As you must know if you’re a responsible and eager social media self-promoter, Klout and its ilk are in the business of rating your internet influence. And in web 2.1.225, the social web, "influence" is just short-hand for how good you are at the Internet. Who pays attention to you? Who engages you? How connected are you? This is very important stuff now. It makes sense that we should have a tool for ascribing ratings to people (like Jenny!). You can even get deals, of course, with your social credit score.So, here's a thought. The Internet is becoming an all-encompassing ectoplasm dripping down the face of humanity, seeping into every pore until its part of our bodies; meanwhile, mining Facebook profiles and Twitter profile information is already old hat to any employer worth its weight in interns. It follows then that they'll be after your Klout score eventually. And maybe you won't get that job. Or I won't, because I suck at Twitter.They won't just want a Klout score for people doing techy things either, because everything will eventually become a techy thing. I think that's how it's supposed to work. And maybe not just jobs but, like, landlords. Why not? If we're living in such tandem with the internet — or maybe some other next generation Internet network by then, dunno — a good internet score might apply elsewhere in life.We're going to need something. The credit score system probably won't last much longer after the next credit/banking crisis, so the world's going to need a new dystopian method of "objectively" grading your worthiness as a human being. Or post-human being.Reach this writer at michaelb@motherboard.tv.
Advertisement