5 Ways to Increase Your Klout Score Exponentially

In the span of about a week, I increased my Klout score by 13 points. To put this in perspective, I should mention that this happened during the fallout period, when a lot of people's Klout scores dropped.

It also happened over the *exact days* I revamped my Twitter strategy. So this post is going to share my Twitter secrets, which are based, quite simply, on love.

(For those of you who know and love me, let me assure you I haven't gone Klout crazy. My workplace is exploring it, and so I began exploring it. The only danger I see so far is that I might become a Klout-score-checking addict :)

Klout, in my opinion, could otherwise be called a "love quotient." It tracks who you love, what you love, how much you love, who loves you and how much they're willing to share the love.

So, here's the Lovers Guide to Increasing Your Klout Score thru Twitter

1. Ask yourself, what do I really love? Then tweet about it. Do this for two reasons. One, it will enable you to be more focused (an important part of a good Twitter strategy). And, two, it will enable you to sustain your Twitter activity for the long haul. Nothing works better than a strategy that fits with your lifestyle and interests.

2. Claim your love. My workplace has done this, with some success, by using the hashtag #goodwork. My Twitter poetry group has done it with the hashtag #tsptry. It's a way to get seen amidst the noise, and to invite others into your circle.

Some people have an uber-branding strategy around the use of unique hashtags. #Amwriting, an "award-winning hashtag," developed by Johanna Harness, is one of the most creative I've seen yet.

3. Get emotional about your love. There's a reason advertisers track your emotions. Take advantage of it, and make sure your tweets use emotive words or concepts that will generate an emotional response in your followers. This isn't about exploiting your tweeps; it's about becoming a better writer.

4. Ask for love. @Claireburge impresses me with her questions. On any given day on Twitter (or elsewhere), you will find her asking for advice and direction from those in the know. This is not only a terrific connecting strategy, it is also a humble strategy, because it seeks to learn.

5. Make love connections. Do you know people who would just love to know each other? Introduce them. Go ahead and tweet @doallas I think you would love @knittingthewind—just beautiful! Increasing connections naturally and lovingly is part of a healthy networking strategy.

Try these 5 Twitter Love-Life tips, and let me know if they increase your Klout score. I'd be curious to know.


And now, a love request.

I'm looking for love in the following places, and would really appreciate any direction you could give me, towards excellent bloggers and tweeters and Tumblrs who beautifully explore:

tea, French, bread, writing

I'm also claiming my love in these same categories. If you want to follow along on any given day, or become part of a more focused conversation, you can join me under these hashtags...

LLfrench
LLtea
LLbread
LLwriting

(If nothing comes up under a particular hashtag, that means I haven't been tweeting about it lately. Hashtags don't bring up results if you take a rest for a few days. And I *always* take a rest on weekends. Which, btw, will lower a Klout score. But I love my rest, and you can't put a score on that.)

Why Are You Tweeting During Your Performance Review?

You know, it's all about Klout.

And maybe your next raise.

Being Mindful of Twitter Power

There are always two (or more) ways to frame something, reminds Ellen Langer. Remembering that is part of being mindful.

I've heard people frame Twitter as a mindless pursuit. But... may I suggest a different perspective?

Last year I wrote a post called 10 Reasons to Write (Or Not) a Book About Writing. Someone I didn't know, called @fictwriter, tweeted the post. Not long after, Jane Friedman, who was working for Writer's Digest at the time, clicked through the tweet link and left this comment on the post...

Found your post through Twitter (@ficwriter). I work at Writer's Digest, and understand the dilemma! But if you decide you want to do it, we'd love to see your proposal.

Jane's words stuck with me, even though I categorically decided I would *not* write a book about writing. In fact, I was too tired to think about writing anything at all, having already put myself to the task of book-writing several times.

Still, when I went to a picnic this June and got my title handed to me, I remembered Jane's words. It made me think the project was not just fun but also viable.

So again I turned to Twitter. One Saturday morning I asked my friends, "If I was, say, writing a book on writing, what would you want included?"

Their answers helped me shape the book. A lot.

Today the power of Twitter has come full circle to Jane. Remembering her comment so long ago, I mentioned that I had actually done the book, largely thanks to her comment. As a result, she read the book, and today I am tweeting her post, which excerpts the book that Twitter brought to life.

Twitter a mindless pursuit? Not for me. :)

___

Care to join us at The High Calling for a bookclub discussion of Mindfulness, by Ellen Langer?

Guy Kawasaki Starts Reading Poetry

You never know where a Twitter party will take you (or where you will accidentally take yourself during one).

Last night, TheHighCalling and Dan King hosted a party with guest Guy Kawasaki (former chief evangelist of Apple).

Okay, so I got a little tipsy and promised Guy a poem. This, to assure that he would become a reader of poetry. Or, at least a reader of one poem.

I am keeping my poetry promise. This one's for you, Guy. May it be the beginning of your poetry-reading career. (Anybody who worked with a company that chose an image for its core really needs to be reading poetry. :)

Enchanting the sky

is serious business;
that's why it's left
to Blue Morpho butterflies
(I saw one once, on a Venus night,
as I boarded a plane to leave Brazil—
it dipped down,
almost touched my face
as if to deliver
some kind of grace for a future
I could not foresee,
a future of tricolons
I'd write for a guy, a girl, a giving,
a moment at dawn,
when day would just be shaking off
the magic of Blue Morphos, Cereus,
and a crowd of winking stars.)

Piper's Twitter Tweet: What?!

This morning I studied French, read my Bible and perused a book about art. It's part of my ritual.

Later I will go on Twitter and see what my friends are chatting about. As a work-at-home writer, editor and mother, Twitter is like a nice trip to the coffee shop that would be hard for me to otherwise manage. I can go to this "coffee shop" between frying onions and stacking dishes, planning my next speaking assignment and writing an article.

Just because I go to Twitter doesn't mean I didn't study French, read my Bible and look at a book about art. It's not a replacement for those things; it's a separate and pleasurable part of my life.

I'd be willing to argue that the social connection of Twitter alone is valuable, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. On Twitter I've become part of a poetry group that writes poetry together for an hour straight every other week. (A handful of those poems even made it into my book InsideOut, and they are actually some of my favorite poems.) On Twitter, I've connected with readers in a way that I wouldn't if they simply read my books (which is one-way relationship, after all). I've made and solidified business connections all over the nation. I've even promoted charitable efforts like The $10 Challenge (which, it could be argued is itself a form of prayer-in-action).

And this is why John Piper's Twitter tweet strikes me as simplistic, reductionistic. Twitter is just a tool, a pastime, like any other. If a person doesn't want to pray, it's not like Twitter is the enemy. I know people who hike, garden, drink, watch TV, write books, speak at conferences, exercise, and do any number of other things that lead them into or away from prayer.

Do you want to pray? Tweet your prayers if you like. Or plan a daily morning ritual, the way I do to study French, read my Bible and look at books about art. Oh, and if you pray on Twitter, I think it would not be a bad idea to include a little @JohnPiper, in case he has time in his schedule to pray with you.

Or just have a nice hot cup of Twitter coffee. After all, Jesus himself liked a good party. He even provided the wine.


Tspoetry Twitter Screen photo, by L.L. Barkat.

Help Me Tweet You

The post got 1200+ views. Almost 200 came through Twitter.

That's significant.

Which means it wouldn't hurt to make oneself more tweetable. Here's my new tool of choice: Tweetmeme.

Okay, load it up and help me tweet you. I am SO waiting to click that cool little button and send some traffic your way.

(To load Tweetmeme for Blogger, go here To load Tweetmeme for Wordpress, go here) Note that the new Blogger Layouts template seems to be problematic when trying to get Tweetmeme's generated code. I've written to Tweetmeme and will post their answer here, if they provide one.


Rain in the Pine picture by L.L. Barkat.

Doubtful Usefulness of Twitter Lists

I'm always up for trying something new. So when the Twitter people offered a Beta chance to create lists, why I set right to it over at @llbarkat.

One day into the endeavor and I'm already doubting the usefulness of Twitter lists. For me anyhow. Oh, I see that marketers would find it very useful and journalists perhaps, for targeting and scanning and so forth. But my Social Media life is quite organic. I hang out with people I can put on lists (and I have already done it), but the truth is I like to see these people all in the same place...

...poets talking to businesspeople talking to Moms talking to authors talking to artists. You get the picture.

In fact, the birth of @tspoetry and Twitter parties happened as a result of a conversation between a teacher, an executive, a Social Media Director and an author (um, me!). I'm guessing that if I'd only been hanging out at a list (say, of "authors"), this might not have occurred. In fact, I'm 99% sure it wouldn't have.

So. Today I've got my lists. But I'm not promising to keep them around for tomorrow.


Alternate Perspective picture by Sara. Used with permission.