It’s not some new K-inspired product from the Kardashian family. Klout.com measures the reach of individuals using their Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks. The site pulls in a variety of data to spit out a score on a 100-point scale. Social-media-savvy Justin Bieber? A perfect 100. We calculated the Klout Scores of online rivals to see who came out on top.
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In the United States of Klout, the former Massachusetts governor barely beats the former speaker of the House.
But in the last month alone, Gingrich’s score has—much like his position in the polls—risen dramatically. In the same period, Romney’s score has remained the same. How do they stack up against President Obama? He comes in at 86.
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King James royally kicks Kobe’s butt on Klout, if not always on the court. The Lakers guard loses points for lacking personal appeal on social-media sites. On Twitter, the official Kobe profile links to his website (KB24.com), which rarely features personal tweets from the basketball star and has fewer than 100,000 followers. @KingJames boasts nearly 3 million followers.
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Even with Kutcher’s recent Twitter flub—he briefly relinquished his account to his public-relations team—he still topples his soon-to-be-ex-wife. Demi’s Twitter handle is still @mrskutcher, and she hasn’t tweeted since Thanksgiving Day, which probably isn't helping her Klout kause, either.
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Shockingly, Kelly Osbourne outdoes LiLo on Klout, despite LiLo's having double the Twitter followers (2.7 million to Kelly’s 1.3 million). Osbourne owes most of her Klout kache to her spot on the E! show Fashion Police. Her most influential topic is fashion, while LiLo’s is celebrities.
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While Alec currently has Rick beaten by 7 points, his Klout score could be a big fat zero in a matter of days. He was booted off an American Airlines flight Tuesday for playing a game on his cellphone and subsequently shut down his Twitter account, which had nearly 600,000 followers. Perry’s Klout score has plummeted with his poll numbers. The reason for the pairing? Baldwin nailed a Perry impersonation on Saturday Night Live last month.
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Chris Brown scores higher than almost everyone else on our list—including President Obama—with the exception of his ex, Rihanna, who wins the Klout top prize. Rihanna claims more than 10 million followers; Brown’s total is less than 6 million. The Barbados pop star has released four albums over the last five years, compared with Brown’s two.
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While Maher may win this Klout battle, the liberal talk-show host has seen his “true reach”—the number of people he influences across his immediate and extended networks—plummet in a matter of months. Meanwhile, Palin’s Facebook page isn’t counted toward her Klout score. The former Alaska governor has more than 3.2 million people who like her Facebook page. She is one of the few celebrities to regularly update fans via Facebook.
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Modern Family actress Hyland stirred up controversy when she mocked the former Broadway star’s red-carpet posing habits. Hyland refused to apologize to Glee's Michele, who said Hyland “hurt my feelings.” Well, there’s nothing as sweet as social-media revenge! Michele crushes Hyland in their Klout komparison.
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While NeNe has nearly double the Twitter followers of her castmate, she barely edges past Kim in Klout. Perhaps that's thanks to Kim’s foray into the music business—her influence stretches across 54 networks compared with NeNe’s 52, meaning she’s reaching a broader audience.
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Surprisingly, Cooper's score, true reach, and networks have all gone down over the last three months, in conjunction with his newly launched Oprah-esque TV talk show, Anderson. But Cooper easily beats out the Univision anchor in the battle of TV's silver foxes.
While LiLo couldn’t have her way with Kelly Osbourne, the troubled Mean Girls starlet ekes past her former flame the celebrity DJ in the Klout realm. Ronson comes close to matching Lohan’s score because of her incessant tweets to 1.7 million followers. Lohan has more than 2.5 million followers herself, but is on a roughly one-per-day tweeting schedule. Perhaps a tweet for each Frappuccino?
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Killing it at Klout might not get Conan The Tonight Show spot back, but the TBS funnyman can take solace in being “influential” in the comedy category on Klout. Leno is most influential in the general TV realm.
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Not even #tigerblood—one of the year’s top hashtags—could help Sheen best Kutcher’s Klout.
Kutcher’s following is among the highest of any user on Twitter. After his tumultuous 2011, Sheen has seen his true reach, amplification, and networks drop this fall as he’s slowed the pace of his (often head-scratching) tweets.
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