In the latest sign that geek is the new chic, a swanky L.A. nightclub has said that it will let you cut the line if you have enough Facebook friends or Twitter followers.
Playhouse Nightclub in Hollywood has partnered with Klout, a website that rates social media influence, to offer the new VIP package. Beginning tonight, Klout users with a score of 50 or above don't need to pay the club’s $100 cover charge before 11 p.m., and 50 percent off thereafter.
The club hopes the incentive will attract social media mavens whose Foursquare check-ins and location-tagged Tweets could boost the venue's presence online. Bouncers will use an iPad to check patrons' Klout scores at the door.
“Playhouse Nightclub is the first of several [businesses] on the horizon that will begin to recognize influencers by offering exclusive advantages,” Klout wrote yesterday in a company blog post announcing the initiative.
Klout generates scores on a scale of 1 to 100 by analyzing data from 13 different online networks, including Facebook and Twitter, and measuring reactions to the content that users share on those networks. Some have questioned how accurately such scores indicate online influence.
The San Francisco startup said it has worked with over 300 brands, including Chevy and Gilt Groupe, to design perks for consumers based on their Klout score. A company spokeswoman declined to comment on whether Klout was seeing any revenue from the Playhouse campaign.
Owners of restaurants and nightclubs in New York City have openly admitted to giving preferential treatment to people with social media reach, according to a New York Times report. One partner at the popular Manhattan restaurant Nobu, for example, told the NYT that he was more inclined to give a table to a person with a high Klout score.