I recently read a post by Megan Berry on the Top 10 Most Influential Entrepreneurs on the social web.  Megan is the Marketing Manager at Klout.  What is Klout you ask?  The Klout Score is the measurement of your overall online influence. The scores range from 1-100 with higher scores representing a wider and stronger sphere of influence. You can check your own score at Klout.com.

After reading Megan's post I thought it would be interesting to see who are truly thought leaders in their field and are influencing others online here in Saint John, New Brunswick and around the globe.  Remember the key component here is "online".  There are many great leaders in Saint John who are very influential, however, they are not using the online tools to connect and influence others....yet. :-)

How did I come up with the 7?  Very good question and it was no easy task.  I was hoping to find a Klout tool that showed the top influencers in your city, but I could not, so I had to scan Twitter to see who had high Klout scores here in Saint John.  So the method to my madness is not optimal and I am sure I missed a few, but I thought it would just be fun to see who does a great job sharing and influencing others via Twitter and Facebook.  So without further ado, the 7 most influential entreprneurs in Saint John, accoding to Klout.

7. Peter Stoddart (Saint John Ale House)

6.  Glen McLean (Java Moose Coffee)

5.  Chelsea Mason (Maritime Shopaholic)

4.  Dominique Leger (Red Hot Events)

3.  Judith Mackin (Punch Productions)

2.  Jeff Roach (Sociallogical)

1.  Kelly Lawson (Lawson Photography)

There you have it.  The 7 most influential entrepreneurs in Saint John according to Klout.  If I missed anyone, I truly apologize and please share in the comments who I missed.  The overall purpose of this post is to showcase some of the great entreprenuers we have in Saint John and how they are making a difference using the tools that are available to them online.

We must remember that the Klout score is just a number, and what is important is we are using the tools for the greater good and making a difference in our community, locally and globally.  If that gives you a high Klout score....great.  I think Brian Solis sums it up best when measuring social influence

"Always pay it forward and never forget to pay it back…it’s how you got here and it defines where you’re going."

To the 7 above, thank you for leading the way.

PS - Jeff, I guess Kelly has bragging rights for this week. :-)