codeconstruct

Please find a summary below of one of the sessions at this year’s PSFK Conference.

“The second you put your real name out there, you want people to know how awesome you are.”

What He Said: Fernandez, Founder and CEO of Klout, spoke about the origins and inner-workings of his new platform (covered by Code + Construct here).  He reflected on how consumer involvement with their digital identities has transformed since the inception of the Web.  People initially joined the Web with screen names – an anonymous and motley assortment of words.  They could take part in chat rooms with total anonymity or join virtual worlds and experiment with foreign identities.  But today, the social web has us putting our real identities – our names! – more and more across the Web. And as such, individuals are much more conscious about the impact and importance of their online brand/identity.  Almost every week, Klout is adding new platforms to their network’s algorithm – whether it’s Yelp reviews or comments on blogs.  But their platform maintains neutrality and does not weigh one network more than another. Rather, it’s all about reach and engagement. Ultimately, he sees Klout as another segmentation tool for brands: he spoke of a future vision for his company whereby the moment you swipe your credit card at a store, it recognizes your Klout score and gives you a relevant coupon.

What We Heard: Social media has brought word of mouth to scale. Fernandez spoke of the attention economy – the fact we follow some people out of social obligation, but others actually have the ability to broker our time.  And these individuals can not only be used as powerful influencers for your brand, but may change how we think about success in the social space at large.

Talk by Joe Fernandez, Klout.