Are you a cool kid in the Social Media playground?

by Jackie Scott

I grew up as a blue collar kid in a small town in NJ were popularity contests were a very, very real and often painful part of growing up.

Being one of the “cool” or “popular” kids definitely had its playground perks.  Having social status and a sphere of influence as a kid often meant being invited to sit with the cool kids at lunch, having your favorite seat reserved for you on the  bus to school, and being protected from the blacktop bullies. It  also often meant he difference between being picked first to join a team for a game of kickball at recess, or being totally humiliated by being the last one chosen for the game by the team captain (the captain was obviously a kid with high social scores and status!).   I have to admit, I am all too familiar with the being humiliated and the picked last scenario as I was kind of a weird kid.  I would often find myself doodling with chalk on the blacktop or digging up worms for a helpless baby bird I discovered in the outfield instead of catching the kickball.

As an adult I thought we outgrew popularity contests.

Now enter the Social Media playground where Klout Score Kings, Queens and Hos (Hos engage in “one-night stands” in which they follow lots of folks on Twitter, hoping they’ll follow back, then dump them the next day) rule the digital air we breathe and master our virtual playground.   Klout measures your online influence through twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.  When you create content or engage, you impact and influence others.  Klout claims to be the new standard of influence and influence is the name of this game.

So much for your hard work, talent or investing in your local community. This new social status playground is cultivating cool kids through the world of social media and online influence.  I’m not interested in the exclusive discounts or free gifts offered for earning high Klout scores but I’m intrigued by the notion that we may be measured by our Klout scores in the very near future.  Our Klout scores may land us that all important meeting with stakeholders and decision makers who have the ability to make a difference in their back pockets.

Do you have your Klout score game face on?  Are you ready to play?