Klout changed its ranking system to include your Instagram popularity, so if you want to boost your Klout number, you need to make sure your filtered photos get clicks.
The social media influence ranking service announced the change to its ranking algorithm today. It addition to signaling that we now have another account to worry about in order to boost Klout scores (if you care about that sort of thing), it also shows how mainstream Instagram has become, in case anyone still thought of it as a second-tier social network.
Klout scores seem like an irredeemably ridiculous competency yardstick, but if you’re in the social media business (or you have a jumbo ego) they can provide social leverage that’s necessary for your career.
And it seems appropriate that Klout would pick Instagram – after all, the once-small photo-sharing site is now the subject of extensive analytics and the site of ingenious marketing campaigns. People are already shelling out real money to buy fake Instagram followers, so it’s clear that a high follower count is already a status symbol to a certain set, and these are likely the same people who really care about Klout scores.
Here’s an example graph from the Klout Engineering blog showing how Instagram impacts Klout scores:
As you can see, the changes aren’t massive – if you have a high Klout score based on hyper-activity on Facebook and Twitter, you’re likely already a prolific Instagram user.
Now, Instagram isn’t the only new status measuring stick Klout adopted. It also announced a tighter integration with Microsoft Bing accounts. Last year, we reported on the Klout-Bing partnership that allowed Bing searches to influence Klout scores, and now that integration is even tighter, as people can directly connect their Bing and Klout accounts.
What does this mean if you’re a super serious Klout user? You better make sure your Instagram photos are clickbait – so hashtag away. This could lead to boost in popularity for services like Nitrogram, since they can show you which of your photos gain traction and which fall flat.
