NEWS AND INSIGHTS UPDATE:
Klout is the highly-debated tool that measures online influence based on social media activities. By analyzing Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Google+ updates, shares, and so on, Klout compiles a score to evaluate how influential you are across the social web. It’s not a perfect science (not even close), but the allure of quantifying online popularity is hard for many people to resist.
Piers Fawkes of PSFK Consulting asks on Mashable, “Should you hire staff based on their Klout score?” He analyzed Klout scores for a variety of ad agency executives and provided all of his data in his Mashable article (click the link below to see it). His ultimate conclusion was this:
“People are going to feel uneasy about the notion of a prospective employer checking an interviewee’s Klout score, but it doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen. Recruiting is not a gentleman’s sport with a level playing field. Every participant (employer and employee) needs to use any and every tool at their disposal to gain an advantage. And given its formula, Klout seems to be a very robust way available to judge the cultural capacity of a prospective or existing employee. How far off are we from having employees bring their scores to annual reviews to reveal how engaged with culture they were and around what topics they influenced others?
“And sure, as one of the PSFK Consulting team reminded us, Klout can be gamed so that people can receive higher scores than they might otherwise be entitled. But perhaps, we as employers should be even more interested in hiring someone who knows how to manipulate social media to their own advantage.”
What do you think? Should Klout scores affect hiring decisions?
Get the Details: Should You Hire Staff Based on Their Klout Score? via mashable.com
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Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 30-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored a dozen books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).
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