User interests facilitated by a knowledge base

One or more computer-storage media storing computer-useable instructions that, when executed by a computing device, perform a method for determining user interests, comprising:

• identifying a digital content in user activity data that describes an interaction between a user and said digital content;
• identifying a first entity and a second entity that are matched to the digital content by mapping data, said first entity and said second entity being a topic of said digital content, wherein said first entity and said second entity are included within a knowledge base comprising a plurality of entities, said knowledge base comprising an ontology comprising a knowledge graph that indicates relationships between said plurality of entities;
• generating first interest-level data that represents a first level of interest between said user and said first entity and said second entity;
• identifying a candidate entity based on said candidate entity having a relationship to both the first entity and the second entity within the knowledge base;
• generating second interest-level data that represents a second level of interest between said user and said candidate entity based on an analysis of said relationship;
• linking a user ID associated with the user to the candidate entity, thereby indicating the user is interested in the candidate entity;
• receiving a search query from the user;
• and
• generating a search result comprising digital contents, in response to the received search query, wherein the digital contents are ranked using the generated first interest-level data and the generated second interest-level data.

A computer-implemented system for determining user interests, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• one or more computer storage media storing computer-useable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
• receiving user activity data that describes an interaction between a user and digital content;
• identifying a first entity and a second entity that are matched to the digital content by mapping data, said first entity and said second entity being a topic of said digital content, wherein said first entity and said second entity are included within a knowledge base comprising a plurality of entities, said knowledge base comprising an ontology comprising a knowledge graph that indicates relationships between said plurality of entities;
• identifying a candidate entity based on said candidate entity having a relationship to both the first entity and the second entity within the knowledge base;
• generating second interest-level data that represents a second level of interest between said user and said candidate entity based on an analysis of said relationship, said analysis comprising comparing one or more attributes of said ontology assigned to said first entity and said second entity in said ontology to one or more attributes of said ontology assigned to said candidate entity in said ontology;
• linking a user ID associated with the user to the candidate entity, thereby indicating the user is interested in the candidate entity;
• receiving a search query from the user;
• and
• generating a search result comprising digital contents, in response to the received search query, wherein the digital contents are ranked using the generated first interest-level data and the generated second interest-level data.