It appears the time has come – or maybe it had already – in which clever entrepreneurial types can more easily game the social media system.

Now that we’re a good 4 to 6 years into companies leveraging social marketing programs, we’ve finally infiltrated the marketing directors who still don’t quite get the concept of building meaningful relationships.  We’re reaching a few decision makers who want quick fix solutions and simple metrics that don’t really correlate to anything actionable.

This article from Social Media Today talks about the proliferation of social scoring.  In concept, it seems like a natural evolution.  Why pay the same CPM to reach everyone, when you can pay a little higher CPM, but buy fewer impressions, to just reach the people who matter most?

But I think the principle breaks down when you take into account that once you use some arbitrary calculation such as “Klout” score, you have – by definition – developed a real world game in which the prizes are monetary.  Rather than spend our time on some casual puzzle game, why wouldn’t we develop ways that we can get on Virgin’s VIP list.  

This “Game-ification” of our online lives is not a new concept.  Scott Dodson talks of it in a very eloquent and interesting manner.  But once we’re using our social profiles, or creating alternate social profiles, to try to game retailers and get on their influencer list, we start to see the business benefits of social media breakdown.  

It seems to me that soon we’ll start to see a separation between companies run by marketing directors who are managing social programs with made up metrics, and those who actually understand their customer base.  And if you find a company with the former, go run up your Klout score and get free stuff…