I have recently received several unsolicited advertisements from a new publishing industry conglomerate called Kudos.  Kudos is inviting scholars to provide information about their publications (URLs, DOIs, etc.)  Kudos will then provide metrics about citation, subject cross-linking, and some other added services that play into the contemporary world of impact assessment etc.

I don't like impact factors.  I think that a person's academic standing is best evaluated by peers who have read and understood the person's work. It's laborious and specialized, but unavoidable if one wants a serious outcome.  All such processesof evaluation are flawed, but trying to semi-automate the evaluation of intellectual worth seems more obviously flawed than some enterprises.

I don't like unsolicited advertisements.  And, personally, I am not even slightly tempted by what Kudos is offering.  To me, it looks like the wolf inviting the sheep for tea. 

I use Academia.edu, and I have been more than happy with their service.  Others report similar satisfaction with ResearchGate, Mendeley, Zotero and other services.  They don't all do quite the same thing, but they are all independent of the publishing industry (as far as I know).

Just my two cents' worth.

Best,

Dominik Wujastyk