Who's who in [insert your brand's name] -ville?  Knowing users' levels of clout was a major factor influencing former 'gamification' engagements.  Brands enjoyed user participation but did not know too much about its Badgeville 'citizens' otherwise.  Who is who is becoming more important in 'gamification' as a player's level of social 'clout' is crucial info for brands to identify.

A prior kink in the gamification process was identifying the influence or clout of a gamer, but as a Tech Crunch post describes, those wrinkles are ironed out via the integration of Klout (read about Klout/Simply Measured partnership) into Badgeville.

Badgeville is a plug-and-play way for brands to offer rewards (of both the extrinsic and intrinsic varieties).  It facilitates brand/consumer relations, yet it's difficult to determine if top scorers have genuine brand interest or just gaming brands to accrue free prizes.

With the integration of Klout, brands are able to determine a user's level of social influence.  For instance, a user may be a top scorer on a brand's Badgeville game but not making any social points, accumulating followers and friends on social platforms like Twitter or Facebook (Brands want players to be 'popular,' so other friends and followers are likely to play as well.)  While brands award players for accomplishments, the former groups hope the system is mutually beneficial; brands desire the participation of social 'influencers,' those who are popular on multiple, social platforms, 'big fish' who drive more people to the brand.  Klout helps identify them.

Facebook recently made 'influencers' more identifiable too, through its 'name verification' modification.  Do you know your favorite personalities by birth names, though (pop-culturally speaking) the personalities go by other titles?  Take for instance, Lady Gaga (Stefani Germanotta) and her fans' confusion in finding the 'real' personality.  Now, (via the 'real' Gaga's adherence to the process), Stefani Germanotta Lady Gaga can label her Facebook account with her (real?) name.

Facebook's maneuver may help it stay abreast with Twitter and how fans follow favorite personalities (The name change is expected to raise the number of those who subscribe to the newsfeeds of popular celebrities.)  Badgeville's move helps brands better identify influential consumers.  Limiting opportunities to those who have more 'influence' to generate a better ROI is yet to be seen on a widespread scale; but, (either way) it gives brands more governing power on Badgeville.