Patent ID: 8499247

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for ranking influence of users of the internet on other users of the internet based on interactions between the users comprising: receiving, at a server, an interaction history comprising a set of one-to-one interactions between a first user and each of a plurality of additional users; determining, at the server, an interaction score for each of the one-to-one interactions of the set, wherein each interaction score is based at least in part on a type of the respective one-to-one interaction and an age of the respective one-to-one interaction; determining, at the server, friend rank for each of the plurality of additional users based on the interaction scores, wherein each friend rank indicates a measure of a degree of influence the respective additional user has over the first user; storing, at the server, the friend rank for each of the plurality of additional users in a storage medium; receiving, at the server from a client, a request for an advertisement to display to the first user; selecting, at the server, an advertisement for the first user based on the friend ranks for each of the plurality of additional users; and transmitting, from the server to the client, the selected advertisement.