Patent Document ID: 20170060873
Application ID: 14957486
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A method comprising: receiving, from a device of an inquirer, a search request for an expert in a specific skill; accessing, from a database in an online social network, profile data of members in the online social network; determining a plurality of potential experts from the members in the online social network, each member in the plurality of potential experts having member profile data that includes an endorsement of the specific skill by another member; accessing social graph data of the plurality of potential experts, the social graph data including a degree of connection between the inquirer and each member in the plurality of potential experts; calculating, using a processor, a ranking value for each member in the plurality of potential experts based on the accessed profile data and the accessed social graph data; verifying the expert from the plurality of potential experts based on the calculated ranking value for each member in the plurality of potential experts, the calculated ranking value of the expert being higher than a predetermined threshold; and presenting the verified expert on a display of the device.