Inferring the location of users in online social media platforms using social network analysis
First Claim
1. A system for inferring the location of users of online social media platforms, the system comprising:
- one or more processors and a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions encoded thereon such that when the instructions are executed, the one or more processors perform operations of;
(a) extracting a social network from data from at least one social media platform, wherein the social network comprises a plurality of users connected through social relationships, and wherein each user in the plurality of users has an identity on each social media platform;
(b) generating a mapping in the social network from each user in the plurality of users to the user'"'"'s estimated geographical location, resulting in an estimated location mapping Est;
(c) generating a mapping in the social network from each user in the plurality of users having known geographical location data to the user'"'"'s known geographical location, resulting in a known location mapping SL;
(d) updating the estimated location mapping Est to have the same mapping as the known location mapping SL;
(e) for a user j in the plurality of users having a mapping in the known location mapping SL, updating the location of j in Est′
to be the location in the known location mapping SL, wherein Est′
is an updated individual-location mapping for a current iteration;
(f) repeating operation (e) for each user in the plurality of users;
wherein N is a set of users having a social relationship with user j, and wherein NL is a set of locations;
(g) for each user k in N having a mapping in Est, adding the estimated geographical location of k in Est to NL;
(h) estimating a new geographical location of j using a geometric median metric;
(i) updating Est′
with the new geographical location of j;
(j) iterating through operations (e) through (h) until a stopping criteria is met, wherein the stopping criteria is one of a fixed number of iterations, a number of users who have been located, and a percentage change in users with new geographical locations;
(k) replacing the mappings in Est with those in Est′
; and
(l) mapping users to final, estimated locations based on the mappings in Est.
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Abstract
Described is a system for inferring the location of users in online social media platforms using social network analysis. A social network is first extracted from data from at least one social media platform. A mapping is generated from each user to the user'"'"'s estimated geographical location in the social network, resulting in an estimated location mapping. A mapping is generated from each user to the user'"'"'s known geographical location, if known, resulting in a known location mapping. The estimated location mapping is updated to match the known location mapping. The location for each user j in the known location mapping is updated in a current estimated location mapping. The final geographical locations of users connected with j are estimated using a geometric median metric. Finally, the final estimated geographical locations of users connected with j are mapped into the social network.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A system for inferring the location of users of online social media platforms, the system comprising:
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one or more processors and a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions encoded thereon such that when the instructions are executed, the one or more processors perform operations of; (a) extracting a social network from data from at least one social media platform, wherein the social network comprises a plurality of users connected through social relationships, and wherein each user in the plurality of users has an identity on each social media platform; (b) generating a mapping in the social network from each user in the plurality of users to the user'"'"'s estimated geographical location, resulting in an estimated location mapping Est; (c) generating a mapping in the social network from each user in the plurality of users having known geographical location data to the user'"'"'s known geographical location, resulting in a known location mapping SL; (d) updating the estimated location mapping Est to have the same mapping as the known location mapping SL; (e) for a user j in the plurality of users having a mapping in the known location mapping SL, updating the location of j in Est′
to be the location in the known location mapping SL, wherein Est′
is an updated individual-location mapping for a current iteration;(f) repeating operation (e) for each user in the plurality of users; wherein N is a set of users having a social relationship with user j, and wherein NL is a set of locations; (g) for each user k in N having a mapping in Est, adding the estimated geographical location of k in Est to NL; (h) estimating a new geographical location of j using a geometric median metric; (i) updating Est′
with the new geographical location of j;(j) iterating through operations (e) through (h) until a stopping criteria is met, wherein the stopping criteria is one of a fixed number of iterations, a number of users who have been located, and a percentage change in users with new geographical locations; (k) replacing the mappings in Est with those in Est′
; and(l) mapping users to final, estimated locations based on the mappings in Est. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A computer-implemented method for inferring the location of users of online social media platforms, comprising an act of:
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causing one or more processors to execute instructions stored on a non-transitory memory such that upon execution, the one or more processors performs operations of; (a) extracting a social network from data from at least one social media platform, wherein the social network comprises a plurality of users connected through social relationships, and wherein each user in the plurality of users has an identity on each social media platform; (b) generating a mapping in the social network from each user in the plurality of users to the user'"'"'s estimated geographical location, resulting in an estimated location mapping Est; (c) generating a mapping in the social network from each user in the plurality of users having known geographical location data to the user'"'"'s known geographical location, resulting in a known location mapping SL; (d) updating the estimated location mapping Est to have the same mapping as the known location mapping SL; (e) for a user j in the plurality of users having a mapping in the known location mapping SL, updating the location of j in Est′
to be the location in the known location mapping SL, wherein Est′
is an updated individual-location mapping for a current iteration;(f) repeating operation (e) for each user in the plurality of users; wherein N is a set of users having a social relationship with user j, and wherein NL is a set of locations; (g) for each user k in N having a mapping in Est, adding the estimated geographical location of k in Est to NL; (h) estimating a new geographical location of j using a geometric median metric; (i) updating Est′
with the new geographical location of j;(j) iterating through operations (e) through (h) until a stopping criteria is met, wherein the stopping criteria is one of a fixed number of iterations, a number of users who have been located, and a percentage change in users with new geographical locations; (k) replacing the mappings in Est with those in Est′
; and(l) mapping users to final, estimated locations based on the mappings in Est. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer program product for inferring the location of users of online social media platforms, the computer program product comprising computer-readable instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable by a computer having a processor for causing the processor to perform operations of:
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(a) extracting a social network from data from at least one social media platform, wherein the social network comprises a plurality of users connected through social relationships, and wherein each user in the plurality of users has an identity on each social media platform; (b) generating a mapping in the social network from each user in the plurality of users to the user'"'"'s estimated geographical location, resulting in an estimated location mapping Est; (c) generating a mapping in the social network from each user in the plurality of users having known geographical location data to the user'"'"'s known geographical location, resulting in a known location mapping SL; (d) updating the estimated location mapping Est to have the same mapping as the known location mapping SL; (e) for a user j in the plurality of users having a mapping in the known location mapping SL, updating the location of j in Est′
to be the location in the known location mapping SL, wherein Est′
is an updated individual-location mapping for a current iteration;(f) repeating operation (e) for each user in the plurality of users; wherein N is a set of users having a social relationship with user j, and wherein NL is a set of locations; (g) for each user k in N having a mapping in Est, adding the estimated geographical location of k in Est to NL; (h) estimating a new geographical location of j using a geometric median metric; (i) updating Est′
with the new geographical location of j;(j) iterating through operations (e) through (h) until a stopping criteria is met, wherein the stopping criteria is one of a fixed number of iterations, a number of users who have been located, and a percentage change in users with new geographical locations; (k) replacing the mappings in Est with those in Est′
; and(l) mapping users to final, estimated locations based on the mappings in Est. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification