Content is the King of Klout

Bad news for the Beliebers: Justin Bieber is no longer the king of Klout. The once-reigning master of social media influence now boasts a Klout score of only 93.

Climbing the ranks in his absence are major news publications, including the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, TIME Magazine, the Guardian, the Independent, the Los Angeles Times, and the focus of this blog post, the New York Times, each with a respective Klout score of 99.

via niemanlab.org

With 15.6 million Twitter followers and arguably the strongest reputation in print journalism, it is not surprising that the New York Times scores so highly in social influence points. The nature of Twitter also lends itself to the Times' success in the social media sphere. "Breaking news is Twitter's bread and butter" (Stadd, 2014). In this social media age, more and more people are getting their news directly from Twitter as opposed to traditional television news or print newspapers. The New York Times' commitment to accuracy, even on social media, makes it a standout social media influencer.

It is important that the newspaper's content is accurate, as its high level of audience engagement gives its content a longer shelf life. Research by Klout showed that "among influencers with a Klout score above 75, their content 'lasts' on Twitter (through retweets) up to 70 times longer than that of people with a score between 30 and 70" (Schaefer, 2012, p. 132). This data confirms that "those with the most impactful presence on the social web create content that continues to move virally through their networks and beyond" (Schaefer, 2012, p. 132).

What gives the New York Times such a powerful and influential social media identity? Its content. Mark W. Schaefer refers to content as "the seventh weapon of influence," and "the currency of the social web" (Schaefer, 2012). As a longtime print publication, of course the organization produces content, but it is how well the Times has translated its content onto the social web that has made the organization thrive as a social media mogul. Through its Twitter feed alone, the New York Times has shared over 171,000 tweets and over 4,900 photos and videos. When the content is worth sharing, people will share it, so by maintaining an emphasis on timely, accurate, and reputable reporting, the New York Times has been able to capitalize socially on its content.

From a business perspective, the New York Times' social influence and engagement rate must be helping to fuel its digital subscriptions. The company only allows you to read 10 online articles for free per month before having to pay for a digital subscription to access more content. By teasing its audience with interesting headlines on social media, the Times can turn avid readers into profitable subscribers.

Personally, I do not carry nearly as much Klout as the New York Times. I found that my own Klout score is 35.27. This score was actually higher than I had expected, as I do not find myself tweeting as regularly as I could be considering how often I consume content on social media. There is still plenty of room for improvement with my Klout score, though, and I will work to use Twitter as a vehicle for improving my own social influence.

References:
Schaefer, M. (2012). Return on influence. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Stadd, A. (2014, January 7). Lessons from the New York Times' social media desk. Adweek. Retrieved from http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/new-york-times-social-media-desk/495267