So I log into my klout account yesterday and I see that I’ve lost some serious pointage.
Just the day before, my klout score was 67 and I was classified as a Pundit. I liked that.
I look into my twitter stream and I see everyone is up in arms because their klout score has gone down. Well, I’m not too interested in my over all klout score.
I was never going to use my “klout” to get some poster or other little trinket. (Note: if they offer me a new Chevy Camaro as a klout perk to get me to tweet about what I’m getting, I sincerely will consider it).
But what I really like to see is my true reach number. That’s the one that’s important to me. I’m on twitter to meet people and build relationships so I feel that my true reach number should be relatively close to what my follower number is.
As I looked over this whole klout situation taking place in my stream, along came @mrautotweetwhitenoise (name has been changed so as not to insult anyone directly). I have blogged about him before. He, to me, is someone who just doesn’t get twitter.
Back when I first blogged about him, he had 50,000 followers and now he’s almost doubled that number.
But check this out:
My twitter follower count
His twitter follower count
And the very best thing:
Whoa! I have a higher klout score than he does, I have larger network influence, I have a larger true reach. Woo hoo!
Social media at the very minimum should be SOCIAL! It used to bother me to see @mrautotweetwhitenoise carrying a higher klout score when he was simply not present. Not social.
I feel vindicated, justified. I feel like my theory has been proven out. So, while you may bemoan your loss of klout points, realize that correction may provide a more accurate reflection of your true social media influence.
At least I’m going to go with that even though I still feel sad not to be classified a Pundit anymore. 
Great post, Lauri! I love how you brought in other metrics other than the score such as Network influence and True reach. Important for people to look at things behind the score as well. I feel like Klout is starting to behave like Google updating their algorithms, looking for more accurate ways to identify content farms, low-quality content, etc and give them lower ranking.
Thanks, Eric! You and I may be the only two people who are happy with the changes that were made. I know that some people look for more out of Klout than I do, and that’s fine. But I feel like I was finally rewarded for being social!
Lauri -
Great to read this as I feel like a “newbie” to ALL OF IT even after nearly 50,000 tweets. I too went onto Klout and saw my ‘score’ having fallen substantially, so your words on ‘true reach’ came as a kind of navigation point in trying to figuring all this stuff out ( LOL and Good Luck!
and as to your point that you were “finally rewarded for being social” – you did a good job with that – clear as crystal (not the kind they are manufacturing in little towns and hamlets here
Wayne