The chase for high Klout scores (social media and Twitter influence scores) reminds me of the chase for the highest level in World of Warcraft.  Success for both mostly comes from a significant time-investment.

In other words, if you put in a good number of hours you will get there. The recently popular term for this is phenomenon is the “gamification” of social interaction. Foursquare is another great example of this.

This model of motivating participation through scores and competition is not new. Sites have been scored, ranked and pitted against each other for as long as Google’s been around.

What’s new this time is that we are scoring and labeling people without an actual contest. And those who forget that labels are just labels risk missing where true value lies. When we embark on the chase for a high Twitter influence score, we also choose to behave in the patterned way required by the Klout algorithm. And that pattern involves interacting with other people with high influence scores, getting re-tweets from tweeps with large networks etc.

Going down that path may lead to missing some truly valuable connections. For example, it is very common for business executives, leaders and decision makers to be lurkers on Twitter. They are there, they watch, but don’t have much time to spend chatting with people. They don’t have the biggest networks or the biggest Twitter influence scores.

Just do a Twitter bio search for CTOs  in Chicago and you’ll find some gems. These same people generally have very valuable networks off-line, are brilliant, and may make for fantastic business and personal connections. But to the Klout chaser they may appear to not have as much value. So I’m not saying stop tweeting. Not at all. I love social media. I believe in the good it can bring to people and the value it can bring to businesses.

Also, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t pay attention to Twitter influence or Klout scores. They have their place in your social media strategy (a discussion topic for another time). What I’m saying is,we shouldn’t get blinded by Klout scores to where we actually forget to appreciate the beauty in Twitter’s diversity. We should also not forget to connect with people instead of trying to connect with Klout scores. I continue to put in a good number of social media hours but I have to constantly remind myself that life and business are more than just being online.

There is a point of diminishing returns. A point past which each hour spent online delivers very little on top of the results you would see with regular use. When we can recognize where that point is we will recognize it is time to take it offline.

And by mixing the online connections with offline connection we’ll maximize the value we can get from social networking much more than chasing a Klout score will. What are your thoughts on the value of influence scores? I’ll leave you with a few South Park World of Warcraft laughs: South Park – Make Love Not Warcraft