#Kloutapocalypse? Are you less influential than you were yesterday? (@Klout)

Update 2:30pm GMT: Klout just tweeted: “Fixing Klout scores now. Don’t worry, your score will return to normal!”

Warning! You may wake up today to find out you’re far less influential than you were yesterday.

I got into work today to hear my business partner Alan saying “Hey, why has my Klout score dropped 15 points.” I opened up MarketMeSuite to check, and sure enough most people’s Klout scores had dropped significantly, many of them to 1!

I immediately set up a search pane, and I’m finding reading the results endlessly humorous. I think what’s really noteworthy is just how much we’ve all come to “own” our influence, and how offended we can get when something takes that bit of success away from us. I’ve especially seen some buzz from social media consultants who have to explain to their clients why all their work has resulted in a decrease in influence.

At first our theory was that users who had a Facebook account added were not affected, but in the process of writing this tweet our @MarketMeSuite profile (which has a Facebook attached) dropped from 56 to 16. My business partner and a few other tech minded folks have been hypothesizing some kind of database issue.

On the whole, it seems the community is able to see the humor in the situation…

Here’s a few of my favorite #Kloutapocalypse tweets:

Our hearts go out to you Klout. But we thank you for this social experiment, which proves how much people value their own influence!

What is Klout?

A few weeks ago when MarketMeSuite integrated with Klout scores, I got to speak to Megan Berry to ask a few questions:

What is Klout?

Megan Berry: Klout measures influence across the social web. The Klout Score measures influence on a scale of 1 to 100. We also measure influential topics, classifications and offer insights into your influence on klout.com.

How do I improve my Klout Score?

Megan Berry: Basically it’s about consistently creating engaging content, but you can check out our blog post on the subject: http://klout.com/blog/2011/03/3-tips-for-increasing-your-klout-score/

What type of interactions does it measure?

Megan Berry: Klout measures influence on Twitter and Facebook and includes @ messages, RTs, lists, follows, likes, comments, and more. Learn more about our scoring on klout.com/kscore

Does Klout measure interactions when it comes from a 3rd party app like MarketMeSuite?

Megan Berry: Klout measures influence across all the social web, so it’s not specific to MarketMeSuite, instead it’s an overall score that’s applicable for many different programs and purposes.

What is the future for Klout?

Megan Berry: Our goal is to be the standard for influence online. Your Klout Score should be like your social credit score or Google PageRank for people. We believe everyone has Klout and our mission is to help people understand and improve their influence.