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Making a +K difference

By
Education & Training with Tech and Social Media Consultant

You might have noticed a few tweets in your stream announcing that one person has given a +K to another person.  What’s a +K?  Think of it as a way of giving Props to someone else.  If you have a Klout score anyone can give you a +K on any of the topics Klout seems to think you know something about.

Mike on klout

The Klout user has just five +K’s they are able to award anyone – once they have awarded a +K they are able to Tweet or Facebook an announcement.  That’s great, I’m all for it.  I love acknowledging the good in others. My rant isn’t about that. It’s just that we can do better than this.

We can Klout better than this

Here’s a quick screen capture from my twitter stream.  This anonymous person just fired off 4 +K’s.  What’s wrong with that?   Two things.

1. YOUR BLAST-O-RAMA

First of all, by blasting them out in rapid fire it gives the impression they were not very well thought out.  These are not DM’s they are public and your block of tweets just tossed a roadblock into the normal flow of conversation on twitter.  Better to space them over the entire course of the day.

2. WHY?

Secondly, just like FollowFriday on Twitter – if you are going to tweet something nice about someone, take the extra step and tell us all why.  You’ve seen the FF tweets that list 6 people yet tell you nothing about why they were included?  There’s little value there when it could have tremendous value with a little extra care.

So how do you do this better?  I did a quick search of twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/search/%2BK%20about%20) and found a few excellent examples.

klout1klout2

klout3

Can you see the difference?

UPDATE: If you do get a +K (kudos for you!) You really don’t need to publicly thank the givers by ReTweeting their +K and adding a "thanks" to the end – do you?  We can do this better too.  Just sayin…

kloutthanks

 

Comments(3)

Larry Brewer - Benchmark Realty llc
Benchmark Realty LLc - Nashville, TN

mike - thanks for showing me something new, I can always could on you to explain the leading edge of technology and the best ways that realtors can use it.

Jun 25, 2011 03:37 AM
John Novak
Keller Williams Realty The Marketplace - Las Vegas, NV
Henderson, Las Vegas and Summerlin Real Estate

Seems +K is a hybrid of the Facebook 'Like' and Google +1. Ironic that so much of this is driven by 'automation' when it's really conscious human engagement that truly makes social media powerful.

Jun 25, 2011 03:56 AM
Missy Caulk
Missy Caulk TEAM - Ann Arbor, MI
Savvy Realtor - Ann Arbor Real Estate

Thanks Mike for a good +K explanation. I was wondering as I got a few in my Twitter stream and wasn't sure what they meant. I think folks do them because they are logged onto the site and get their 5 done at one time.

 

Jun 29, 2011 01:31 AM