• Measuring Influence: It's all Relative
• Foursquare: Seven Million Users and Counting

Jeremiah Owyang of Altimeter Research recently took a deeper look at Klout – arguably the most-heavily used for obtaining social media influence metrics. Klout looks at a user’s Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn pages and, using a specific algorithm, comes up with a score from 1-100 that explains how effective a user is in his or her network. Many brands are using these companies to “prioritize the elite,” as Owyang explains, but warns that relying on a single metric is dangerous.

For example, following the Kenneth Cole debacle, the company’s Klout Score increased nearly 30 points. This indicates that the Klout score takes into consideration reactions such as @ replies and the overall growth of a network, rather than measuring sentiment of the tweets being generated. This makes it relatively simple for users to cheat the system by posting an excessive number of tweets to raise their
Klout scores.

While Klout and other influence measurement tools can be useful, brands should keep in mind that influence is all relative. A well-known technology journalist may have a high Klout score and seem influential, but may not be relevant for a brand focused on fashion or food, for example. Consider the end audience for your client’s product or service – are the “influencers” you’re working with reaching those communities – or something else? Brands should not rely on one single measure of influence, but instead come up with their own algorithm for determining influence in their markets. 

• The average Foursquare user checks in 3-4 times per day
• Sixty percent of users are located in the United States, 40 percent are international users
• One million photos were shared within three weeks of Foursquare adding a photo upload feature