System and technique for influence estimation on social media networks using causal inference

A system for detection and quantification of influence, the system comprising:

• a network sampling processor configured to:
• sample information on one or more social media networks;
• a narrative discovery processor configured to:
• receive sampled information from the network sampling processor, and
• in response thereto identify a narrative related to a subset of information sampled by the network sampling processor;
• and
• an influence quantification processor configured to:
• receive information related to the narrative and to process the information via a network causal inference process to quantify influence of the narrative on the one or more social media networks;
• wherein the influence quantification processor further comprises:
• a model database comprising one or more potential outcome models;
• a model parameter estimator configured to estimate one or more parameters of a potential outcome model selected from the one or more potential outcome models;
• and
• an unseen counter-factual outcomes processor configured to quantity influence of the narrative using the selected potential outcome model.