Recommending connection paths to decision makers from professional social networks

A social networking system comprising:

• a processor;
• a storage device;
• a propagation module;
• a decision maker and prospect scoring module;
• a best-in-path module;
• a lead recommendation module;
• and
• a memory device holding an instruction set executable on the processor to cause the social networking system to perform operations comprising:
• identifying, by the propagation module, a first group of members of the social networking system;
• identifying, by the propagation module, a second group of members of the social networking system;
• accessing, by the propagation module, from the storage device, a plurality of interactions between the first group of members and the second group of members;
• calculating, by the decision maker and prospect scoring module, for each member in the first group, a respective decision maker score (DMS);
• calculating, by the decision maker and prospect scoring module, for each pair of members in the second group and first group, a prospect score (PS) based on the DMS of a member in the first group, a relationship score (RS) measuring commonalities between the member of the first group and a member of the second group, and a social score (SS), the RS and the SS being based at least in part on the plurality of interactions;
• identifying, by the best-in-path module, connection paths between members in the second group and ranked members in the first group, the ranking being based on the PS values;
• and
• causing a display, by the lead recommendation module, in a user interface of the social networking system, of a recommendation of one or more connection paths recommending connection paths between members in the second group and members in the first group based on the identified connections and the PS values.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable instructions thereon, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations including:

• identifying a first group of members of a social networking system;
• identifying a second group of members of the social networking system;
• accessing a plurality of interactions between the first group of members and the second group of members;
• calculating, for each member in the first group, a respective decision maker score (DMS);
• calculating, for each pair of members in the second group and first group, a prospect score (PS) based on the DMS of a member in the first group, a relationship score (RS) measuring commonalities between the member of the first group and a member of the second group, and a social score (SS), the RS and the SS being based at least in part on the plurality of interactions;
• identifying connection paths between members in the second group and ranked members in the first group, the ranking being based on the PS values;
• and
• causing a display, in a user interface of the social networking system, of a recommendation of one or more connection paths recommending connection paths between members in the second group and members in the first group based on the identified connections and the PS values.