Tracking significant topics of discourse in forums
First Claim
1. A computer implemented method comprising:
- receiving a plurality of messages sent by users of an online system;
selecting a plurality of terms occurring in the plurality of messages, the plurality of terms comprising a pair of terms, the pair of term including a first term and a second term;
identifying members that used at least one of the first term or the second term in a message;
determining a first value based on a number of members that mentioned both the terms belonging to the pair of terms in at least one message;
determining a second value based on a number of members that mentioned at least one term belonging to the pair of terms in at least one message;
responsive to a ratio of the first value and second value being less than a predetermined threshold, determining that each term belonging to the pair of terms is part of a phrase;
determining a rate of occurrence of the phrase in messages sent by one or more sets of users of the online system, each set of users having particular demographic attributes; and
generating a graphical user interface showing the rate of occurrence of the phrase with respect to one or more demographic attributes of users of the online system.
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Abstract
Users in public forums often mention certain topics in the course of their discussions. Member'"'"'s comments in messages to other members are analyzed to obtain terms that co-occur with topics. Frequencies of co-occurrence of a term with topics are normalized based on frequency of the term in a random sample of message. The terms are ranked by their normalized frequency of co-occurrence with a topic in messages. The top terms are selected based on their rank. Analysis of demographic information associated with members that mentioned top terms associated with a topic is displayed in graphical format that highlights the relationship between the age, gender, and usage of the top terms over time. The demographic information presented includes average age of members that mentioned a top term or their gender information within a selected time interval.
97 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computer implemented method comprising:
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receiving a plurality of messages sent by users of an online system; selecting a plurality of terms occurring in the plurality of messages, the plurality of terms comprising a pair of terms, the pair of term including a first term and a second term; identifying members that used at least one of the first term or the second term in a message; determining a first value based on a number of members that mentioned both the terms belonging to the pair of terms in at least one message; determining a second value based on a number of members that mentioned at least one term belonging to the pair of terms in at least one message; responsive to a ratio of the first value and second value being less than a predetermined threshold, determining that each term belonging to the pair of terms is part of a phrase; determining a rate of occurrence of the phrase in messages sent by one or more sets of users of the online system, each set of users having particular demographic attributes; and generating a graphical user interface showing the rate of occurrence of the phrase with respect to one or more demographic attributes of users of the online system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable code, the code comprising instructions for:
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receiving a plurality of messages sent by users of an online system; selecting a plurality of terms occurring in the plurality of messages, the plurality of terms comprising a pair of terms, the pair of term including a first term and a second term; identifying members that used at least one of the first term or the second term in a message; determining a first value based on a number of members that mentioned both the terms belonging to the pair of terms in at least one message; determining a second value based on a number of members that mentioned at least one term belonging to the pair of terms in at least one message; responsive to a ratio of the first value and second value being less than a predetermined threshold, determining that each term belonging to the pair of terms is part of a phrase; determining a rate of occurrence of the phrase in messages sent by one or more sets of users of the online system, each set of users having particular demographic attributes; and generating a graphical user interface showing the rate of occurrence of the phrase with respect to one or more demographic attributes of users of the online system. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification