Earlier quoted context omitted.
Klout was the first modern "love-to-hate" startup. It's the proto-RapGenius.
RapGenius is a bad example. Their product (crowdsourced lyric annotation) obsoleted other lyrics sites almost immediately. That they had to play the dirty SEO game is unfortunate, but not surprising, given that they were competing against a field of even dirtier sites. Klout, on the other hand, offered little more than reputation snake oil, which is why few take them seriously and the investors are lucky to be leavin…
You're right. Klout as a standalone service was unviable from the beginning.
Especially in light of the up-and-coming services like Quora, Thoughtly, Medium, etc., that actually attempt to measure and curate according to the quality of the person talking, Klout is extremely lucky to be making their exit now.