Monitoring hashtags in micro-blog posts to provide one or more crowd-based features

1. A computer-implemented method, executed by at least one processor, the method comprising:

obtaining a micro-blog post of a user in a crowd of users, the crowd of users being a group of users within a predefined spatial proximity to one another;

obtaining a hashtag from the micro-blog post; and

providing a crowd-based feature based on the hashtag from the microblog post, wherein providing the crowd-based feature based on the hashtag from the micro-blog post comprises:

determining that the hashtag is representative of an interest of the crowd of users; and

recording the hashtag as an interest of the crowd of users in response to determining that the hashtag is representative of an interest of the crowd of users, and

wherein an aggregate profile is created for the crowd of users based on interests defined in user profiles of the users in the crowd of users, and recording the hashtag as an interest of the crowd of users comprises recording the hashtag in a separate profile maintained for the crowd of users that reflects topics of interests currently being discussed by the crowd of users.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining that the hashtag is representative of an interest of the crowd of users comprises determining that usage of the hashtag by users in the crowd of users exceeds a predefined threshold amount of usage.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the crowd-based feature based on the hashtag from the micro-blog post further comprises assigning a weight to the hashtag recorded as an interest of the crowd of users.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the crowd-based feature based on the hashtag from the micro-blog post comprises:

determining that the hashtag is indicative of a rating of the crowd of users by the user; and

updating a crowd rating of the crowd of users based on the hashtag in response to determining that the hashtag is indicative of a crowd rating of the crowd of users by the user.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein:

determining that the hashtag is indicative of the crowd rating of the crowd of users comprises determining that the hashtag indicates that the user likes the crowd of users; and

updating the crowd rating of the crowd of users comprises updating the crowd rating of the crowd of users in response to determining that the hashtag indicates that the user likes the crowd of users.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein:

determining that the hashtag is indicative of the crowd rating of the crowd of users comprises determining that the hashtag indicates that the user likes the crowd of users and a degree to which the user likes the crowd of users; and

updating the crowd rating of the crowd of users comprises updating the crowd rating of the crowd of users in response to determining that the hashtag indicates that the user likes the crowd of users and the degree to which the user likes the crowd of users.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein:

determining that the hashtag is indicative of the crowd rating of the crowd of users comprises determining that the hashtag indicates that the user dislikes the crowd of users; and

updating the crowd rating of the crowd of users comprises updating the crowd rating of the crowd of users in response to determining that the hashtag indicates that the user dislikes the crowd of users.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein:

determining that the hashtag is indicative of the crowd rating of the crowd of users comprises determining that the hashtag indicates that the user dislikes the crowd of users and a degree to which the user dislikes the crowd of users; and

updating the crowd rating of the crowd of users comprises updating the crowd rating of the crowd of users in response to determining that the hashtag indicates that the user dislikes the crowd of users and the degree to which the user dislikes the crowd of users.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the crowd-based feature based on the hashtag from the micro-blog post comprises:

determining that the hashtag is one of one or more predefined action words, wherein each predefined action word of the one or more predefined action words has a corresponding crowd-based action; and

performing the corresponding crowd-based action for the one of the one or more predefined action words in response to determining that the hashtag is the one of the one or more predefined action words.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the one of the one or more predefined action words is a reserved hashtag that explicitly requests that the crowd of users be tagged with one or more keywords defined in the micro-blog post, and performing the corresponding crowd-based action comprises tagging the crowd of users with the one or more keywords defined in the micro-blog post.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein performing the corresponding crowd based action further comprises identifying one or more keywords that immediately follow the one of the one or more predefined action words in the micro-blog post as the one or more keywords defined in the micro-blog post.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein performing the corresponding crowd based action further comprises identifying one or more additional hashtags in the micro-blog post as the one or more keywords defined in the microb-log post.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein tagging the crowd of users with the one or more keywords defined in the micro-blog post comprises recording the one or more keywords defined in the micro-blog post in a profile of the crowd of users.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the one of the one or more predefined action words is a reserved hashtag that explicitly requests that one or more keywords defined in the micro-blog post are to be removed as tags of the crowd of users, and performing the corresponding crowd-based action comprises removing the one or more keywords defined in the micro-blog post as tags of the crowd of users.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein performing the corresponding crowd based action further comprises identifying one or more keywords that immediately follow the one of the one or more predefined action words in the micro-blog post as the one or more keywords defined in the micro-blog post.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein removing the one or more keywords defined in the micro-blog post as tags of the crowd of users comprises removing the one or more keywords defined in the micro-blog post from a profile of the crowd of users.

17. The method of claim 9 wherein the one of the one or more predefined action words is a reserved hashtag that explicitly requests that the crowd of users be assigned a rating explicitly defined in the micro-blog post, and performing the corresponding crowd-based action comprises updating a crowd rating of the crowd based on the rating explicitly defined in the micro-blog post.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein performing the corresponding crowd based action further comprises identifying text that immediately follows the one of the one or more predefined action words in the micro-blog post as the rating explicitly defined in the micro-blog post.

19. The method of claim 9 wherein the one of the one or more predefined action words is a reserved hashtag that explicitly requests that a new crowd of users having one or more interests defined in the micro-blog post be created, and performing the corresponding crowd-based action comprises creating the new crowd of users having the one or more interests defined in the micro-blog post.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein performing the corresponding crowd-based action further comprises identifying one or more keywords that immediately follow the one of the one or more predefined action words in the micro-blog post as the one or more interests defined in the micro-blog post.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein performing the corresponding crowd-based action further comprises identifying one or more additional hashtags in the micro-blog post as the one or more interests defined in the micro-blog post.

22. A method, executed by at least one processor, the method comprising:

obtaining a micro-bloq post of a user in a crowd of users, the crowd of users being a group of users within a predefined spatial proximity to one another;

obtaining a hashtaq from the micro-bloq post; and

providing a crowd-based feature based on the hashtaq from the microbloq post, wherein providing the crowd-based feature based on the hashtaq from the micro-bloq post comprises:

determining that the hashtaq is representative of an interest of the crowd of users; and recording the hashtaq as an interest of the crowd of users in response to determining that the hashtaq is representative of an interest of the crowd of users, and

wherein determining that the hashtaq is representative of an interest of the crowd of users comprises determining that usage of the hashtaq by users in the crowd of users exceeds a predefined threshold amount of usage and wherein determining that usage of the hashtag by the users in the crowd of users exceeds the predefined threshold amount of usage comprises determining that the hashtag has been used at least a predefined threshold number of times over a predefined amount of time.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein an aggregate profile is created for the crowd of users based on interests defined in user profiles of the users in the crowd of users, and recording the hashtag as an interest of the crowd of users comprises recording the hashtag such that the hashtag is included in the aggregate profile of the crowd of users.

24. A server computer executed by at least one processor, the server comprising:

a communication interface adapted to communicatively couple the server computer to a network; and

a controller associated with the communication interface and adapted to: obtain a micro-blog post of a user in a crowd of users, the crowd of users being a group of users within a predefined spatial proximity to one another; obtain a hashtag from the micro-blog post; and

provide a crowd-based feature based on the hashtag from the micro-blog post, wherein in providing the crowd-based feature based on the hashtaq from the micro-bloa post the controller is further adapted to:

determine that the hashtaq is representative of an interest of the crowd of users; and

record the hashtaq as an interest of the crowd of users in response to determining that the hashtaq is representative of an interest of the crowd of users, and wherein an aggregate profile is created for the crowd of users based on interests defined in user profiles of the users in the crowd of users, and recording the hashtaq as an interest of the crowd of users comprises recording the hashtaq in a separate profile maintained for the crowd of users that reflects topics of interests currently being discussed by the crowd of users.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing software for instructing a controller of a computing device to:

obtain a micro-blog post of a user in a crowd of users, the crowd of users being a group of users within a predefined spatial proximity to one another;

obtain a hashtag from the micro-blog post; and

provide a crowd-based feature based on the hashtag from the micro-blog post, wherein providing the crowd-based feature based on the hashtag from the micro-blog post comprises:

determining that the hashtag is representative of an interest of the crowd of users; and recording the hashtag as an interest of the crowd of users in response to determining that the hashtag is representative of an interest of the crowd of users, and

wherein an aggregate profile is created for the crowd of users based on interests defined in user profiles of the users in the crowd of users, and recording the hashtag as an interest of the crowd of users comprises recording the hashtag in a separate profile maintained for the crowd of users that reflects topics of interests currently being discussed by the crowd of users.

26. A server computer executed by at least one processor, the server comprising:

a communication interface adapted to communicatively couple the server computer to a network; and

a controller associated with the communication interface and adapted to:

obtain a micro-blog post of a user in a crowd of users, the crowd of users being a group of users within a predefined spatial proximity to one another;

obtain a hashtag from the micro-blog post; and

provide a crowd-based feature based on the hashtag from the micro-blog post, wherein in providing the crowd-based feature based on the hashtag from the micro-blog post, the controller is further adapted to:

determine that the hashtag is representative of an interest of the crowd of users; and

record the hashtag as an interest of the crowd of users in response to determining that the hashtag is representative of an interest of the crowd of users, and

wherein determining that the hashtag is representative of an interest of the crowd of users comprises determining that usage of the hashtag by users in the crowd of users exceeds a predefined threshold amount of usage and wherein determining that usage of the hashtag by the users in the crowd of users exceeds the predefined threshold amount of usage comprises determining that the hashtag has been used at least a predefined threshold number of times over a predefined amount of time.

27. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing software for instructing a controller of a computing device to:

obtain a micro-blog post of a user in a crowd of users, the crowd of users being a group of users within a predefined spatial proximity to one another;

obtain a hashtag from the micro-blog post; and

provide a crowd-based feature based on the hashtag from the micro-blog post, wherein providing the crowd-based feature based on the hashtag from the micro-blog post comprises:

determining that the hashtag is representative of an interest of the crowd of users; and recording the hashtag as an interest of the crowd of users in response to determining that the hashtag

is representative of an interest of the crowd of users, and

wherein determining that the hashtag is representative of an interest of the crowd of users comprises determining that usage of the hashtag by users in the crowd of users exceeds a predefined threshold amount of usage and wherein determining that usage of the hashtag by the users in the crowd of users exceeds the predefined threshold amount of usage comprises determining that the hashtag has been used at least a predefined threshold number of times over a predefined amount of time.