Patent ID: 8538811

Claim:
A method comprising: accessing, using a computing device, a datastore to obtain an attribute of a network user, an attribute of an object of interest to the user, and an attribute of each of a plurality of advocates of consumption of the object; determining, using the computing device, for each advocate of the plurality of advocates of consumption in the object, a measure of the value of the relationship between the respective advocate and the object, denoted knowledge measure, and a measure of the value of the social relationship between the respective advocate and the network user, denoted connection measure; combining, using the computing device, for each advocate of the plurality of advocates of consumption in the object, the knowledge and connection measures to estimate a respective expected monetary value of marketing materials relating to the object interest to the user with advocacy by the respective advocate; selecting, using the computing device, one advocate of the plurality of advocates having a highest expected monetary value of advocacy; determining, using the computing device, an estimated expected monetary value of the marketing materials relating to the object without advocacy; determining, using the computing device, that the highest expected monetary value of advocacy is greater than the estimated expected monetary value of the marketing materials relating to the object without advocacy; in response to determining that the highest expected monetary value of advocacy is greater than the estimated expected monetary value of the marketing materials relating to the object without advocacy, augmenting, using the computing device, the marketing materials to provide the one advocate of the plurality of advocates having a highest expected monetary value of advocacy as an advocate of the object; providing, using the computing device, the augmented marketing materials to the network user.