What Would Ashton Do — and Does It Matter?

Ever since Malcolm Gladwell popularized the idea of "influencers" in his 2000 book, The Tipping Point, companies have been obsessed with the idea that if they can get their product to a select group of connected, vocal consumers, it will be only a matter of time before it goes viral.

Today, many marketers are spending millions on social media strategies to that end; they're working to gather followers, and they're using "influence scores" devised by companies such as Klout and PeerIndex to try to understand how much leverage e.....