I opted out of Klout this evening.  At one point I had a healthy Klout score of 56, which put me in the top 5-10% of Klout users.  Over time my score dropped from 56 to 54, then 52, then all the way down to 5o.  This made no sense given that fact that I was MORE active now than when I originally joined the site.  What was even more frustrating was the fact that when I would go for days and not be active my score would go back up to 53 or 54 and then drop again when I started being active again.  It made absolutely no sense.  I did some digging and here is what I found.

– Klout lacks transparency about the fact that they only measure influence based on 4 of the 13 networks presently on offer for connection.

– There are egregious and very clear issues with their algorithm to accurately measure influence pointed out by more than one site.

– Their unspoken encouragement to interact with others based on their Klout scores and not on an honest desire to engage breeds a negative social media culture.

In the end, after reading tens of articles about this site and its influence, I realized that not only were my misgivings entirely valid. I encourage others to follow my lead.