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  • 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!

Hello and welcome to The English

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