Visualization tools for reviewing credibility and stateful hierarchical access to credibility

• US 9,111,281 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2013
• Issued: 08/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dun & Bradstreet Corp., DUN & Bradstreet Incorporated (Dun & Bradstreet Corp.), Hoover's Incorporated (Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Credibility Corp. (Dun & Bradstreet Corp.)
• Inventors: Stibel, Jeffrey M., Stibel, Aaron B., Hackett, Judith Gentile, Kazerani, Moujan
• Primary Examiner(s): NABI, REZA U
• Application Number:
  US13/874,107
• Publication Number:
  US 20130238387A1
• Time in Patent Office: 840 Days
• Field of Search: 715/780
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a credibility system including an interface portal for presenting a holistic view of entity credibility. To provide the holistic view, the credibility system aggregates credibility data from multiple data sources. The aggregated credibility data is processed and ordered to present different dimensions of entity credibility, with each dimension graphically presented in the interface portal through an interactive credibility module. In some embodiments, the credibility data associated with each credibility module is processed to produce at least one value that quantifiably represents the credibility data. In some embodiments, the credibility data associated with each credibility module is hierarchically ordered to present the credibility data in a drill-down fashion with each hierarchical layer presenting more detailed credibility data for better understanding the credibility data presented in the preceding layer.

Claims

1. For a credibility evaluation system comprising at least one server with a processor and non-transitory computer-readable memory, a computer-implemented method for graphically presenting credibility of a plurality of different entities, the computer-implemented method comprising:

computing overall credibility of a particular entity based on at least a first credibility dimension, a second credibility dimension, and a third credibility dimension, each credibility dimension targeting a different aspect impacting the overall credibility of the particular entity;

providing a graphical user interface comprising a display area and first, second, third, and fourth selectable graphical elements;

populating said display area with the first credibility dimension responsive to a selection of the first selectable graphical element, wherein populating the display area with the first credibility dimension comprises presenting (i) a first dimensional score quantifying the first credibility dimension, (ii) a first set of credibility data from which the first dimensional score is derived, and (iii) at least a first action addressing a shortcoming that is identified in the first set of credibility data in order to improve the first dimensional score;

populating said display area with the second credibility dimension responsive to a selection of the second selectable graphical element, wherein populating the display area with the second credibility dimension comprises presenting (i) a second dimensional score quantifying the second credibility dimension, (ii) a second set of credibility data from which the second dimensional score is derived, and (iii) at least a second action addressing a shortcoming that is identified in the second set of credibility data in order to improve the second dimensional score, wherein the second set of credibility data is different than the first set of credibility data such that the second dimensional score is computed independent of the first dimensional score;

populating said display area with the third credibility dimension responsive to a selection of the third selectable graphical element, wherein populating the display area with the third credibility dimension comprises presenting (i) a third dimensional score quantifying the third credibility dimension, (ii) a third set of credibility data from which the third dimensional score is derived, and (iii) at least a third action addressing a shortcoming that is identified in the third set of credibility data in order to improve the third dimensional score, wherein the third set of credibility data is different than the first and second sets of credibility data such that the third dimensional score is computed independent of the first and second dimensional scores; and

populating said display area with the overall credibility of the particular entity responsive to a selection of the fourth selectable graphical element, wherein populating the display area with the overall credibility comprises presenting the overall credibility score, wherein the first credibility dimension comprises reviews directed to the particular entity, wherein the second credibility dimension comprises ratings directed to the particular entity, and wherein the third credibility dimension comprises networks partnerships of the particular entity.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising adjusting the overall credibility score in response to at least one of (i) a change to the first dimensional score effectuated by performance of the first action, (ii) a change to the second dimensional score effectuated by performance of the second action, and (iii) a change to the third dimensional score effectuated by performance of the third action.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the first action comprises responding to a particular social media post that expresses negative sentiment toward the particular entity and the third action comprises establishing a networking partnership with a suggested network partner that does not yet have an established networking partnership with the particular entity.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first set of credibility data comprises a set of reviews expressing sentiment about the particular entity, wherein the first dimensional score is derived based on positive and negative sentiment that is expressed in the set of reviews, and wherein the first action comprises responding to at least one particular review expressing negative sentiment towards the particular entity.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the third set of credibility data comprises a set networking partnerships that have been established by the particular entity at one or more online networking sites, wherein the third dimensional score is derived based on a quality of the set of networking partnerships, and wherein the third action comprises establishing a networking partnership with a partner that does not yet have an established networking partnership with the particular entity.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first credibility dimension targets social media activity of the particular entity and the first dimensional score quantifies an impact that the particular entity'"'"'s social media activity has on the overall credibility score.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the third credibility dimension targets networking activity of the particular entity and the third dimensional score quantifies an impact that the particular entity'"'"'s networking activity has on the overall credibility score.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising aggregating a plurality of textual reviews for the first set of credibility data, a plurality of ratings for the second set of credibility data, and a plurality of networking partnerships established by the particular entity for the third set of credibility data.

9. For a credibility evaluation system comprising at least one server with a processor and non-transitory computer-readable memory, a computer-implemented method for graphically presenting credibility of a plurality of different entities, the computer-implemented method comprising:

computing a first sub-score based on a first set of credibility data that is directed to a first credibility dimension, a second sub-score based on a second set of credibility data that is directed to a second credibility dimension, a third sub-score based on a third set of credibility data that is directed to a third credibility dimension;

computing a credibility score for a particular entity based on at least the first, second, and third sub-scores that are computed for the particular entity;

presenting entity credibility by providing a graphical user interface (GUI) that displays (i) the first dimension of credibility by way of presenting the first sub-score, a subset of the first set of credibility data, and a suggested action for improving the first sub-score, (ii) the second dimension of credibility by way of presenting the second sub-score, a subset of the second set of credibility data, and a suggested action for improving the second sub-score, (iii) the third dimension of credibility by way of presenting the third sub-score, a subset of the third set of credibility data, and a suggested action for improving the third sub-score, and (iv) the overall credibility score; and

adjusting the overall credibility score in response to at least one of (i) a change to the first sub-score effectuated by performance of the suggested action for improving the first sub-score, (ii) a change to the second sub-score effectuated by performance of the suggested action for improving the second sub-score, and (iii) a change to the third sub-score effectuated by performance of the suggested action for improving the third sub-score, wherein the first credibility dimension comprises reviews directed to the particular entity, wherein the second credibility dimension comprises ratings directed to the particular entity, and wherein the third credibility dimension comprises networks partnerships of the particular entity.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 further comprising presenting a score identifying a change to any of the first sub-score, the second sub-score, and the third sub-score as a result of performing a suggested action.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the first set of credibility data comprises a plurality of textual reviews expressing sentiment towards the particular entity and the first sub-score quantifies the sentiment expressed in the plurality of textual reviews.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the suggested action for improving the first sub-score provides a suggestion for responding to a particular textual review from the plurality of textual reviews that expresses negative sentiment towards the particular entity.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 further comprising filtering the plurality of textual reviews to identify for the subset of the first set of credibility data, those textual reviews that express negative sentiment towards the particular entity.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the third set of credibility data identifies a plurality of networking partnerships established by the particular entity and the third sub-score quantifies a quality of the plurality of networking partnerships.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the suggested action for improving the third sub-score provides a suggestion for the particular entity to establish a networking partnership with an identified entity that the particular entity does not yet have an established networking partnership with.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 further comprising filtering the first set of credibility data to produce the subset of the first set of credibility data.

17. For a credibility evaluation system comprising at least one server with a processor and non-transitory computer-readable memory, a computer-implemented method for evaluating entity credibility, the computer-implemented method comprising:

aggregating a plurality of online posts that express sentiment targeting a particular entity;

performing a first adjustment to a credibility score of the particular entity by quantifying positive and negative sentiment expressed towards the particular entity in the plurality of online posts;

identifying a plurality of networking partnerships established between the particular entity and a plurality of other entities;

performing a second adjustment to the credibility score of the particular entity based on a quality of the networking partnerships;

computing a first component credibility score based on the positive and negative sentiment expressed towards the particular entity in the plurality of online posts and computing a second component credibility score based on the quality of each networking partnership of the plurality of the networking partnerships;

providing a graphical user interface comprising (i) a display area, (ii) a first selectable element, (iii) a second selectable element, and (iv) a third selectable element, wherein the first selectable element is configured to populate the display area upon selection of the first selectable element with the credibility score as adjusted by the first and second adjustments and a suggested action for improving the credibility score, wherein the suggested action comprises at least one of responding to an identified online post from the plurality of online posts that expresses negative sentiment targeting the particular entity and establishing a networking partnership with a new entity that is not yet a networking partner of the particular entity, wherein the second selectable element is configured to populate the display area upon selection of the second selectable element with the first component credibility score and at least one online post from the plurality of online posts, and wherein the third selectable element is configured to populate the display area upon selection of the third selectable element with the second component credibility score and at least one networking partnership from the plurality of network partnerships.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 further comprising adjusting the credibility score in response to the particular entity performing at least one of (i) responding to the online post (ii) establishing the networking partnership with the new entity.