Klout used to be a big deal back then. It was a website that used social media analytics to rate its users when they connect their accounts and used this info to generate what they called a Klout Score. That Klout Score became quite popular back then until Klout faded from existence.
Well now Lithium, the company that bought Klout said that they have decided to close down Klout.
“I’m writing to let you know that Lithium has made the decision to sunset the Klout service effective May 25th,2018,” the post said. Apparently Lithium bought Klout since it provided them with ‘valuable artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities.’ “But Klout as a standalone service is not aligned with our long term strategy,” the company said.
The Klout Score was a big deal between 2008 and 2012 when it reached its peak. When you allowed the service to connect to your various social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Foursquare, Blogger and Flickr), it used that data to give you a Klout Score between 1-100.
Celebrities get higher Klout Scores due to their influence in social media, them being quoted by other celebrities and their usually high engagement statistics. They also generated topics that you might be an expert in judging from your social media posts, although it was wrong sometimes.
You could also assume Klout closed shop due to the impending GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) rules that are to be effected in the European union on the same day Klout is shutting down. GDPR seeks to protect user data and it was explained quite well in this article.
Nevertheless, this decision to end the Klout service is a testament of how a popular service could fade over time and be totally forgotten. For the few that used it, they have now two weeks to wrap things up and look for alternatives.
