Dec
27
If you have been following the latest trends in social media, you have probably noticed that sites attempting to measure online influence have been popping up like mushrooms after a rainstorm. With the mass of content available online, the marketers behind it certainly all have a vested interest in jockeying furiously for position. For a great rundown of the phenomenon, go to this TechCrunch article on social proof. As I cannot possibly review all of the social influence sites out there, I will only take a stab at those I know and use currently making waves and which appear to be best-in-class.
1. Klout: certainly the most popular and well known social influence measurement site out there, with a VC firm recently investing $10M in the concept. Spotify took advantage of Klout to launch by invite only, while artists like Will Ferrell and Stephen King are using it for their product launches, giving early adopters the chance to preview their content exclusively. I like how it rates users on the types of topics they are influential about; here’s mine. Without a doubt this is THE site to beat as 2011 draws to a close. That said, there are considerable drawbacks to the way the site, currently still in Beta version operates. While it purports to score your online influence on three factors (true reach, amplification and network), its scoring model leaves a lot to be desired (see: Klout is broken). I have been on for months circling a respectable 53 score and have yet to see my FB activity stats updated, which makes me wonder if they’re even counted. Looks like Klout has its work cut out for it; that said, I think it deserves credit for its ambition. You might also be interested in 7 surefire ways to increase your Klout score from Mashable.
2. Twenity: this brand new, cheeky entrant to the social influence measurement contest from Europe has a lot of style. The site’s tagline “Vanity is the spice of life” pokes fun at how seriously social media marketers are taking ourselves, all the while delivering a rich and engaging user experience. The concept is much truer to gamification than Klout as you directly compete with peers in your timezone or industry, and in fact the site advertises its ability to identify the Top 20 people or brands with the most influence. I like the quirky badges the site gives you when you reach certain milestones. Twenity currently only measures your influence on Twitter on the basis of three factors: your followers, your tweets and your lists to come up with a total score. Check it out, the service doesn’t officially launch in the US until January 20 of next year.
3. Others: one of the better rated new social media influence measurement sites which I have not had a chance to try out yet is Peerindex. It uses a ”Topic Fingerprint” to score you on 8 categories. Another one that sounds really cool is Empire Avenue, which bills itself as the Social Stock Market. Then there are many, many others, including PostRank, TwentyFeet, Sprout Social, Twylah and Traackr, each with their own unique or not-so-unique claim to fame. Please comment on this post if you have utilized any of these and tell us what you liked or didn’t like about them.
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Tags
Global trends, Marketing, Social Media
