Frequently Asked Questions

Klout measures influence online. When you create content or engage, you impact others. Klout analyzes that impact to find your Klout Score, influential topics, and your influencers. Klout is the standard for influence. Top brands such as Disney, Audi, and Turner use Klout Perks to reach and engage influencers. Over 3,000 applications and partners use Klout data to display Klout Scores, prioritize based on Score or topics, and segment users.

The Klout Score measures influence on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being the most influential. Klout uses data from social networks in order to measure:

• How many people you influence; (True Reach)
• How much you influence them; and (Amplification)
• How influential they are (Network Score)

Influence is the ability to drive action. It happens in real-time and in a given topic. You influence others when you convince your friends to go see a movie, share your favorite YouTube video, or start a discussion about the upcoming election.

Klout helps you understand your influence and how to leverage it.

• Benchmark your success, understand who you influence, and discover who to trust in the topics you care about.
• Earn Klout Perks: exclusive access to products and experiences from top brands.
• Put your Klout Score on your resume to land a sweet job or use it to get better customer service.

Brands can run Klout Perks and use Klout to measure their own success on social media. Klout Perks enable brands to reach and engage with influencers around a Perk. Klout influencers create thousands of pieces of UGC and millions of impressions for a brand's new product, initiative or campaign. Perks are targeted based on Score, influential topics, location and more. Your brand's Klout Score indicates how well you are driving action for your company. Monitor your Score to understand which tactics are working and how to better engage your audience.

Klout never identifies influencers to advertisers or sells your data. Perks are freebies provided to Klout by brands who would like influential people to try their product. You can choose to grab Perks that you qualify for, or ignore them. Once you've claimed your Perk, we will never share your data with the advertiser. Advertisers can only find your username if you decide to share publicly about the Perk or register on the advertiser's website. You are welcome to say you like a product, you dislike it or say nothing at all. More details are available on our blog.

Klout Perks are exclusive products or experiences you earn based on your Klout. Perks enable brands to connect with influencers in their area of expertise. As an influencer, you get first access to Perks you can share with your friends and audience. Influencers have taken a new Audi for a weekend-long test drive, gone with their kids to an early screening of a Disney movie, and brought home new HP laptops loaded with films.

As an influencer, you are the type of person that your friends look to when choosing what movie to see or what laptop to buy. The brands we work with are confident in the quality of their products and they'd like you to try it to see for yourself. You are welcome to tell the world that you love the product, you dislike it, or to say nothing at all.

Perks are distributed to select influencers based on their topics of authority, location and score. If you influence your friends on the topics that you care about, then chances are high that a company in that industry wants your opinion. We work with those companies to get Perks to the right people. You can help us find the right Perks for you by keeping your profile up-to-date and curating the list of topics that we've found for you.

You must be 18 or older to qualify for Perks. Make sure to your birthday is up-to-date in your profile.

The criteria that we display are guidelines to help you understand who is eligible for a specific Perk. Sometimes there are more specific criteria under the hood, such as a precise zip code or neighborhood. Make sure to keep your profile up-to-date so that we can find the best Perks for you!

Nope, we value your authenticity and so do your friends and the brands who use our program. If you receive a Perk, it is because you are influential and have authority on topics related to the product. You can choose to talk about the Perk or keep quiet, it's up to you.

Often companies are interested in giving Perks to influencers in a specific neighborhood. For instance, pizzerias in North Beach don't care how influential you are if you live in NYC. We look at a collection of data to determine your location, including the zip code that you put in your Klout profile, your Facebook location and your Twitter location (don't worry, we never share our data). Remember to keep your profile up-to-date so that we can find the best Perks for you.

Klout collects data from your networks in order to discover your influence. We do not share any of your private data or email address with 3rd parties. We do not access your Twitter DMs, private Facebook messages, private Flickr content or any other private communication.

Klout collects public data in order to accurately measure influence. Users can control the data available to Klout by changing the privacy settings on individual networks. Klout will never access your private data unless we have explicit permission.

If you are driving action in a given topic, you have influence in it. We judge quality of content by the reactions it produces, not by their sentiment.

Influence is relative so it depends on your goal and peers. The average Klout Score is not 50; instead, it is around 20. The Score becomes exponentially harder to increase as you move up the scale. For instance, it is much harder to move from a 70 to a 75 than from a 20 to a 25.

It's no secret; the best way to increase your Score is to consistently create great content that people want to share and respond to. For the most accurate Score, we also recommend connecting all of your social networks.

The Klout Score is updated daily. Influencers and topics update weekly.

Adding networks allows us to more accurately measure your Klout Score. Adding a new network will never decrease your Score. Instead, it often increases it because we are able to give you credit for your impact on that network.