SEO gurus, your thoughts?

The forced integration of Google+ into Youtube's commenting system last week has completely changed the way comments are ranked. While previously top ranked comments were simply determined based on the number of thumbs up received, there appears to be a new metric in place now.

(Caveat: Obviously, comments from people in your circle would appear first in most instances. But what about the rest?)

Take this random clip, for instance:
I remember watching this video earlier this year, and the top comment had over a hundred thumbs up. However, as you can see, the top spot is now occupied by a lady with 62 thumbs up. Another guy, ranked three comments below hers, received a significantly higher 204 thumbs up.

Naturally, this raises the obvious question:
Does the strength (or clout) of your Google+ account factor in the ranking system?
Please note that the top commenter has over 860 thousand people in her circle.

(This is not an isolated case - go on, spend a few minutes videosurfing)

• If that is indeed the case, can we actually measure the relative clouts of Google+ accounts based on comment hierarchies from a sample group?
• Can this data be extrapolated to measure the strength of individual Google Authorship accounts?
• If a correlation does exist here, would it not make sense to assign content authorship to accounts with perceivably higher strength?
• Would that, in turn, translate to stronger SEO footprints?

Thoughts, gentlemen? (and ladies?)

Ps: I hope I'm making sense here. In my defense, I'm wired with too much caffeine and nicotine, and leftover alcohol in my bloodstream.

Pps: Why do I give a damn, you say? If there's even a hint of truth in this, then it would make sense to start cultivating some resources.