Kred Events creates community in the workplace; Social@Ogilvy increases team social media participation by adding gamification to its New York and London offices

By on May 10, 2012 in Kred Events, Kred For Business

Social@Ogilvy helped us launch the Kred Events Leaderboard at Social Media Week 2012. Directly inspired by Ogilvy’s ideas and recommendations, we developed the Leaderboards to crystallize like-minded communities in real time, identify their most influential people, and create opportunities for everyone to participate.  Since then Kred Events Leaderboards have been used for real and virtual communities like  conferences, charity events, television audiences, and special events like the Oscars and Academy of Country Music Awards (which was inspired by Kred Leader @JessicaNorthey).

Social@Ogilvy is now taking this idea a step further by showing that Influence Leaderboards are for more than events.  The agency has redefined its workplace as a Community of Influencers and Outreachers by creating leaderboards for its London and New York offices.

There are several reasons Ogilvy wanted the leaderboards.  First, it’s an opportunity to wear their social credentials very publicly to show potential and current clients that they ‘get’ social.  More importantly, the leaderboards get the Social@Ogilvy team ‘eating its own dog food’ by incentivizing social media usage.  The goal is to increase the percentage of the team actively using Twitter from 5% to 25%.   Team members with the most improved Kred receive monthly prizes, and the year’s biggest score increase will earn a trip to SXSW 2013.

This is a great example of how Kred Events creates engagement by defining community and adding game play.  By incentivizing its entire team to participate, Ogilvy will benefit from greater internal interaction and increased engagement with the agency’s peers, colleagues and friends.

How could your workplace or group use a Kred Leaderboard?  Let us know in the comments

Click through to visit the New York Social@Ogilvy Kred Events Leaderboard

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Rapportive adds Kred as a Raplet; See the Influence of your Gmail Contacts

By on May 2, 2012 in Features

Kred is now a Raplet for Rapportive.  With the Kred Raplet installed, the Rapportive sidebar instantly shows Gmail users the Kred score of everyone who sends you an email.  Mouse over their name, see their Kred!

You can even give your contacts a little gift of Influence Points with +Kred.  If your correspondent is someone that influences you, click the +Kred icon to award them 70 Kred Influence Points – and you’ll get 30 Outreach Points for your generosity, too.

At Kred HQ, we are all huge fans of Rapportive, a free Gmail add-on for Chrome, Firefox and Safari that puts rich profile information about your contacts in your sidebar.  If you are a Gmail user, we recommend giving it a try.

Click here to install the Kred Raplet.

Installing The Kred Raplet

Installing the Kred Raplet is simple.  Once you have Rapportive installed, visit the Rapportive Raplets page, look down the page for Kred and select Install:

Select the Add Kred to Rapportive button:

Run through the Twitter oAuth routine to authorize PeopleBrowsr and Kred to use your account in Rapportive:

That’s it!  Once you’ve completed these three steps, refresh your browser and Kred will be part of all your Rapportive sidebars.

Click here to install the Kred Raplet

We are always looking for new ways to integrate Kred into web applications.  Where would you like to see Kred?  Let us know in the comments or tweet us at @kred.

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Kred Influencers: James Kicklighter

By on April 27, 2012 in Kred People

James Kicklighter is an award winning director/producer whose work has been recognized by leading film publications around the world.  He established his production company JamesWorks Entertainment in 2005 at the age of 16.  Since then it has added web development and marketing/public relations divisions.

        

Ain’t It Cool News raved that James’ short film Followed “[is] directed with a delicate and gentle hand… The most unexpected horror surprise seen in quite a while.”   He has also produced several documentary films.  Film Threat said that Di Passaggio “captures all the imperfections of group travel in a foreign country, boiled down to the authentically naive reactions…[and] innocent perceptions of the world.”

Follow James at @jameskick, watch his zombie short Followed, and check out his full filmography at his personal site or IMDb profile.

What does being influential online mean to you?

I must admit that it is a feeling of great accomplishment because it has taken years to cultivate influence both digitally and offline, so it is important to maintain a positive image with people who support and trust me.  While I once would post personal things, I now try to be aware of the variety of audiences and belief systems that I speak to on a daily basis. We live in a large world with many cultures, so I treat everyone’s thoughts with dignity.

With influence, there is an added sense of responsibility. People observe my behavior, and I have to make sure that it is in keeping with how I would expect others to treat me. I try to be as nice to individuals as possible, though I sometimes go off on brands that have done me wrong to get more attentive customer service.

I learned a valuable lesson years ago that the best way to build trust is to be as honest and forthcoming as possible. That mentality helped me create influence. When a certain number of people start to trust you, then others join the bandwagon. To build that trust, I have to continue to treat my fans and followers with respect. Continue Reading →

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Tupac Shakur steals show at Coachella

By on April 17, 2012 in Kred Influence Lists, Kred People

The annual Coachella festival opened its first weekend last Friday and repeats again this coming weekend.  We looked at the Kred of the more than 100 acts that performed in the Palm Desert to find the most influential performers.  As it turned out, the Coachella artist who had the biggest influence on social networks over the weekend wasn’t there, doesn’t have a Twitter account – and in fact hasn’t been alive for nearly 16 years.  The legendary rapper Tupac appeared as a hologram to join his former Death Row Records colleagues Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg for versions of “Hail Mary” and “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted.”

Infographic by @NazdaqIndex

Leaving aside ghosts and holograms, the Top 25 Kred Coachella Artists chart is dominated by rappers and DJs, led by Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, The Weeknd and David Guetta.  Of the top 25 Kred Influencers, only five could be called ‘rock,” and the most influential of those, Radiohead, has only the 12th highest Kred overall.

Here are Kred’s Top 25 most influential Coachella artists:

Kred Top 25 Coachella MusiciansKred
@realwizkhalifa
@SnoopDogg
@Eminem
@TheWeekndxo
@DavidGuetta
@Frank_Ocean
@CalvinHarris
@kendricklamar
@djafrojack
@Avicii
@kaskade
@radiohead
@ximenamusic
@swedishousemfia
@TheRealIngrosso
@flo_tweet
@boniver
@arcticmonkeys
@drdre
@NoelGallagher
@AZEALIABANKS
@porterrobinson
@flyinglotus
@Zedd
@theblackkeys

Tupac’s ‘performance’ was the big winner of Coachella’s first weekend on social networks, driving more tweets, mentions and replies than any other performer by far.  As of noon today, Tupac (or 2pac) was the the top word tweeted in the 521,000 posts about Coachella in the last two days, appearing in over 44% of Coachella tweets (more than 231,000 times).

Tupac’s hologram has been busy on Twitter since his performance and fast catching up with his co-stars better established accounts.  In less than two days, his new account @HologramTupac has been retweeted nearly 29,000 times and earned a strong Kred of 855 / 2 and rising.

 

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Action Analytics

By on April 16, 2012 in Features

This story inspired by Tim O’Reilly

Kred is Action Analytics.

Action Analytics are complex automatic actions we take throughout the day that don’t require conscious analysis.  When drivers change lanes on the highway, there are dozens of variables to consider.  They don’t bury their head in the manual to figure out what to do next.  They make a quick assessment of their surroundings, apply their accrued knowledge and years of practice  - and shift over without consciously analyzing what they need to do.

Kredentials are social analytics in action.  On the fly, Kredentials consolidate every post from the collective consciousness; index them with metadata like sentiment, gender, community, influence, outreach, and location; and place them all in single record.

This record can be accessed anytime to get past social niceties and moving on to shared interests.  If I like crispy bacon and two years ago you tweeted about your love for crispy bacon, Kredentials tells us.  Now we can be friends right away – moving past handshakes and straight on to discussing what we have in common.

Find anyone’s Kredentials by clicking on the large badge at the left of any Kred page.

Twitter founder Biz Stone has also talked about this by comparing Twitter as a flock of birds in flight, coordinating in flight around a single object.  

Flickr photo by Danielle Scott.

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Facebook Influence Is Here

By on April 12, 2012 in Announcements, Features

We’ve been in the cave for six months, working out how to bring Facebook into Kred scores.  We’re now ready and we are happy to share this with you.  When you connect your account, Facebook interactions will be counted into your Kred score and shown in your personal Activity Statement.

Head to Kred’s new Identity page and click the Complete Connection button.  Your personal Activity Statement will start showing the Post, Mentions, Likes, Comments and Shares that increase your Kred, and you’ll get more opportunities to grow your score.

Click here to get started

Kred is always open, transparent – and private

Our mission is to be the most open and relevant social influence metric, which is why we publish personal Activity Statements of the actions behind Influence and Outreach scores as well as a Scoring Guide explaining how points are assigned.

Actions that earn you Influence and Outreach Points on Facebook are always kept private on your personal Activity Statement.  We’ll never show them to anyone else and you can disconnect Facebook any time by returning to the Identity page.

Connecting Facebook increases your influence score

Once you register, you’ll receive Influence Points when people Post to or Mention you on your Facebook wall; Like, Share and Comment on your content; and when you get invited to events.  Outreach Points are given when you interact with friends on your own wall.  If you have friends who have also connected Facebook to Kred, you will both get more Influence and Outreach when you interact on each other’s walls.  We keep a full rundown of how we score Facebook actions on our Scoring Guide page.

Points for Facebook interactions are added to the points you already get for what you do on Twitter, so depending how much you use Facebook your Kred score will probably go up right away when you connect.

We are already thinking about the next networks and indicators of influence to be part of Kred.  When we do, they will always be shown on Activity Statements so that you can understand the sources of your score.

What do you think about Kred’s Facebook integration?  What networks should we add next?  Let us know in the comments or tweet us at @Kred.

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Kred CEO Andrew Grill speaks at Guardian Changing Media Summit

By on April 3, 2012 in Events, Kred In The Media

Kred and Andrew Grill were feature attractions at the Guardian Changing Media Summit.  Here is a brief video of Andrew taling about Kred in his session on March 22:

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Follow the Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday night with a Kred Influence and Outreach Leaderboard; Kred Leader Jessica Northey to live-tweet event

By on March 30, 2012 in Kred Events, Kred Leaders & Stars

Country Music’s Party of the Year®, the 47th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, is Sunday night and Kred will be there.  A Kred Influence and Outreach Leaderboard will track the evening’s top influencers and outreachers while Kred Leader Jessica Northey will tweet all the action live from the show in Las Vegas.

The ACM Kred Influence and Outreach Leaderboard displays top influencers and outreachers tweeting with the hashtags #ACMs, #ACMAs, #ACM, #ACMawards and #CMchat in real time.   @names get Influence Points whenever they are mentioned, retweeted or replied to with the hashtags, and are awarded Outreach Points when they mention, retweet or reply to others.  (Visit the FAQ for more details.)

Jessica is the Kred Leader for the Music Community, the founder of Country Music Chat and is always one of the first on Twitter with country music news and exclusive interviews. Follow her at @JessicaNorthey and join her Mondays at 9pm ET for Country Music Chat with the hashtag #CMchat.

The show, hosted by Reba McEntire and Blake Shelton, will be broadcast on Sunday, April 1st at 8pm live Eastern and tape-delayed in the Pacific time zone.  Highlights are sure to be appearances by many of country’s biggest stars, including Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Eric Church, Sara Evans, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Chris Young, The Band Perry, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town and Rascal Flatts.

We expect tweets to spike during one unique segment.  For the first time in ACM Awards history – and perhaps in the history of awards shows – a live wedding ceremony will take place onstage during Martina McBride and Pat Monahan’s duet of “Marry Me.”

Tune in Sunday night and tweet along with hashtags #ACMs, #ACMAs, #ACM, #ACMawards or #CMchat  to see if you can climb the leaderboard.

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Jeffrey Hayzlett talks Kred on Mashable and Fox Business

By on March 26, 2012 in Kred In The Media

Here are two great new clips of Jeffrey Hayzlett, Global Business Celebrity and author of Running The Gauntlet: Essential Business Lessons To Lead, Drive Change and Grow Profits, talking about Kred.

In this episode of Mashable’s Behind The Brand, How To Defeat The Social Media Skeptics, Jeffrey discusses how Kred helps brands focus on messaging the right people with the right message.


Last Friday, Jeffrey appeared on Fox Business’s Cavuto to talk about the importance of keeping your brand promises.  At the 3:40 mark, he talks about how President Obama’s Kred and message impact varies across communities.

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Kred Influencers: Mike Street

By on March 23, 2012 in Kred People

@MrMikeStreet  is a Senior Director of Digital Marketing in New York City, and has developed strategies for brands like Time Magazine, Rémy Martin, Oscar de la Renta, Lexus, Turner Broadcasting, and BET Networks. He is also (as his Twitter Bio says) a lover of bourbon and a Superstar Blogger.

In this interview, Mike discusses how he uses his professional and personal influence to create technology career opportunities for people in Harlem.

       

What does being influential online mean to you?

Online Influence is the difference between being a Good Witch or a Bad Witch.  I use my powers for good!

But seriously, I focus on helping people simplify their lives through social media. I meet many people and business owners who are overwhelmed by social media, and find my tweets, blog posts and tutorials helpful. I use my online influence to help bring people to a zen-like relationship with social media.  I don’t want people to think of social media as a big headache.

How do you use your influence to better your community?

Online and offline I’m trying to use my influence to help people be laser-focused on their career and business path.

I’m the organizer of the Blacks in Technology Meetup in NYC.  I use my influence there to help African-Americans navigate technology and develop a successful career path. In March we hosted a Meetup with EA Games to help African-Americans get a “1-up” on a career in gaming.

I live in historical Harlem, and I work to bring tech uptown by hosting events that focus on technology.  In April we are hosting a Tech Demo night in Harlem, DEMO 4 UR LIFE, where local startups will have a platform to showcase their work.

How does generosity enhance your online relationships?

I strongly believe in giving as much as I can. You can’t expect people to pay attention to you if you are not a beacon of generosity. I try my best to paint my online life with unicorns, rainbows, and kittens so that when people interact with me they are having a positive experience.

How do you integrate your real life experiences with your online identity?

I’m exactly the same online as I am offline. I’m extremely cool, laid-back, and always willing to share out as much information as I can. A  lot of people have been nice to me and have helped me along the way, so I personally feel the need to give back as much as I can. If you see me on the street and need my help then I’m more then willing to lend an ear. I’m fun that way..LOL.  And if you buy me a bourbon you can really get deeper into my head. ;)

What advice do you have for someone who wants to make social media their career?

If you’re trying to have a career in social media, then you need the following:

  • Strategy First, Platform Second – I have interviewed and hired a ton of people over the years, so I know what companies are really looking for in social. Make sure you know how to speak to strategy development and social media build.
  • Community Development – If you want to do well in this business, know how to build and manage a community. I’ve seen too many people come in for an interviews with no community management skills. This a base level skill set that you MUST have.
  • Measurement and ROI – Learn how to measure and track EVERYTHING.
  • Account Management – 90% of the job is building a relationship with your client. Learn how to make the client your best friend. I’ve had clients call me late at night and talk to me for hours and then pay me MORE money to help reach their goals. Account Management is the difference that will make your career successful.

Connect with Mike on Twitter at @MrMikeStreet, follow his blog or mail him at streetforce1 at gmail.com.

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