Hey McLovin! Let me see your Klout score.

Recently I wrote about how Klout is playing a significant role in identifying online 'influencers' on Twitter and Facebook. Well this week we may see Klout used in a first-of-its-kind party hosted by serial entrepreneur and self-professed "social media socialite" Peter Shankman, where its attendees are based on their social media influence and engagement via Klout.com. The party is being thrown in conjunction with many high profile companies including Vegas' very own Venetian and Palazzo, and New York City's Jet Blue online flight agent.The aim of this party is to let the attending brands see who their Twitter and Facebook champions are. Now whilst you might argue that Twitter and Facebook are only two parts of the online conversation, brand evangelists on these platforms comment on both the good and bad times, and their comments are largely unaffected by the group whinging that takes place in an online forum, for example.One of the big social media marketing considerations is deciding who is relevant, and which customers to 'target'. Offline, it's easy to recognise your regular and important customers, but in the online world sometimes your regular customers may not meet you face to face. So how do you decide who your most active and thus, important customers are? This is where a 'scoring' system like Klout has so much appeal; it is effectively data mining for influencers, a marketer's rolodex of online celebrities, accessible with a click of a mouse.We asked Cristopher Dessi, Managing Partner of DRIVE ACTION Digital and social media commentator for FOX News New York whether he believes Klout will be a tool used within businesses and whether it has the potential to alienate those who do not score well."Yes, it can potentially alienate certain people, however due to the availability of tools like Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, & Flickr the times have changed drastically and allow people that may not have had a voice before the ability to become thought leaders. If they are leveraging social media appropriately, and generating quality content the sky is the limit!"However Kevin Leinbach, a Web 3.0 coach and a senior excecutive at Integral Leadership Review, told us that Klout may not be a totally reliable way to track social capital, due to the number of factors outside the control of users, like Twitter's recent system failure which saw the loss of mentions, DMs, and follower numbers. Leinbach says that while there aren't currently any worthy alternatives to Klout, he warns "Like many things in life, judging something by just one perspective can result in an incomplete picture of reality.