Patent ID: 8874651

Claim:
A method comprising: defining a first social network with a first plurality of accounts; defining a second social network with a second plurality of accounts, the second social network being unaffiliated with the first social network; federating the first and second social networks to determine a union of the first and second social networks and an intersection of the first and second social networks; ascertaining second-order connections between one or more of the first plurality of accounts and one or more of the second plurality of accounts, the second-order connections including connections outside of the intersection of the first and second social networks and within the union of the first and second social networks; said federating comprising: constructing a first graph from the first social network; constructing a second graph from the second social network; determining a first federated graph portion on a basis of edges incident on a vertex set formed from an intersection of the first and second graphs; determining a second federated graph portion via ascertaining a global 2-hop neighborhood of the vertex set; determining a third federated graph portion via exploring arbitrary subgraphs among the first and second graphs; and combining the first, second and third federated graph portions to form a federated graph; and providing, for subsequent analysis, connections and relationships between accounts in the first and second social networks and within the federated graph.