Forbes article screenshot
Anthony Kosner, in a Forbes article, claims that Klout purposely makes users feel bad in order to manipulate their behavior. He points out that when first signing up to Klout, your score is posted artificially low as it “gathers” information about you and slowly raises your score. In the meantime, users feel bad about their score so Klout offers ways to improve it by getting you do what they want.
He goes so far as to use the word “groom”, which conjures up the tricks that pedophile’s use to lure potential victims. Even the dictionary uses this as an example, see Apple Dictionary app definition of one use: “prepare or train (someone) for a particular purpose or activity: star pupils who are groomed for higher things…(of a pedophile) prepare (a child) for a meeting, esp. via an Internet chat room, with the intention of committing a sexual offense.”
What motivates Klout?
Mr. Kosner points out that,
Klout makes its money by collecting your data that it uses to help advertisers who want to promote their products using your social influence.
Considering that, who really benefits from you spamming your friends with your Klout invites and activity?
Read Mr. Kosner’s article for some tips on how to limit some of the pitfalls of participation. There’s a lot of good food for thought here. While it would be difficult to prove the ranking is doled intentionally to entice users into following Klout’s pre-planned behaviors, it’s very reasonable to believe.
It’s also interesting to see how the other platforms tend to manipulate as well. Facebook likes, Google +’s, Twitter followers, etc., are all metrics that encourage users to do everything they can get more of. It’s a game in which the platform gets the users to add content, data, and behaviors that they can later tap into for advertisers.