Klout is a website that looks into your social media presence by linking to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc., and comparing your influence to other people who use Klout. It then assigns a score between 1-100 indicating how influential you are among your network.
My score is currently
Not bad, I think... Especially since I've never been very good at actively promoting myself or seeking out Twitter or Facebook followers. I just go about my way tweeting, blogging (i.e. now), as if anyone actually cares what I think about anything. And don't worry, I don't religiously check the site or anything, they sent me an email today and it made me curious.
Klout is interesting because it also gives you a breakdown of your influence in other ways, such as providing you a list of people to whom you are an influence, as well as listing those who influence you. This - I believe - is determined by who is responding to and/or commenting on your posts, who's re-tweeting your tweets, and of course, whose posts you are responding to and re-posting elsewhere.
So imagine my surprise when I looked at Klout today and saw this:
No really.... Penn Jillette is among those who I most influence. What the... What!?? Cool!
Also, not to be outdone, I'm also very glad that Klout claims I influence Matt Welch (Editor in Chief of Reason Magazine), though in both cases I feel like I'm being lied to. However... It's a kind lie, and I'll take the compliment.
Sidenote: Matt Lewis, Jeff Winkler & Joe Kildea are all also awesome people who I definitely respect, but as I can hear Mr. Lewis recording his podcast interviews through our shared wall in the Daily Caller office I'm not sure it counts.
