Will Klout perks work with Facebook pages: Taking a closer look

Today Mashable broke the news about the partnership between Klout and brands on Facebook – where content shared on a particular Facebook page can be dictated by the individual fan’s Klout score. Mashable writes, “In Involver’s (the company creating the app) Klout interpretation on the gate model, a Facebook user’s Klout score will determine what type of Facebook content you see and what perks, if any, you get.” Audi is the first to roll it out.

As I read the article, many questions came to mind which were also reflected in the comments from other readers of Mashable:

• Who decides what a “good Klout score” is?
• Is Facebook Klout as accurate as Twitter? Many people privatize their profiles so is Klout able to access this and rate users fairly?
• Will this trend burst out of control losing relevance as more and more brands hide content until fans get their Klout scores?
• Will potential brand fans become irritated if they’re only gained access to information by enabling another application?
• What if the simple Klout score given to a fan isn’t reflective of their influence in a particular industry topic?

The announcement was made relating to a trial run with Audi where users are led to believe that only if their Klout is high enough, they’ll receive the Audi wallpaper or ring tone, but looking through their comments, Audi is apparently rewarding everyone, which may not be the best way to roll out the new initiative.

While I’m excited to see where this trend goes, I do hope that brands using this initiative to share their Facebook content are able to have more control in dictating who receives what. My personal recommendation would be for Klout to be cautious of the brands they partner with. Groupon only approves deals from brands if the value is in line with what subscribers want. Being selective will help this initiative stay relevant.

I also believe brands should be able to tap into the specifics of a person’s Klout score. We social media pros always discuss what’s important in social measurement and it’s not just one number of followers, fans, subscribers – it goes deeper than that and for Klout, I’d recommend my clients look at rewarding only Klout users that are influential in few topics (shown in the “influential about” part of Klout profile).

I’d like to see success stories from this initiative, but I also believe Klout and Facebook have some fine tuning to do to make this worth while. What are your initial thoughts?

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