Social graph data analytics

Abstract

Systems and methods for social graph data analytics to determine the connectivity between nodes within a community are provided. A user may assign user connectivity values to other members of the community, or connectivity values may be automatically harvested or assigned from third parties or based on the frequency of interactions between members of the community. Connectivity values may represent such factors as alignment, reputation, status, and/or influence within a social graph of a network community, or the degree of trust. The paths connecting a first node to a second node may be retrieved, and social graph data analytics may be performed on the retrieved paths. For example, a network connectivity value may be determined from all or a subset of all of the retrieved paths. Network connectivity values and/or other social graph data may be outputted to third-party processes, services, and ratings agencies for use in initiating automatic transactions, making automated network-based or real-world decisions, determining or verifying the identity of a node within the community, scoring or ranking nodes, or making credit-granting decisions.

1 .- 30 . (canceled) 
     
     
         31 . A method for determining network connectivity between a first node and a second node connected to the first node by at least one path, the method comprising:
 receiving, at a user device, a user request for a network connectivity value between a first entity of a network community and a second entity of the network community, wherein a first node in a connectivity graph represents the first entity and a second node in the connectivity graph represents the second entity;   transmitting an indication of the user request from the user device to a remote server;   receiving, at the user device, an indication of the network connectivity value from the remote server, wherein the network connectivity value is a result of a process comprising:
 automatically obtaining user interaction information between entities of the network community from a plurality of sources; 
 determining user connectivity values associated with links in the connectivity graph based on the user interaction information; 
 retrieving, from a memory, a first list that identifies outgoing paths from the first node; 
 retrieving, from the memory, a second list that identifies incoming paths to the second node; 
 joining an incoming path to the second node with an outgoing path from the first node to produce a joined path; and 
 multiplying a product of weights associated with links of the joined path with a user connectivity value assigned to a link in the joined path; and 
   automatically determining at least one prospective decision regarding the second entity based on a magnitude of the network connectivity value.   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the process resulting in the network connectivity value further comprises accessing a link threshold value, and wherein joining the incoming path to the second node with the outgoing path from the first node comprises joining only those paths containing fewer links than the accessed link threshold value. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the process resulting in the network connectivity value further comprises accessing a path weight threshold value, and wherein joining the incoming path to the second node with the outgoing path from the first node comprises joining only those paths with a normalized path weight above the accessed path weight threshold value. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the process resulting in the network connectivity value further comprises calculating the weights associated with the links of the joined path, and wherein calculating the weights comprises:
 calculating an average of user connectivity values associated with the links of the joined path; and   for each link of the joined path, subtracting the average of the user connectivity values from a user connectivity value assigned to the link of the joined path.   
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein a plurality of the user connectivity values each represent a subjective user trust value or competency assessment. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the process resulting in the network connectivity value further comprises accessing third-party ratings data, and wherein the network connectivity value is based, at least in part, on the third-party ratings data. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein joining an incoming path to the second node with an outgoing path from the first node comprises accessing data from a social networking service. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the user device is associated with the first entity. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein receiving, at the user device, the user request for the network connectivity value comprises:
 generating for display, at the user device, a searchable list of a plurality of entities in the network community, wherein the plurality of entities comprises the second entity; and   receiving a selection of at least one of the plurality of entities, wherein the at least one of the plurality of entities comprises the second entity.   
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the plurality of sources are chosen from a group consisting of social media networks, political party memberships, religious organization memberships, ratings agencies, credit bureaus, consumer complaints, criminal histories, legal records, media, search engine results, official document issuers, email services, data syndicators, address databases, transportation passenger lists, gambling databases, business listings, hospital affiliations, and university affiliations. 
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the network connectivity value is indicative of trustworthiness associated by the first entity to the second entity. 
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the connectivity graph is a social network graph. 
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the user connectivity values are indicative of trustworthiness of the entities of the network community. 
     
     
         44 . A system for determining network connectivity between a first node and a second node connected to the first node by at least one path, the system comprising:
 a user device associated comprising processing circuitry;   the processing circuitry configured to:
 receive a user request for a network connectivity value between a first entity of a network community and a second entity of the network community, wherein a first node in a connectivity graph represents the first entity and a second node in the connectivity graph represents the second entity; 
 transmit an indication of the user request to a remote server; 
 receive an indication of the network connectivity value from the remote server, wherein the network connectivity value is a result of a process comprising:
 automatically obtaining user interaction information between entities of the network community from a plurality of sources; 
 determining user connectivity values associated with links in the connectivity graph based on the user interaction information; 
 retrieving, from a memory, a first list that identifies outgoing paths from the first node; 
 retrieving, from the memory, a second list that identifies incoming paths to the second node; 
 joining an incoming path to the second node with an outgoing path from the first node to produce a joined path; and 
 multiplying a product of weights associated with links of the joined path with a user connectivity value assigned to a link in the joined path; and 
 
 automatically determine at least one prospective decision regarding the second entity based on a magnitude of the network connectivity value. 
   
     
     
         45 . The system of  claim 44 , wherein the process resulting in the network connectivity value further comprises accessing a link threshold value, and wherein joining the incoming path to the second node with the outgoing path from the first node comprises joining only those paths containing fewer links than the accessed link threshold value. 
     
     
         46 . The system of  claim 44 , wherein the process resulting in the network connectivity value further comprises accessing a path weight threshold value, and wherein joining the incoming path to the second node with the outgoing path from the first node comprises joining only those paths with a normalized path weight above the accessed path weight threshold value. 
     
     
         47 . The system of  claim 44 , wherein the process resulting in the network connectivity value further comprises calculating the weights associated with the links of the joined path, and wherein calculating the weights comprises:
 calculating an average of user connectivity values associated with the links of the joined path; and   for each link of the joined path, subtracting the average of the user connectivity values from a user connectivity value assigned to the link of the joined path.   
     
     
         48 . The system of  claim 44 , wherein a plurality of the user connectivity values each represent a subjective user trust value or competency assessment. 
     
     
         49 . The system of  claim 44 , wherein the process resulting in the network connectivity value further comprises accessing third-party ratings data, and wherein the network connectivity value is based, at least in part, on the third-party ratings data. 
     
     
         50 . The system of  claim 44 , wherein joining an incoming path to the second node with an outgoing path from the first node comprises accessing data from a social networking service. 
     
     
         51 . The system of  claim 44 , wherein the user device is associated with the first entity. 
     
     
         52 . The system of  claim 44 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to receive the user request for the network connectivity value by:
 generating for display, at the user device, a searchable list of a plurality of entities in the network community, wherein the plurality of entities comprises the second entity; and   receiving a selection of at least one of the plurality of entities, wherein the at least one of the plurality of entities comprises the second entity.   
     
     
         53 . The system of  claim 44 , wherein the plurality of sources are chosen from a group consisting of social media networks, political party memberships, religious organization memberships, ratings agencies, credit bureaus, consumer complaints, criminal histories, legal records, media, search engine results, official document issuers, email services, data syndicators, address databases, transportation passenger lists, gambling databases, business listings, hospital affiliations, and university affiliations. 
     
     
         54 . The system of  claim 44 , wherein the network connectivity value is indicative of trustworthiness associated by the first entity to the second entity. 
     
     
         55 . The system of  claim 44 , wherein the connectivity graph is a social network graph. 
     
     
         56 . The system of  claim 44 , wherein the user connectivity values are indicative of trustworthiness of the entities of the network community.