President Obama’s score is 91. Lady Gaga’s is 94. But Justin Bieber is the man to beat, with an all-time high score of 100. On what metric does the President of the United States lose out to pop stars? It’s not about style, humor or staying in key. It’s about Klout, an online service that measures your internet influence. As Anthony Wing Kosner, web developer and contributor to Forbes.com, explains, the company aggregates your social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and all the others), and calculates a score based on your number of followers, your followers’ influence, how often you contribute, and much more. Sam Fiorella first learned of Klout in a job interview. His prospective employer showed Fiorella his score on the spot, and promptly hired someone else. Fiorella spent months trying to raise his Klout score, but his current job and most of his lucrative freelance projects have come through other channels. He’s now opted out of Klout.
Want to find out what your Klout score is? Check it out at Klout.com.