What is wrong with klout

Klout operates under American privacy law, or rather, the lack of it. If you created a Klout account in the past, you were unable to delete it short of sending legal letters until November 1st, when they kindly added an “opt out” mechanism. More to the point, Klout analyse your social graph and create accounts for all your contacts without asking them for prior consent. It also appears to use an unwitting user’s Twitter or FB credentials to post updates on their Klout scores, prompting the curious-but-ignorant to click on a link to Klout, whereupon they will be offered a chance to log in with their Facebook or Twitter credentials. So it spreads like herpes and it’s just as hard to get rid of. Is that all?

via Evil social networks – Charlie’s Diary.

Google To Integrate Journalists’ Google+ Profiles Into Google News – 10,000 Words

Users of Google News will soon be able to find their favorite journalists on Google+ more easily. That’s because Google will soon begin to integrate the Google+ profiles of journalists with their bylines on Google News.

Journalists who have a lead story will get their Google+ profile picture prominently featured to the right of their story, along with a count of how many people circle that person. Most importantly, Google+ users will be able to add that person to their circle directly from Google News.

via Google To Integrate Journalists’ Google+ Profiles Into Google News – 10,000 Words.

Social Media Means Transparency into Corporate Social Responsibility

SAP GivesWe tend to, collectively, think of social media as either “personal,” ”political,” or “commercial.” “Personal” is connecting with old friends from high school, or sharing your love of your beer can collection (for some people it will always be 1977). “Political” is voicing your beliefs in a way never before seen in such a scale, from the recent wild fire spread across North Africa to President Obama’s social election strategy. “Commercial” is our ability to interact with a company as equals, from how we buy to how we express our opinions of that company. However, with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR, for short), we have the perfect blend of all three in social media.

via Social Media Means Transparency into Corporate Social Responsibility – Forbes.

Are Corporations Giving Up on Social Media?

sign reads dont give up using up arrowTerms like “blogging,” “tweeting” and “liking” are continuing to gain traction in the lexicon of the marketing industry –or so it seems. New research from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth shows that the use of blogs, Twitter and Facebook among the Fortune 500 actually leveled off in 2011, and the results have me wondering: Are the nation’s largest companies giving up on social media?

via Are Corporations Giving Up on Social Media? – Forbes.

10 Traits of Amazingly Awesome Infographics

But truthfully, not all infographics are such big hits. In fact, there are quite a few factors that contribute to whether an infographic is a huge success …or a total flop. Infographics take time, effort, and skill to create, so the next time you decide to create one for your business to boost traffic and inbound links to your website, make sure it encompasses the following 10 traits.

via 10 Traits of Amazingly Awesome Infographics.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Website Measurement

Below is an adapted version of my presentation at the 2011 HOW Interactive Design Conference in San Francisco. It covers my basic philosophy of web measurement, a simple approach to using Google Analytics, as well as two types of user testing that you can do easily and quickly on your own. It gets a bit mathy in the middle, so find a comfortable and quiet place to dig into this one.

via A Step-by-Step Guide to Website Measurement.