Tracy Liu Chu

US Patent:

20140143405, May 22, 2014

Filed:

Nov 19, 2012

Appl. No.:

13/681312

Inventors:

- Bentonville AR, US
Tracy Chu - Mountain View CA, US

Assignee:

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. - Bentonville AR

International Classification:

G06F 15/173

US Classification:

709224

Abstract:

Disclosed are methods for identifying topical experts from a seed set of experts by identifying “second tier” influencers for the topic. New concepts detected among a pool of experts and second tier influencers are monitored among the general population and their significance evaluated. Reports may be generated for these detected trends. Trends in social media for a concept represented in a taxonomy may be detected by monitoring content for descendent nodes for the concept. Correlations between social media activity with respect to the concept and sales of products corresponding to the concept may be made and sales predicted for the same or different products that correspond to descendants of the concept in the taxonomy.