Professionally, I work in communications. I know about social media measurement tools. I don’t implement a majority of what I learn, know or strategize about professionally on this blog because I want this blog to stay what it started as and has evolved into, a personal blog sharing about family, food, farming, freedom and faith.
But I can’t help but notice my “Klout score” which is listed on my Twitter profile every time I use Hootsuite (a tool I use for my Twitter profile) . If I am talking social media lingo, forgive me.
Basically, Klout measures your reach and effectiveness in social media whether you want it to or not. If you are in social media, you have a Klout score. It’s a measurement tool.
This is what I have noticed: If I am more busy with “offline” work during the work week, my Klout score drops. If I spend a weekend camping with my family or in the garden or watching a baseball game, my Klout score drops.
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| A Saturday evening on the boat |
Guess what?
I don’t care if my Klout score rises or falls based on my time away from social media tools. I am more effective as a professional if I am not constantly “online” but actually “offline” in farm fields, touring a rice mill like I got to do last week with a client, attending meetings, interacting with colleagues over coffee, lunch or dinner and building “offline” not just “online” relationships.
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| Hunter showed me the best technique to skipping rocks this weekend. |
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| Miss E proudly caught a baby frog while we camped. |
And most important to me, far beyond any social media platform or business meeting are my personal relationships. My connections to my family and friends. My kids. My husband.
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| Camping kisses for Miss A from Daddy |
This afternoon, while the washing machine is running, the girls and husband are napping and our son is en route to a baseball game, I turned on my computer, only to see on Twitter that my Klout score had dropped. It made me smile.
Am I less effective at sharing in social media today than I was on Friday? Evidently this “professional tool” of Klout thinks so. But what will never be measured by a tool is just what I care about most, my relationships with family and friends. I know I am a more effective mother, wife and friend because I spent time this weekend first with my longtime friend Karla and her family and then camping with my son, daughters and husband. I am more relaxed and renewed for a kick off to a new week because of my downtime.
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| Sunset at Green Lake last night |
What are some of your tricks to manage life balance between your “online” time versus your “offline” time?
really nice post, katie. your klout score with me went way up! 🙂
My life is currently an awkward balancing act. Online vs. offline, work vs. personal time…and while most of my social interaction comes in the form on the Internet right now (mainly due to living in a new place), I also place a lot of value on building what really matters offline.
Thanks for sharing! Great read, and great points. And adorable kids.
Agree! Besides we would have nothing to write about if we were online all the time. My best posts have been after experiences off line.
When i started blogging I felt like I needed to post everyday. But this summer I’ve been so busy spending time with my kids and family that I haven’t had the time to post daily…and that’s okay. I find I need my online time (SAHM sanity) but just as much I’ve needed time offline, especially this summer. Great post, thanks for the reminder 🙂
It’s all okay. Your family klout has gone up.
Life is too busy to be online all of the time.
haha i didn’t even know what a klout was!!!
and yes i agree, life is to busy!
Leontien
++K from me for this post! 🙂
Love this Katie! We’ve spoken about this topic before and I think it’s great you’re sharing with your readers as well. 🙂
I couldn’t agree more. I think a weekend during which my Klout score drops is a good one!!
I totally agree with you about the Klout score. I notice the same thing happens with mine over the weekend when I am not posting or tweeting as often. We all need to live our lives, so how important is Klout really? Thanks for the perspective!
Up until I read this, I felt guilty for not posting on the weekends. No more! This past weekend, we went swimming, went to the fair, went for ice cream and more and it was ALL worth it!
Thanks for this, Katie, and for helping us keep it all in perspective! There’s so much to learn about social media, I sometimes feel lost and overwhelmed. I didn’t know about the Klout score thingy. Perhaps its better to be naive. That way I don’t worry about it very much. And it’s easier to live apart from the blog. Well, most days it is…
I completely agree. I just decided to check out my klout, and it immediately told me I dropped a point in the past day. Most likely because I was living life instead of posting. I can only keep so many balls in the air at once, and if the klout ball drops, so be it. The secret is to never have the important ones on the ground.
I’ve heard of Klout but don’t know much about it. You said that every person in social media has a Klout score. How can I find out what my score is? Sorry, that’s probably a stupid question but I’m trying to learn more about various social media tools. Thanks.
I totally love and agree with this article. I just spent 16 wonderful days in Europe with my daughters choir tour. I was off the grid because of limited internet connectivity (no cell phones). When I got back I notice that my score had dropped a good 5 points! I too felt good that I had worked my global social network PERSONALLY instead of VIRTUALLY.
I have always said that social media is about going from ONLINE to IN-PERSON!
GREAT article!
amen! love this! you’re klout may have dropped but your kids’ love banks and relationships are stronger and fuller.
i just got done handwriting some notes to some friends…snail mail!!! 🙂
That’s a great way to look at it. Sometimes people forget that Klout is an online influence, not total influence.
You blog post influenced me, thank you!
Great post. Found my way here from Aaron Biebert’s blog.
My Klout always drops over the weekends, because, like you, I’m spending it with family.
Personally, I like it as a way of giving kudos to people, not as a significant measure. Here are my thoughts on how it can be used: http://hellobenteoh.com.au/klout-the-virtual-high-five-of-social-media/