Hello and welcome to The English
We Speak. I'm Feifei.
And I'm Roy!
I'm really impressed, Roy.
Neil said you have real clout!
What?! You mean that Neil wants
to hit me? Is he angry with me?
No, Roy. 'Clout' can mean to hit
someone as a verb, but it can also
be used as a noun to mean 'your
influence or fame on social media'.
Neil was talking about how much
clout you have with all your followers.
Ahh... that kind of clout. But I don't
have that many followers.
Sometimes people get my name
confused with...
Rob! It's Rob who has the clout!
He has lots of followers and
some real influence on social media.
He's using it to sell biscuits
his mum made.
Hmmm! I'm going to try and find some
more followers while we listen
to some examples.
Esmeralda has some real clout
on social media. She has so many
followers who watch all her vlogs.
We've decided to hire an influencer
with real clout to help us launch
our new project.
Derek used his clout to sell the
new perfume to his millions of followers.
This is The English We Speak
from BBC Learning English,
and we're talking about the informal
expression 'clout', which means
your level of fame or influence on
social media. It can also be used in
another situation, can't it?
That's right - it can also be used in
business or politics, to refer to the
level of power and influence
a person has. For example,
'My boss used their clout to get
the deal done'.
That's right. So, Roy - did you
have any success in getting any more
followers? Do you have some more clout?
Yes! My mum just followed me and
as soon as I posted my new photo
someone liked it!
Liking your own photos doesn't count
as clout - you can't influence yourself!
Right - I'm off to get a photo with Rob,
so I can get more followers.
That sounds like a great way
to increase your clout!
It does. Bye, Roy!
Bye, Feifei!