Patent Document ID: 7653568
Application ID: 10757166
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for generating a database scoring algorithm for use in identifying from demographic data those individuals in a population having a greater probability than other individuals in the population of influencing the choices made by others, the method comprising: a. providing status data indicating whether each individual in a first population is influential; b. providing demographic data for each individual in the first population, wherein the demographic data corresponds to a set of demographic variables; c. creating categorical intervals in each demographic variable such that each categorical interval is associated with one or more possible data values for the demographic variable; d. reformatting the demographic data based on the categorical intervals; e. identifying a plurality of predictive variables from the set of demographic variables, wherein identifying the plurality of predictive variables comprises: calculating for each categorical interval a response index value, and selecting as predictive variables only those demographic variables having a categorical interval with an index value exceeding a pre-determined threshold index value; f. calculating a percent gain for each categorical interval in a predictive variable as a measure of the correlation between the categorical interval and whether a person is an influential; g. creating a predictive model based upon the plurality of predictive variables, the categorical intervals, and the percent gains; h. validating the predictive model; and i. generating a database scoring algorithm based on the predictive model, wherein the database scoring algorithm is configured to receive demographic data for individuals in a second population and to output a ranking of individuals in the second population based on the probability that each individual is influential; j. wherein at least one of the steps of identifying a plurality of predictive variables, calculating percent gains, and generating a database scoring algorithm is performed by a computer.