Patent ID: 8612435

Claim:
A method comprising: monitoring actions performed by a user that is associated with a profile target; wherein said profile target comprises a group that includes at least two users; maintaining, for said group, a profile that includes particular data that reflects a cumulative representation of interests that said group has had in each subject of a particular set of one or more subjects; detecting that said user performed a particular action associated with a particular content; wherein said particular content is related to said particular set of said one or more subjects; wherein each subject, of said particular set of said one or more subjects, has, for said particular content, a corresponding subject weight value; wherein, for said particular content, said corresponding subject weight value for each subject indicates how related said particular content is to said corresponding subject of said particular set of said one or more subjects; in response to said user performing said particular action associated with said particular content, performing said steps of: determining a particular action type of said particular action, wherein said particular action type of said particular action is one of a plurality of action types; determining, for said user, one or more interest weights for said particular set of said one or more subjects based, at least in part, on: one or more subject weight values, for said particular content, that correspond to said particular set of said one or more subjects, an action type weight determined for said particular action type of said particular action, and at least one demographic characteristic of said user; updating said particular data in said profile associated with said group based, at least in part, on said one or more interest weights for said particular set of said one or more subjects determined for said user; wherein said step of updating is performed by one or more computing devices.