Systems and methods to determine trending topics for a user based on social graph data

A system comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to perform:
• determining at least one topic for potential presentation to a user based on an interaction of a connection of the user on a social networking system;
• determining a degree of separation between the user and the connection within the social networking system;
• determining a value of affinity between the user and the connection;
• determining a weight reflecting a value of interest similarity between the user and the connection;
• calculating a term based on the degree of separation, the value of affinity, and the weight reflecting a value of interest similarity;
• and
• combining terms associated with the at least one topic to generate a composite score associated with the at least one topic to determine whether to present the at least one topic to the user.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a method comprising:

• determining at least one topic for potential presentation to a user based on an interaction of a connection of the user on a social networking system;
• determining a degree of separation between the user and the connection within the social networking system;
• determining a value of affinity between the user and the connection;
• determining a weight reflecting a value of interest similarity between the user and the connection;
• calculating a term based on the degree of separation, the value of affinity, and the weight reflecting a value of interest similarity;
• and
• combining terms associated with the at least one topic to generate a composite score associated with the at least one topic to determine whether to present the at least one topic to the user.