Remember when you looked to TV and newspaper ads to tell yous what to buy? Me neither. That's because now many of united states are more likely to make an informed stance about purchases–and many other new discoveries–based on the views of people nosotros connect with online and through social media. Influence, that is to say, is big.

How big? A new survey by Initiative questioned some 8,000 web users age 16-54 in Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Deutschland, the Netherlands, U.Due south., and U.K. to detect out how they were influenced in purchase decisions by social media interactions. The results are kind of amazing: A huge 99% of the "elevation 10%" of influencers reported that their friends quiz them before making a big buy. This top 10% has a disproportionate influence on the opinions of others–because 72% of them admission content in print, online and mobile grade more than once a day, compared to but 18% of the bottom 10% of influencers.

A different study, by Market Forcefulness, underscored the fact that brands are leveraging social media to promote themselves. Embedded in the report were stats on the power of the average user to spread brand-related messages: 81% of U.South. respondents said posts from their friends straight impacted their decision on purchasing something, and 80% or respondents said they'd tried new things based on suggestions of friends.

This is a big departure from the static print ads and traditional TV spots of the past. Initiative'due south report even included advice for brands to move well beyond the thinking of a traditional 30-second advertizement spot, and button out boosted fabric like behind-the-scenes footage…all to drive discussion and lead to more online chatter that will pb to brand discovery. Information technology also suggests that brands build a team of "relevant social influencers" to spread new ad campaigns and stimulate dialog.

Suddenly it becomes clear why GM is once once again interested in using Facebook as an advertising vehicle. Information technology too explains why Appinions, a company that analyzes data from five million sources to determine the influence of a brand, topic or person and promises to hook upward companies with the near relevant influencers, before this month raised an extra $3 one thousand thousand in funding.

Meanwhile influence itself is gaining a kind of currency, even while it's an ephemeral concept that'south tough to nail. That hasn't stopped sites like Klout, PeerIndex and Kred from existence all over the news, with Klout in the lead. Those iii all do a like thing: Apply an algorithm to analyze a user's online behavior and come with a simple numerical measure of their influence gene. Technically these firms are applying some maths called social network analysis, because the "importance" of someone in a social network isn't simply how active or how many other people they're linked to–it's also a question of how well-connected and active each of these others are as well.

Companies of all stripes are becoming aware of the power of high-value social media influencers, which is why they're signing up to campaigns like Klout's Perks. The idea is that via Klout, high-scoring individuals are "rewarded" with a physical gift or perhaps a discount voucher if they're influential in topics connected to the make in question. The brands promise these influencers will discover the joys of the new product, and and then proceed to mention the make in a positive light in social media. It's a form of reward marketing that's quiet, in the groundwork, and very likely to exist a growing miracle if those survey statistics mentioned above are a hint at the hereafter. Klout has reportedly doled out about 700,000 perks to its users, lest yous doubt the size of this sort of business.

There's even anecdotal evidence that Klout scores are being considered by some employers when looking at the resumes of potential new hires, which may be directly relevant for jobs in, say, social media marketing and a less-direct measure of your personality for other jobs. Every bit noted in Wired, Klout's executives suggest that high Klout-score individuals may one mean solar day terminate up boarding planes sooner, or get better hotel rooms. Klout is contentious to say the to the lowest degree, however, and its algorithm (non unlike Google's) is both mysterious and controversial–leading to debates like this extended thread on Google Plus. But even if Klout falls by the wayside, measuring influence is such a powerful idea y'all can bet a dissimilar company volition try to make it work.

Finally, a peek at a possible future: Every bit influence grows you can bet that many users volition effort to crash-land up their score, and that will strengthen the power of this whole new type of discovery economy. Will we one day wander through a shopping mall with our influence score being transmitted via Bluetooth from our smartphones, in the promise we'll become a discount or a special offer in a store? Amend pump up your influence only in case.