Online pecking order
A service strives to measure social-networking clout
By G.F. | SEATTLE
SOCIAL animals are characterised by a pecking order derived from a complicated web of interactions. Aggression and grooming are indicators of a specimen's status, but figuring out the niceties of the hierarchy require laborious and time-consuming observation. Attempt to impose a new order from the outside and violence is all but sure to erupt.
On the internet, such implicit ranking may be made explicit by measuring relationships and their asymmetry. That is precisely what Klout does. The service quantifies the composite, well, clout of a given individual across social networks like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare and a number of others, on a 100-point scale.
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