Computer System for Automated Assessment at Scale of Topic-Specific Social Media Impact

A method comprising:

• accessing a plurality of messages, wherein the messages were sent by a plurality of users, and wherein the users include a first user and other users;
• identifying a first subset of the messages, wherein the first subset of the messages includes ones of the messages sent by the first user;
• identifying a second subset of the messages, wherein the second subset of the messages includes ones of the messages sent by the first user related to a first topic;
• determining an authority value for the first user on the first topic based on a first count of the first subset of the messages and a second count of the second subset of the messages;
• identifying a third subset of the messages, wherein the third subset of the messages includes ones of the messages resulting from the other users forwarding messages authored by the first user on the first topic;
• determining a power value for the first user based on a third count of the other users that sent the third subset of the messages;
• computing an impact score for the first user on the first topic based on the authority value and the power value;
• and
• based on the impact score, selecting the first user and performing further analysis of messages sent by the first user.

A system comprising:

• means for accessing a plurality of messages, wherein the messages were sent by a plurality of users, and wherein the users include a first user and other users;
• means for (i) identifying a first subset of the messages, wherein the first subset of the messages includes ones of the messages sent by the first user, (ii) identifying a second subset of the messages, wherein the second subset of the messages includes ones of the messages sent by the first user related to a first topic, and (iii) determining an authority value for the first user on the first topic based on a first count of the first subset of the messages and a second count of the second subset of the messages;
• means for (i) identifying a third subset of the messages, wherein the third subset of the messages includes ones of the messages resulting from the other users forwarding messages authored by the first user on the first topic and (ii) determining a power value for the first user based on a third count of the other users that sent the third subset of the messages;
• means for computing an impact score for the first user on the first topic based on the authority value and the power value;
• and
• means for, based on the impact score, selecting the first user and performing further analysis of messages sent by the first user.