Does Gini Dietrich Influence Me?

Saturday Gini Dietrich was on a panel discussing Online Influence in a Google Hang Out. You can watch it here: For Immediate Release the panel including a mixture of evangelists and skeptics. Gini rocked this round table.

I was out for an afternoon run that went wrong. Long story but ran much further than the plan. I checked in on Twitter to see what was going on and I saw Gini Tweet about the event:

I joked that Gini influenced me even though I am a big cynic since 99% of human communication occurs off social networks. And forget influence measuring. Each Brand and Business has a different goal. Nordstrom's wants you coming to the store and buying things. Huffington Post wants you sharing online their content driving traffic to their site. If Nordstrom's has content that goes viral using 'Influence' but not one person comes to shop that is a failure. If Huffington Post has links tweeted and shared over and over but no clicks on the links that is a failure.

So did Gini influence me yesterday? She sure has a high Klout score.

Well Yes and no. First off we are friends. Online we talk on Twitter, Facebook, Email and her blog Spin Sucks. Talk more on Email and her Blog. Both platforms influence measurement can not see. I share Gini's content often. But seeing her tweet was pure luck. Had I not seen it I would never of known about the Hang Out Discussion. Can she influence me if I do not see her tweet?

You can't influence online if your tweet or facebook post is not seen. And 97% go unread just due to the high volume in everyone's feeds. So if this is the case the fallacy I find is in how Klout and Peer Index measures. Gini is way more influential via her blog than any social networks. I have no idea how many readers she has. But with Twitter she might reach 600 people per tweet. That is a lot of Tweeting to match her blog reader ship.

But being philosophical I have never purchased a product or service because of her. I have read content she has shared. I read her blog. And I have a Google Alert for her because I thought it would be fun. But if you approached Gini wanting to influence me in some way because of her Klout score....not sure that will work. But if your Topic is such that she will blog about it...I guarantee you we will discuss your topic. On her blog. Or if the subject is one of such utter disbelief she might email me. But then Klout and Peer Index won't see that either way....will they?

Be careful. With 99% of more of human communication not taking place on Social Networks never mind public ones....you will get bitten. If you rely on these numbers to either market a product or service, build awareness or move content, or do not do your research of each influencer.