The Early Art and Science of +K

I have been running a series of experiments with +K and @klout recently. As the @kloutperks program continues to ramp up, I expect the value of topic clarity to start to sink in. Since it is relatively new, let me explain. +K doesn't up your @klout score, it increases the accuracy and potency of the topics you are considered influential about. @kloutperks are dependent upon what topics you are influential in, so this really matters. If you want the best perks, better figure out the right topic and get relevant. Here are some ways +K can increase you overall score.If you religiously engage with your followers so you know who to give @klout to, your rate of interactions will increase and your @klout will rise. I suggest a new +K best practice: I always tweet it when I give someone +K and I tag onto the end the actual reason I am giving it to the person. Here are some examples of recent tweets about +K that I gave.

I gave @winfambusiness +K about #supernatural on @klouthttp://t.co/oq1glsC for typing up that interview with Sera Gamble!

With that tweet I am alerting my Supernatural audience that I reward efforts in Fandom, that Wimfambusiness contributed something to the community thereby letting people know about her work and alerting people to content that is available, something they will find valuable. I think this is a wonderful way to use @klout.

I just gave @paleonut_ +K about #supernatural on @klouthttp://t.co/cswoKbC for working on votespn.tumblr.com

With this tag on ending I am thanking an influencer for  helping with the campaign while also re-posting the link for the still ongoing poll. Often recipients of Klout Retweet these so odds are good that while you are expressing your gratitude, you are also spreading awareness.


I just gave @foxsearchlight +K about films on @klouthttp://t.co/hiUmoDl for supporting The Tree of Life. It influenced me.


I include this tweet because it was a spontaneous one that I wrote after seeing the film, but it was seen by over 200,000 people thanks to Retweets by Fox Searchlight and a few others who worked on the film. I added quite a few followers in an industry I have an acute interest in thanks to it. Never underestimate the power of goodwill.

I've also tried other experiments. In a recent social media campaign to garner 10,000 individual IP votes in 48 hours, I decided to see if people would Re-tweet for @Klout.

I tried two variations:

Want @klout? RT This: Supernatural National Guard Activate http://t.co/K6nzTOx

Want @klout? Name your topic if you RT This: Supernatural National Guard Activate http://t.co/K6nzTOx

Using SproutSocial I was able to see which of the two was most effective. Conclusion: People wanted to choose their own topic. The second tweet was RT'd twice as often.

Earlier I had used a strategy of diminishing awards for a better return. It was very effective.

I will give @klout to the next 5 people who retweet one of my Vote for Supernatural NOW at http://t.co/GIgmHDV tweets

This seems to have been a good way to go, so I will likely combine the 2 more successful approaches next.

I plan on running additional studies using a different target audience. I hypothesize that my rates of return will be much higher if I perform a campaign aimed at @klout aware followers. To date my campaigns have targeted people who had yet to check-in to @klout but who were influential in the target area. Even so, I did get responses.

The early result of my testing proves to me that @klout already has perceived value, even among people who have never checked in. As an online influence currency, its potential can only grow provided the @kloutperks program continues to evolve and begins to make its presence known.

Review: Transformers 3D Dark of the Moon

I went to see Transformers 3D recently  for a number of reasons. 90% of audience members on RottenTomatoes liked it, while only 38% of critics did. I am always interested in creative works that have tremendous review gaps like that. As a lover of film, and someone who enjoys movies I often wonder which side I will fall on when it comes to big blockbusters. I'm also a fan of action films, a total adrenaline junkie. Really the only kinds of movies I won't watch are Horror. Not psychological horror or ghost stories, I like those. I'm speaking of what my former film professor Klaus Phillips aptly called Gorenography.
So here the visual effects alone were worth the price of admission. Michael Bay has slowed down the pace of the Autobot and Decepticon transformations and the moments of battle so you can actually follow the action with great clarity. The detail you can see in the Decepticon Shockwave is astonishing. I am posting a copy of the HD trailer and at the 2:04 minute mark is part of a scene where Shockwave is crushing a building with a  Cybertronian Driller he acquires at the beginning of the film. There are several camera angles during this sequence that are just overwhelming to the mind. I had a similar feeling when I saw Avatar, like my eyes were taking in so much incredible sensory information that my brain was having some kind of orgasm. You just sit there with your mouth slightly open at the spectacle. Luckily there's a lot of pounding bass accompanying whatever is happening to ground you. Big screen definitely the way to go and we went for the 3D. My eyes watered a lot toward the end, but I think it was because I just wasn't blinking. It would be good to rent it on digital on my computer to pause some of those more incredible shots and zoom in on the detail.

Now on to the challenges. Transformer's main problem is that the Director had complete control. It's readily apparent because it reads like an 8th grader's idea of how a modern day Hero quest should be. Not that the Director is an 8th grader, just that maybe he indulged his inner one when making this movie. I couldn't help but think it was a kind of mental masturbation on Michael Bay's part. Let's start with the character of Sam Witwicky, who throughout the movie is angry and upset and frustrated in ALMOST EVERY FREAKING SCENE. Where is the emotional range? What happened to the personality of the character? Now he's just some pissed off 20 something guy who happened to be in the right place at the right time. He has no friends, his girlfriend has dumped him, he can't find a job though he goes on interviews...in jeans. But all of that is minor and who cares right? Where we go off the rails is in the GIRL problem. I wonder what the plot was like before Megan Fox got cut. Her character had some history, her father was in jail, she was a bad girl, she had usable skills. Here, the girl doesn't really function as a person, more like a wallet, mirror, measuring stick and goal. He does LIVE with his new girlfriend whose personality consists of telling him how wonderful he is, clutching a stuffed bear and making him keep two mini autobot ex-pats outside with the dog. She pays all the bills in their shared apartment, oh and she works in a gazillionaire's art gallery where she glides around wearing outfits that cost about 5k a pop. When Sam visits her at work he discovers her boss is none other than McDreamy aka Patrick Dempsey who seems very touchy feely with his girlfriend. JEALOUSY, ANGER. Kicking his useless crap car because the Autobots don't play with him anymore. Not long after this, she visits him at his new job in a car her boss has given her as a perk, a Mercedes S class that's worth so much money that Sam again is FURIOUS, ANGRY, JEALOUS. Through it all new girlfriend is teasing, understanding, pouting and eventually not sure she can handle this anymore. You notice I don't give her a name, because it's rarely mentioned in the movie. She's referred to as my girlfriend, or "this one" as in "you aren't going to let this one get away are you?" She is clearly a trophy and not a person, something that is only heightened when we discover that *spoiler alert* Patrick Dempsey is one of the bad guys and he has been watching Sam for a long time. He hired the girlfriend to get close to him all along and she is just a bargaining chip/hostage to use to control him. This is my one big pet peeve with the movie. I wish they'd just left the female character out altogether then have her be this awful. The model that played her was beautiful, but I don't even want to be dishonest and call her an actress. No sweetie, stick to modeling. She's got that down cold.

So overall I ignored the angsty, boring personal part of the story and went with the action, epic Transformers part of the story. The supporting cast was excellent too. I'd be remiss if I didn't say that John Turturro killed  as per usual and Frances McDormand was fantastic in her brief moments on screen and then we also got the wonderful John Malkovitch as a anal retentive boss with a jones to see an Autobot. The Army and AirForce guys are back and they are exhilarating to watch. Love me some alien ass kicking, especially by puny humans with no chance of success. Game on!
So other than my massive kvetch with the whole Sam Witwicky plot line (which, come to think of it, they could have probably done without all together) it was awesome and I endorse it. My personal rating is a B-