Will Klout's Changes Help PR Folks Influence the Influencers?

Influence scoring company Klout recently changed its algorithm, increasing the number of 'signals' it analyzes to create an influence ranking. What's encouraging - at least if you go by this post from Eric Qualman is that Klout is attempting to ascertain actual influence (or at least, engagement). By measuring things like Facebook mentions, likes, comments and so on, it's focusing more on reaction. Earlier builds looked at fewer 'signals' and were more a measure of your opportunity to influence.

Engagement is emphasized over audience size and I also like the inclusion of LinkedIn titles and Wikipedia pages in the algorithm. What's missing for me - unless I'm reading it wrong - is follower / fan analysis. If you're a cloud computing expert and you can influence people who's titles are IT managers, for example, then it should increase your Klout. Would also be good to build in automated fake follower analysis too given the recent Facebook and Twitter revelations.

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