Patent ID: 8150779

Claim:
A computer implemented method for validating the detection of spam based entities in social networking contexts, the method comprising the steps of: receiving, by a computer, data concerning detection, in a social networking site, of at least one suspected social networking spam based entity; creating, by a computer, a virtual social networking group, the created virtual social networking group emulating 1) a plurality of user profiles on the social networking site and 2) the at least one suspected spam based entity, the created virtual social networking group being isolated from the social networking site; invoking, by a computer, at least one link in the emulated at least one suspected spam based entity in the created virtual social networking group; emulating, by a computer, traffic to and from the emulated at least one suspected spam based entity in the created virtual social networking group, the traffic resulting from the invoking of the at least one link; monitoring, by a computer, results of the invoking of the at least one link and the emulating of the resulting traffic to and from the emulated at least one suspected spam based entity; responsive to the monitored results of the invoking of the at least one link and the emulating of the resulting traffic to and from the emulated at least one suspected spam based entity, determining, by a computer, whether to validate the at least one suspected spam based entity as comprising a spam based entity; and generating, by a computer, a validation indication specifying at least whether the at least one suspected spam based entity comprises a spam based entity.