Dynamic gathering of social media content

a computing system configured to gather social media content, comprising:

• a memory;
• a content collection and ingestion system, stored in the memory and configured, when executed on a computer processor, to communicate with one or more computing systems over a network, collect a first content sample from the at least one content source, and after a first time interval of a first length, collect a second content sample from the at least one content source;
• and
• a content collection determination engine, stored in the memory, and configured, when executed on a computer processor, to compare the first and second samples to determine a quantity of content common to the first and second samples, and, determine, based upon the determined quantity of content common to the first and second samples, a second collection time interval of the second length different from the first length, wherein the comparing the first and second samples to determine a quantity of content common to the first and second samples further comprises comparing duplication of at least one of permalinks, time, date and author, the content collection and ingestion system further configured to collect a third content sample from the at least one content source after the second collection time interval, the first, second and third content sample is the social media content, wherein the second time length is derived from predicting a new rate of content being posted to the content source and the second time length is dynamically adjusted based on the quantity of common content determined in the comparing step;
• and wherein the content collection determination engine further comprises a data collector adjuster, stored in the memory and configured, when executed on a computer processor, to determine a proxy server service for a collection request based on at least one of an association time interval, a received indication of a desired geographic location to be searched, a cost of the proxy server service and a quantity of searches conducted by the proxy server service.

A non-transitory computer readable medium whose contents, when executed, cause a computing system to retrieve social media content from at least one content source over a network by performing a method comprising:

• collecting a first content sample from the at least one content source;
• after a first collection time interval of a first length, collecting a second content sample from the at least one content source;
• comparing the first and second samples to determine a quantity of content common to the first and second samples, wherein the comparing the first and second samples to determine a quantity of content common to the first and second samples further comprises comparing duplication of at least one of permalinks, time, date and author;
• determining, based upon the determined quantity of content common to the first and second samples, a second time interval of a second length different from the first length, wherein the second length is derived from predicting a new rate of content being posted to the content source and the second time length is dynamically adjusted based on the quantity of common content determined in the comparing step;
• after the adjusted collection time interval, collecting a third content sample from the at least one content source;
• and
• determining a proxy server service for a collection request based on at least one of an association time interval, a received indication of a desired geographic location to be searched, a cost of the proxy server service and a quantity of searches conduct by the proxy server service, wherein the first, second and third content samples comprise social media content.