One of the more recent ‘group discussions’ we had in the office was about Klout. As I’m sure you’ve seen, Klout is getting a lot of press these days. In case you’re not familiar, Klout is a program that measures your overall online influence through True Reach, Amplification Probability, and Network Score on a scale of 1-100. In other words, it measures your social media influence. Think your Tweets about what you had for breakfast were meaningless? Not necessarily. Everything you Tweet, all your Facebook status updates, how many followers and friends you have, how many times you’ve checked in on Foursquare, and even the YouTube videos you’re in – they’re all factored into your influence. In other words, your Klout.

For some, this might be the measurement you use to determine how “popular” you are (yes, really!). But for us, it has become somewhat of a fierce inter-office competition. Though we’re not really fighting for popularity, per se, we want to make sure the people we influence as well as those who influence us are meaningful contributors to the fields of technology, PR, and marketing. There are cheers in the office when someone gains another Klout point, and when we find a new industry influencer to follow who has a high Klout score. It’s also spurred some of us to join other social media platforms we might not have before, like Foursquare, where a few of us are now competing to become “Mayor” of our own Global HQ. You’d think the latter would be awarded to our President, Leah, but nope – our Assistant Account Executive, Alex, is actually the current GMG Global HQ Mayor.

So what does the Klout rating system actually mean for businesses and professionals?

Klout offers a quick, quantifiable way to identify a person or a company’s social media influence in their respective market or industry. It’s also another way to help drive customers and new business prospects who look to social media for recommendations. In short, the more social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) you’re plugged into, the wider the reach.

Klout also lists the areas in which you influence others, and are influenced back. As you’d probably expect, Gabriel Marketing Group influences topics on social media, public relations, technology, and enterprise 2.0. We currently influence nearly 100 social users across the web, which means we have a “small but tightly formed network that is highly engaged,” according to Klout, and our Klout style is what the service calls “conversationalist,” meaning we “love to connect and always have the inside scoop.” That sounds about right! Through our love for tech, social media and a bit of office competition, we’re making a difference in what we do best.

What do you think? Does your Klout score matter in what you do? Do you know your Klout score? Check it out by clicking HERE!