I GOTS NO KLOUT!

CAN I GETS A BAILOUT? I GOTS NO KLOUT!

Sorry for the poor grammar in the title, I just couldn't help myself. I picked up a really cool linkback gadget from Bacon and Eggs.  The linkback gadget automatically posts linkbacks to everyone who visits my blog. Likewise, it lets me see who has been here.

Yesterday, while checking out the linkbacks, I noticed a URL that I didn't recognize. So I did what any other person would do that doesn't worry about downloading viruses, I clicked on it :-).

Turns out, Claire Wolfe over at Backwoods Home gave me a flattering shout out in a recent blog about Situational Awareness. Thanks Claire! This one blog post has sent over 60 people to my blog and it is really exciting to think that someone else is enjoying my writings. If you read my work you'll see that I'm still developing a writing style but I'm having a great time in the process. I'd also like to think that all those English classes in college might turn out to be useful after all (my fav was ENG 301 Writing For The Professions.)

Anywho, while soaring on cloud 9 thanks to Claire, I happily clicked on another unfamiliar blog analytic URL. This one, turns out, was a reader brought to my blog by Google. This reader went to Google and typed in the search terms "dad blogs." Another Hooray! I was #6 on the Google results for Dad Blogs. This is all silly, of course. I'm somehow justifying in my mind that the popularity of my blog would indicate that my writings are worthy of reading. I can dream, right?

Sure enough, I poked around long enough to find out how NOT popular I am. In the same "Dad Blogs" search mentioned above, and in a result higher than my #6 placement, was a blog post titled The Top 50 Dad Blogs. Was I listed? Of course not. I haven't been blogging for years and years like most successful bloggers so I chalked that loss up to being new in the field. But wait, as I read the Top 50 blog post, the capitalized word "Klout" keeps getting mentioned. Klout?

Turns out the Top 50 Dad Blogs were picked solely on their Klout scores. What's a Klout score? That's what I said...so I had to Google it. Appearantly there's some sort of ranking system based on your activity on Facebook and Twitter. I don't know about anybody else but I was sick of Facebook a year after it came out. I thought for sure people would be sick of it by now. Guess not. I don't even have a Twitter account and haven't planned on getting one.

So, just when I thought I was all that and a bag of chips, turns out...I ain't gots no Klout at all.