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The @KloutAPI is wickedly simple to work with. Recently, @Mashery made it even more straightforward. With their I/O Docs page you can now interactively run queries against the API and view the response right from your browser.

Wait. What is an API? An API is an Applications Programming Interface.  It’s basically how software and web developers use a service like Klout to integrate it with their site.  Klout uses APIs from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and the other networks we score to get data.  Some APIs allow you to get data, other APIs let you send data.  APIs are, in essence, a social contract between developers: I offer you this data, and you agree to these terms.

But, even the most intuitive APIs need excellent documentation, and we’re working to improve that.  Stay tuned over the next few months as we revise the portal.

In addition, we’re ramping up the public presence of our API’s potential by attending more conferences, hackathons, and driving inspiration across a multitude of use-cases. Recently, we attended the retail-API focused ReCommerce Day in Las Vegas, a hacakthon sponsored by @ZapposAPI, @Mashery, @Chargify, @EtsyAPI and others.

@rahims won the Klout Prize at ReCommerce Day for his Klout implementation in Today’s Threads (http://www.todaysthreads.com/), a LookBook/Polyvore-like app that lets a blogger identify clothes they’re wearing, and link them to be purchased by online vendors.  By using the True Reach score as part of a multiplier for affiliate commissions on fashion sales through Etsy, Zappos, and Sierra Trading Company, Rahim allowed bloggers to leverage their influence with retailers.  A short demo is available here: http://screencast.com/t/wiwe58f6GEv

This illustrates the simplicity and power of the Klout API.  Here’s how you can get started:

1. Register for a Developer account at: http://developer.klout.com
   

   Developer Registration

2. Use I/O Docs at http://developer.klout.com/iodocs to query Klout for a score.  All requests require a Twitter username. The API returns data in either JSON or XML.
3. Build something more robust in the language of your choice! There are a number of Klout API wrappers available on GitHub, some of which are available here: http://developer.klout.com/docs/read/Profile_Request
4. Tell us about what you made!  Follow @KloutAPI or @harmophone on Twitter.

What can you do with it? Well, given a Twitter username you can get their Klout Score, the other Klout scores like True Reach, the topics the user is influential on, and whom they influence, and whom they’re influenced by.  The implications are rather astounding: you can do some serious work with this data if you mash it up with other APIs.

If you have any questions about the Klout API, definitely visit the Developer Portal, or contact me at @harmophone.