Like it or not, measures of Social Media Influence are establishing new stratification on and across networks. For what started out as classless society, it is now becoming increasingly defined by social media class boundaries. Following unfortunate precedent of real world? On Wall Street, it was about the shirt and tie - bonus was as much about status as money. In diplomacy, you were judged by the might of the country that appointed you its ambassador. Even in school, I had more standing for being a football player than excellent student, student council member, or someone willing to challenge the established thinking of teachers or society. Classless World of Social Media – Maybe Not? Thus, maybe unavoidable that more or less superficial measures of influence have now invaded the supposedly classless world of social media. If you have not noticed it, you’re either not paying attention or trying to avoid being tagged as elitist. And, Klout or Kred or Peerindex, class wars started bubbling on Social Media before you could buy 10,000 Twitter followers for a couple of bucks – a bit more transparent than getting that date with the un-muffled sports car. Perhaps, Klout, and/or Kred do at least start, (with emphasis on start), providing some more objective analysis, although I'm not sold yet. Read our Article – “What is Klout?” - diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/blog_post/what-is-klout-by-ambassador-mo/43609 Real & Social Media World Interaction-Influence: The major distinction between Klout and Kred is that the latter claims to incorporate real life credentials into your influence score. It is of course critical that there be a more seamless, borderless transition of people and views between real and social media worlds. This is not an online game, (although I must admit that some do seem to engage in such manner). Rather, it is more about exchanging views, ideas and perhaps opportunities and certainly activism which frequently cannot be consummated without venturing to the voting booth, shaking hands on a business venture or at least a real transfer of funds/resources. That said, I’m not certain that for now that we have yet developed an effective methodology to translate real and social media influence into a composite profile. Kred has the advantage here over Klout. I’m all for it as I have proven and verifiable real world credentials and circles of influence that far exceed my more recent and limited social media interaction. However, Kred is not seamless as much as Klout appears to have severe limitations in transparency and measure – many people have no idea why they are deemed influential in subjects by Klout and deep interactions with some are ignored by Klout while a brief, superficial exchange is tagged by Klout as establishing “Influencers.” I'm still not convinced that I'm so "Influential on Klout," as Klout asserts. Global Community - Credible Reflections Across Borders, Cultures & Mediums: Anyway, I will look to follow-up on many of these questions in future articles as they have ever more relevance to "global citizens" and "global online communities." However, to come back to the fundamental question: Are measures of social media desirable at all, be it Klout or Kred? The egalitarian instinct says no, although the more extended your circles of interaction with people and subjects, one must admit such can provide insight. Profiles, even names can be purely artificial, purposefully deceiving – the scourge of “pornspam” may be the least of it. Klout, Kred perhaps Peerindex and new arrivals will not only flourish but also become more accurate and credible – most importantly informative as to depth and substance of influence in the technological and human connectivity between real world and social media. However, the most disconcerting concern remains – will such measures of influence provide foundations for new walls and a class driven society on social media – perhaps to answer my question above: “neither” is best but too utopian? As we tout www.diplomaticallyincorrect.org as "Voice of Global Citizen," it is still an overriding interest/commitment that all be heard and without prejudice See Great Animation (Kredit2 @whattheklout!) – “Klout Dumbshit!” - diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/movie/klout-dumbshit/29750 Also Credit to Noah King @digitalnoah - barbariangroup.com/employees/noah_king?from=2012-01-01&to=2012-01-31 By Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey - FOLLOW mo @MuhamedSacirbey Facebook Become a Fan at “Diplomatically Incorrect” Twitter – Follow at DiplomaticallyX