Is Barack Obama the most influential person on earth?

What about The New York Times — is it the most influential brand in the world?

I’m not going to debate those questions one way or another, but President Obama and the Times are the two big winners after Klout changed its influence-scoring algorithm this week. That’s according to Fan Page List, the site that tracks brand and celebrity performance on social media sites.

Klout Celebrity Scores (via Fan Page List)

Fan Page List shows Barack Obama in the number one spot today on its Klout celebrities list with a score of 98.8. Political observers may be interested to know that U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney only gained one point in Klout’s new scoring; he’s 19th overall with a 90.2, after scoring an 89 before the change.

The rest of the top five are music stars and movie critic Roger Ebert.

Prior to Klout’s scoring overhaul, two individuals had perfect 100 scores: singers Justin Bieber and Niall Horan (of One Direction; I only know that because I have a 10- and 14-year-old at home). Bieber now ranks 8th with a Klout score of 91.8, while Horan doesn’t appear in the top 20.

Fan Page List says the biggest individual gainer is Arizona Cardinals football player Kerry Rhodes, who went from scores of 12 to 66 (even though he’s only tweeted once).

Klout Brand Scores (via Fan Page List)

Meanwhile, on the business/brand side, the New York Times sits atop Fan Page List’s influential Klout brands list with a score of 98.5. Prior to this week’s changes, the Times had a Klout score of 85. The previous top-scoring brand on Klout was YouTube, which had a perfect 100 score.

The biggest gainer among brands is Juicy Couture, which saw its Klout score change from 10 to 81.

Missing from the top five I’ve shown above are both Google and Facebook. They’re at 8th and 9th, respectively. Fan Page List says that Google’s score rose from 83 to 95 and Facebook’s rose from 81 to 94. Pitchfork, the independent music web site, has a higher Klout score than both and is the number seven brand.

One of Klout’s goals with its scoring overhaul was to better bring “real-world influence” into the mix. It would be hard for anyone to argue that Pitchfork has more influence than Google or Facebook, but when President Obama replaces Justin Bieber as Klout’s most-influential individual, it seems that the new scoring system is a step in the right direction. (Okay, so maybe I did just debate the original question a little bit.)

(New York Times building photo used via Creative Commons license, courtesy of henrivzq. President Obama photo from WhiteHouse.gov via public domain.)

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Features & Analysis | Klout | Social Media Marketing | Top News

About The Author: Matt McGee is Editor-In-Chief of Marketing Land. His news career includes time spent in TV, radio, and print journalism. His web career continues to include a small number of SEO and social media consulting clients, as well as regular speaking engagements at marketing events around the US. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee and/or on Google Plus. You can read Matt's disclosures on his personal blog. See more articles by Matt McGee

Connect with the author via: Email | Twitter | Google+ | LinkedIn