 37 and she's actually world-class fabulous!).
So I opted out last week and threw away the treadmill. I don't do anything social media-wise any differently...just less of it. And I love the freedom, the lack of (perceived) @klout criticism and implied "Do better!" admonishment.
I'd love to know how others feel about this subject! Please share!
Ellen
Good for you. I'm with you on this one. I also decided to not focus so much on Klout. I do have the score widget displayed on my blog, but I decided to not allow it to enslave me. I just want to go with the flow of who I am socially and let the score do as it may.
ReplyDeleteI keep seesawing. I was ready to quit and then they enticed me. Free Roc beauty products! But I have to say that it perturbed me that I was in California taking care of my father, who passed away, and then came back to be "chided" for my Klout score...it had dropped a huge amount. Like I needed to "worry" about that? And now you have me thinking about it again. Are a few free products worth the pain? Now there I am...confused again. :) :)
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine just got a weekend in Seattle. Hotel, cash and meals so Im sticking with it for now. She's also received bags of coffee etc
ReplyDeleteI had no idea of the big promises that had been promised but was enticed by the smaller perks they sent my way. However they "unrecognized" my facebook page even though it says I sucessfully linked it when I try (it's a never ending unfruitful circle). I too was demoted and haven't stressed about it. I haven't officially quit but I'm not letting klout rule my waking moments.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great post.
I've received several great perks from Klout but I agree it's hard to keep up a high score. There are several other perks I'd love to qualify for but I don't but I don't sweat it though. I just do things normally and if I qualify for a perk then I'll take it and if not then I guess I just have to pass.
ReplyDelete