Patent Document ID: 9213961
Application ID: 12563529

Base Claim:
1. In a computer network, a method for quantifying a significance of terms used within web-based social network sites, comprising the steps of: implementing a configuration of a plurality of databases comprising a key terms database, a search database, a results database and a cumulative results database, the key terms database configured for storing key terms associated with a marketing of goods or services, wherein the stored key terms are used to generate search queries that are to be provided to a plurality of web-based social network sites, the search database configured for storing search results that are received in response to the generated search queries, wherein the stored search results are transformed into social index scores that indicate a respective significance of the key terms within the plurality of web-based social networks, the results database configured for storing social index scores generated at regular intervals of time, wherein the data stored in the results database is retrieved in order to represent the social index score for the key terms during that interval of time, and the cumulative results database configured for storing cumulative data comprising a plurality of storing social index scores generated over time, wherein the data stored in the cumulative results database is retrieved in order to represent social index scores for the key terms generated over regular intervals of time, receiving an input of one or more key terms corresponding to marketing of goods or services, wherein the received input is stored in the key terms database that stores key terms that are used to generate search queries; generating the search queries from the one or more key terms for retrieving information from the plurality of web-based social network sites indicating use of the one or more key terms within the plurality of web-based social network sites; providing the generated search queries to the plurality of web-based social network sites; receiving search results from the plurality of web-based social network sites in response to the provided search queries, wherein the received search results correspond to social network data from a plurality of social network site users, the received search results stored in the search database that is accessed to transform the search results into social index scores; for a web-based social network site of the plurality of web-based social network sites from which search results are received, assigning an impact weight to the web-based social network site based at least in part on a total amount of stored data of the web-based social network site and a type of media accessed from the web-based social network site; associating the received search results for the web-based social network site with the impact weight corresponding to the web-based social network site; generating one or more social index scores by taking into account at least the received search results and the respective impact weights for the plurality of web-based social network sites, the one or more social index scores stored in at least one of the results database and the cumulative results database, wherein the stored data is retrieved to provide one or more representations of the social index score to a user; and providing, through a user interface, at least one representation of the generated one or more social index scores to the user.

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Claim 12:
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein each impact weight assigned to each web-based social network site is based at least partially on a number of users associated with each web-based social network site.