Saturday, August 31, 2013

Klout for Dummies, Andrea Updyke ~ Book review

* I received a copy of this book to facilitate my review. All expressed opinions are strictly my own. * 

blogging, social media, Klout, review, reading, nonfiction


Have you heard abut Klout yet?

I'm guessing you have and you have had many a mindset about it.

First, you thought - what's Klout? I need to get in on that. I need to have Klout for ALL THE THINGS.

Then you wondered - why am I on Klout? What am I supposed to do with this account, anyway?

And then you either, a. left Klout. Canceled your account or just plain disappeared from it. It's cool. No worries. Or ... b. Stopped by now and then to check out the perks, see if anyone had +K'd you, or just sent some love to some of your friends so they'd know you found them helpful in a certain area.

I feel like all of those sum up my history with Klout, because I although I never "left" it, I certainly took a break or two.

But Klout's sticking around. And it's really kind of interesting. So much so that there's a book about it! Klout for Dummies was written by my friend, Andrea Updyke and I'm here to talk you through it a bit.

I found that this book is geared more towards people who want to join Klout and need a full breakdown of not only how to do so, but why they would want to, or those who have recently joined and are interested in what the next steps should be.

As the Klout for Dummies explains, you'll learn to do things like set up your Klout profile, interpret and use Klout data, compare your Klout to others and find new influencers and increase YOUR Klout. *Details taken directly from the book cover, verbatim.*

So for someone like me, who has had an account for a while, some of the information provided isn't immediately relevant. But don't worry, I read all of it to ensure I give you a thorough review.

Starting off with the basics, Andrea suggests that you assess the purpose of Klout and that you look into why it exists and whether or not you'd like to participate in the site at all. Prior to setting up your account she offers this advice (p.10):

Social media experts are divided when it comes to Klout, so it's a good idea to take a few minutes to decide if you even want to participate in the social scoring site.

And this reminder (p.10):

Your participation is completely voluntary.

Important reminders. As with many social media related sites, you decide if you want to participate and at what level you'd like to do so. Klout essentially measures your social influence by monitoring your social media engagement. To sign up, you'll need to decide if you prefer to use Facebook or Twitter, and you'll also have to determine whether you'd like to connect your Klout account to your personal Facebook page or your blog page (if you have one, and you probably SHOULD have one - although I'm starting to notice a reverse trend there, which is a whole other note).

Once you've decided to set up your account, or if you already have one, Andrea's book walks you through account maintenance. You'll make that decision I mentioned earlier re: Facebook. You'll determine whether or not you'll connect Klout to your Instagram (YES!), LinkedIn (maybe?), Google+ (YES there, too!).

I'll be honest, it's a little hard to review this kind of book, because it's not drama or characters, it's truth and technology. So instead of breaking it all down, I'll give you some more overview. Klout for Dummies offers tips, information, screen shots and more on how to engage in Klout's scoring system. Andrea teaches you how to utilize your social media to best engage with Klout, and how to connect and engage with others who are participating, as well.

She ensures that you learn about Perks and how to obtain them, influencers and how to change them, or support them, and topics, whether your own or those that belong to others. And if you don't know what an influencer is and you're on Klout already? Go get yourself a copy of this book, stat. Andrea also talks about using Klout for Good, something I'm extremely interested in learning more about.

One of the points in the book that I was really interested in was the information on creating lists. I'm not sure I've figured it out yet, but I think Klout went and changed something up on us before this book landed in my hands. But that's okay - that's today's technology!

So, there you have it. And here's the beautiful author with her book (scroll down). She doesn't come with it, but you can find her on Twitter @AndreaUpdyke.

review, reading, Klout, social media

* Disclaimer reminder: I was provided a copy of this book to facilitate my review. All opinions are strictly my own. Images provided by Andrea Updyke, author of Klout for Dummies. *

2 comments:

  1. SO HELPFUL!! I honestly do not understand Klout at all, but I need to learn more about it. Love this review...am definitely checking this book out!-Ashley

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  2. Klout just annoys me now. I used to love them, I guess I need this book.

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