System and method for identifying influential social media and providing location-based alerts

Abstract

The invention relates to systems and methods of identifying social media influencers and providing location-based alerts based on social media content items posted to social media providers from monitored locations. The system may identify a user who visited a specified location based on a social media content item posted by the user from the specified location. The system may provide an alert to an entity such as a retailer whenever the user re-posts from the specified location. The system may further determine whether, to what extent, and identity of users over whom the user has influence based on one or more influence factors. An influencer is a user who is determined to have influenced the behavior of other users, as determined from the user's social media activity and / or the influenced users' social media activity.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 14 / 813,039, filed Jul. 29, 2015, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The invention relates to systems and methods of identifying influential social media users and providing location-based alerts based on social media content items posted to social media providers from monitored locations.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Retailers, event managers, professional sports teams, public safety agencies, and others may have difficulty identifying and then analyzing influential social media. Influential social media may be important to the reviewer based on the audience reach of a post, the location of the post, the hometown of the user that originated the post, or the relevance of the post to a certain criminal or civil investigation. For example, it may be difficult for retailers to identify its customers without asking th...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The system described in this patent text can identify users who have influence over other users on social media. This influence can be determined based on factors like the size of their audience or the number of followers they have. These influencers can make a big impact in helping to spread the word about a product or service they've used. The system can also help to identify users who are being influenced by another user's social media content. This information can be useful for retailers and other advertisers who want to reach a large audience quickly and inexpensively.

Problems solved by technology

Retailers, event managers, professional sports teams, public safety agencies, and others may have difficulty identifying and then analyzing influential social media.

For example, it may be difficult for retailers to identify its customers without asking them to fill out unwanted surveys or asking them to connect with the retailer directly via social media providers (e.g., following the retailer on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, etc.).

It may be further difficult to understand what may be of interest to their customers, apart from purchases made at the retailer, or determine other behaviors that may indicate their customers' interests.

For law enforcement agencies, it may be difficult to identify suspects or potential suspects and their associations and behavior.

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