Growing Its Influence, Klout Gets Strategic Investment From Microsoft — And Serious Bing Integration

Klout hasn't just defied influential tech pundits, its social reputation scorecard has won them over. Now the sometimes-controversial startup is aiming at search. The startup has just signed a strategic investment and partnership with Microsoft that, on top of new funding, will create a product and business relationship with the Bing team. You'll begin seeing Klout scores -- the combined measure of a person's influence across Twitter, Facebook and other social networks -- show up in the search engine today. The initial implementation will show Klout scores for friends in the "People Who Know" section of the right-hand column, alongside other third parties already in there, including Twitter and Quora. Search for a hot topic like "Facebook advertising", you'll see people with socially-proven expertise showing up. Mouse over an expert's name, and their Klout score will appear, along with their Klout-determined areas of expertise.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/2Njp8NvUu_E/

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