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Marietta, OH

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Book Review: Return on Influence

June 9, 2012 by Margie Clayman 15 Comments

In late April, I headed down to Knoxville to attend SocialSlam, a conference founded by my friend Mark Schaefer. Mark has been one of the people who has really reached out to me over the two years that I’ve been online – he reached out when I was having a hard time, invited me to guest post on his extremely popular blog, and has always been genuine and warm (he was no different in person). At the conference, I received a complimentary copy of Mark’s new book, Return on Influence (not an affiliate link) which had been next on my Amazon wish list.

I have come to learn that books tend to influence me (bwa ha ha) to react in one of a few ways:

– They make me excited because they make clear a lot of things I didn’t even realize I was unclear about (see Olivier Blanchard’s Social Media ROI and Christopher Barger’s Social Media Strategist)

– They educate me in such a way that I want to take action and try new things (see John Jantsch’s Referral Engine, Jonah Sachs’ Winning the Story Wars, and Marketing in the Round by Gini Dietrich & Geoff Livingston)

– They make me want to argue with the author

– They make me really bored and curse my OCD (I have to finish every book I start)

In the case of this particular book, I am inspired to argue with Mark. Now, that does not mean I think his book is bad. In fact, I have so much to say because he really got me thinking, and his book pushes a lot of hot buttons, at least for me and my own view of the social media world. With that said, what do I want to argue about?

Does a high Klout score mean passion and/or knowledge?

If you are not familiar, the focus of this book is the role algorithmic sites like Klout and PeerIndex are playing in measuring the hazy world of influence. Now, a point that is referenced quite often throughout the book is that a high Klout score can be a sign that a person is really passionate or really knowledgeable about…something. Take this quote from Naveen Krishnamurthy: “I want to find the people who are online because they are knowledgeable passionate, and excited about what they are doing. Looking at a person’s Klout score seems to be a good indicator of that, a good way to recruit.”

To which I respond, Hmmmmmm.

When Klout first began making buzz in my online circles, I don’t recall seeing anyone saying, “I have to make sure I show that I’m influential in a topic relevant to my business. What I saw was, “Crap, my Klout score fell by 3 points over the weekend. I need to get it back up again.” Indeed, Mark quotes a tweet that says something along the lines of, “I can’t let my Klout score ever fall back that low again.” I am not convinced that Klout scores are signs that people are passionate or knowledgeable. My humble opinion is that more often than not, high Klout scores are symbolic of a person who wants to have a high Klout score.

The spiky thorn that is reciprocity

Mark talks at length about the importance of reciprocity online. He gives several examples of people who formulated online relationships and were able to help each other out both online and offline. This concept was also a major focus in Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith – if you give, you’re likely to get something back.

But are you?

The longer I stay in the online world, the less reciprocity I witness. This is not meant to be a mean statement – it’s just, well, people are people. And in the online world, people are predominantly out for themselves (working on their Klout scores, for example). The other issue, as the book points out, is that Klout encourages people to engage with those who have higher Klout scores. Reciprocity tends to be sought after more from those folks, and thus, paradoxically, more is given to those who may not need it as much. The idea of reciprocity is nice, and I agree it could be extremely useful as you build a network, but I just don’t see it in action as much as Mark’s chapter might have you believe if you’re new.

Low Klout scores mean things won’t spread online

This is perhaps the part of the book that surprised me most. Mark tells the story of a company who found a PR crisis unfolding online. Really bad news was being spread about this company’s client. Well, the client was freaked out, but the PR firm said, “Hang on. Most of these people have really low Klout scores. I don’t think what they’re saying will spread.” Nothing was done, and sure enough the news fizzled out.

To me, that’s a pure stroke of luck.

Here’s the thing. My Klout score is a relatively paltry 57 (Yes, I look on occasion). A really good score is a 70 to give you some perspective. If I decide to say something about you and you dismiss me because of my Klout score, what you’re missing is that I’m fortunate to know some folks who DO happen to have high Klout scores. Without me even asking, one of them might spread the word. If I did ask them, boy, you could really be in trouble.

I would also suggest that ignoring positive feedback from a person with a low Klout score is just as dangerous. This concept that you really need to nurture people with high Klout scores so they don’t say anything bad about you is spreading at an alarming rate. Think it through, though. If I go out of my way to say something really nice about you or your company and I keep getting ignored, I might end up talking about you or leaving a comment somewhere. If that gets picked up by one of your high Klout score babies, you’re still going to be in trouble. As much as you might want it, people with high Klout scores are not isolated from us poor Klout shlubs. At least not yet.

What I can’t argue with

The overriding point of Mark’s book is something you can’t argue with, however, and that is that this notion of trying to measure influence does not seem to be going anywhere except up. It’s important to educate *yourself* to determine what *you* think about all of this, and Mark’s book does a great job of introducing you to the pros and cons of Klout in particular.

Check out the book, then come on back here and let me know what you think!

I’ve written a new e-book called The ABCs of Marketing Myths. You can read about it here!

Filed Under: Book Reviews

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. bdorman264 says

    June 10, 2012 at 5:19 pm

    Klout gives me free stuff; that’s all I need to know. I will never, ever (and yes I said never) engage or not engage with someone based on a score. End.of.story. 

    Reply
    • margieclayman says

      June 12, 2012 at 2:17 pm

       @bdorman264 That’s what I found really disturbing. One of the people Mark writes about actually did an experiment to see if he could raise his Klout score over x number of days. To do so, he actually cut a lot of people who had lower Klout scores or not as many followers, and he made an effort to have conversations with the big guys. That just strikes me as …. yucky. I can’t think of a better word for it. I don’t want to go down that path either. Like, ever. 

      Reply
      • AdamBritten says

        June 12, 2012 at 2:27 pm

         @margieclayman I think you’re right in calling it “yucky,” but the sad part is, that’s what many have resorted to. And I see many people who are fans of other platforms (Kred, for example) simply retweeting and replying to people until their fingers fall off, since they know it will give them 10 points, or 3 points, or however many points that action earns them. The sad fact is, as we continue exploring “what these numbers are” and “what they mean to us,” more and more people will start participating in behavior that can only be described as “yucky.”
         
        I’m still about 1/3 of the way through Mark’s book, but you raised most of my points in your own assessment.

        Reply
        • margieclayman says

          June 13, 2012 at 9:14 pm

           @AdamBritten I like that yucky can be used in a professional sense. It’s just  a shame it fits so well 🙂 

          Reply
  2. dbvickery says

    June 11, 2012 at 6:34 pm

    I have Return on Influence on my reading list – got that yellow binding staring me in the face saying READ ME right next to my desk…after I finish 2 1/2 other books in the queue ;). I do enjoy Mark’s writing style.
     
    I agree about the spiky thorn of reciprocity. Of course, it is easier for me to respond to comments on my personal blog than it is for someone to respond to comments on their more heavily-trafficked blog and still have time to get over to my blog. Matter of scale and time-of-day in that case.
     
    I think Klout does fairly well with topics – and then misses some completely. Why I’m influential about the New England Patriots…and not the Denver Broncos and Denver Nuggets…I have no idea!

    Reply
    • margieclayman says

      June 12, 2012 at 2:14 pm

       @dbvickery I think that’s why Mark made sure it was going to be bright yellow. It screams at you for attention! 🙂 
       
      I’m not so worried about reciprocity on the small scale, although that can accumulate. I’m talking about the bigger stuff. I supported a chat you were guest hosting, you supported a webinar I was running. In the offline world I think we call it “friendship.” 🙂 

      Reply
  3. Danny Brown says

    January 28, 2013 at 12:51 am

    Social scoring platforms initiate contact. Nothing else, nothing more. If you want real results, you need to do the legwork. Something most proponents of social scoring invariably miss…

    Reply

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