Presenting content items using topical relevance and trending popularity

A system configured to present to a user content items from a content item set, respective content items associated with at least one topic, the system comprising:

• a topical interest identifying component configured to identify at least one topic of potential interest to the user;
• a content item evaluating component configured to, for respective content items:
• identify at least one topic associated with the content item, and
• identify a trending popularity of the content item;
• a content item selecting component configured to select at least one selected content item associated with at least one topic of potential interest to the user and having a positive trending popularity;
• and
• a content item presenting component configured to present to the user the selected content items.

A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed on a device having a user associated with at least one associate user, present to the user content items from a content item set, respective content items generated by at least one author and associated with at least one topic, and the device having access to a user profile comprising at least one user descriptor that describes the user and a content item classifier configured to select content items of potential interest to a user based on the content item and at least one user descriptor of the user, by:

• identifying at least one topic of potential interest to the user by identifying at least one topic of potential interest to at least one associate user who is associated with the user;
• for respective content items of the content item set:
• identifying at least one topic associated with the content item by detecting a topical identifier of a topic associated with the content item, and
• identifying a trending popularity of the content item by:
• identifying a first popularity of the content item at a first time;
• identifying a second popularity of the content item at a second time that is later than the first time;
• and
• comparing the first popularity of the content item and the second popularity of the content item to identify a trending popularity of the content item;
• selecting at least one selected content item associated with at least one topic of potential interest to the user, having a positive trending popularity, and generated by at least one author who is an associate user of the user, by invoking the content item classifier with a content item and the at least one user descriptor of the user;
• presenting to the user the selected content items by:
• sorting the selected content items according to at least one sorting criterion selected from a sorting criterion set comprising:
• a date sorting criterion;
• a content item author sorting criterion;
• a popularity sorting criterion;
• and
• a trending popularity sorting criterion;
• and
• presenting to the user the selected content items sorted according to the at least one sorting criterion;
• presenting with the selected content item a popularity selector;
• upon receiving from the user a user selection of the popularity selector, recording the user selection for the selected content item;
• and
• after presenting a selected content item to the user:
• detecting an interest of the user in the selected content item by:
• detecting a transfer of the content item by an associate user of the user;
• detecting a dwell period of the user on the selected content item;
• and
• recording a user interest of the user in at least one topic associated with the selected content item according to the interest of the user in the selected content item;
• and
• training the content item classifier based on the user, the content item, and the user interest.