Kloutburst

I don't know if you've heard of it, but there is a system in place to score how internet savvy you really are. This system looks over your various accounts online, like Twitter and Facebook, offering you a score between 1-100. That score represents how effective your presence is, according to the inventors.

This system is called Klout.

Certainly, one may find a use for such a tool in the fast-paced, hyperreal universe known by the various monikers of the social medium. In fact, I would recommend that anyone cruising down the information superhighway at least check it out. If you are sensitive, though, you may want to avoid it.

Klout is not for everyone. Its purpose resonates with those who need to maintain a bright personality in the social media game, especially the Zooey Deschanels and Kurt Sutters of the online world. If you are a dabbler or an amateur however, I recommend checking it once, and then remove your account for many, many moons at the very least. I say this because, if you are just an average joe, Klout was designed to make you cry.

In essence, this idea appears to resurrect one of the most uncomfortable feelings one can have, namely, not fitting in. It's like going back to high school again, and the score Klout provides simply determines who is most likely to be prom king and queen. But if you remember, some of the coolest people in school weren't nominated for homecoming. There was the guy who owned all those exotic pets, he was pretty exceptional. And that chick who was in drumline - she was a badass! The soloist in glee club, the ice sculptor, that chick who always made cookies for the bake sale, that extremely-enthusiastic JV soccer player, the whole mock trial team, the nerd who was working on his first novel already. That dork who wouldn't shut up in history class had something going for him. Even the Frisbee geeks and those guys who played Magic cards and Dungeons & Dragons grew up to be more than you ever thought they would. Cool dudes, all of 'em.

I'm not suggesting that you avoid Klout - on the contrary, check it out. But then delete it. I mean it: excise it from your daily practices, because it is just like high school all over again. It will have you checking yourself out in the mirror, buying makeup you don't need, spending way to much time at the gym, and going to parties where you don't even know anyone anyway. And who really wants to go through all of that again?

Draw your own conclusions.