Method, system, and medium for recommending gift products based on textual information of a selected user

1. A computer-implemented method for recommending one or more gifts for a selected individual, the method comprising:

receiving, by an interest determination module, textual content authored and published by the selected individual;

forwarding the textual content to a semantic analysis engine;

performing, by the semantic analysis engine, semantic analysis on the textual content to extract one or more topic categories of interest to the selected individual from within the textual content;

receiving the one or more topic categories of interest from the semantic analysis engine;

determining, by a computing device executing computer-executable code associated with a product lookup module, one or more products corresponding to the one or more topic categories of interest that are giftable; and

recommending the one or more giftable products as gifts for the selected individual;

wherein the semantic analysis of the textual content performed by the semantic analysis engine comprises:

determining that the selected individual has a negative sentiment of a first topic category among the one or more topic categories based on the textual content authored and published by the selected individual and received by the determination module; and,

excluding the first topic category from the one or more topic categories of interest, the first topic category not utilized in the determining of the one or more products corresponding to the one or more topic categories of interest.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the textual content comprises content authored and published by the selected individual on one or more web pages.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the textual content comprises profile information on tweets authored and published by the selected individual.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more products are automatically determined by the product lookup module based on a product catalog corresponding to at least one of one or more particular stores and one or more particular geographical locations, wherein the particular geographical locations are associated with the selected individual.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of gifts are recommended for the selected individual, and wherein the method further comprises:

using the semantic analysis engine to determine extract a plurality of topic categories associated with the plurality of products from within textual content discussing the plurality of products in sources of information on the Internet;

for each topic category, determining an affinity score of the selected individual to the topic category, the affinity score indicating a likelihood of the selected individual having interest in the topic category;

determining a ranking of the plurality of products in descending affinity scores of the selected individual to the topic categories associated with the plurality of products; and

generating an ordered list of the plurality of products based on the ranking of the plurality of products.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein a first affinity score of the selected individual to a first topic category associated with a first product is determined based on one or more of the following: a number of occurrences of the first topic category in the textual content associated with the selected individual, a number of occurrences of the first topic category in textual content associated with a second individual who is associated with the selected individual, a number of occurrences of the first topic category in textual content associated with a plurality of individuals, and a time of a last occurrence of the first topic category in the textual content associated with the selected individual.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of products are recommended as gifts for the selected individual, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining a plurality of giftability scores associated with the plurality of products, based on analysis of one or more characteristics of the products, each giftability score indicating a suitability of a corresponding product as a gift; and

determining a ranking of the plurality of products in descending giftability scores associated with the plurality of products; and generating an ordered list of the plurality of products based on the ranking of the plurality of products.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of gifts are recommended for the selected individual, and wherein the method further comprises:

using the semantic analysis engine to determine extract a plurality of topic categories associated with the plurality of products;

for each product in the plurality of products, determining extracting a number of topic categories of interest to the selected individual associated with the product from within textual content discussing the plurality of products in sources of information on the Internet;

determining a ranking of the plurality of products in descending numbers of topic categories associated with the plurality of products; and

generating an ordered list of the plurality of products based on the ranking of the plurality of products.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more products are determined based on one or more demographic characteristics of the selected individual.

10. A computational system, comprising:

a network communication device comprising an interest determination module, the interest determination module configured to:

receive textual content authored and published by a selected individual, and,

forward the textual content to a semantic analysis engine;

a semantic analysis engine configured to:

perform semantic analysis on the textual content to extract one or more topic categories of interest to the selected individual from within the textual content, and,

provide the one or more topic categories of interest from the semantic analysis engine to a product lookup module;

a product lookup module configured to determine one or more products corresponding to the one or more topic categories of interest that are giftable; and

a processor configured to execute computer-executable code associated with the product lookup module to recommend, as gifts for the selected individual, the one or more products corresponding to the one or more topic categories of interest that are giftable;

wherein the semantic analysis engine is further configured to:

determine that the selected individual has a negative sentiment of a first topic category among the one or more topic categories based on the textual content authored and published by the selected individual and received by the determination module, and,

exclude the first topic category from the one or more topic categories of interest, the first topic category not utilized in the determining of the one or more products corresponding to the one or more topic categories of interest.

11. The computational system of claim 10 , wherein: the computational system is configured to recommend a plurality of gifts for the selected individual,

the semantic analysis engine is programmed to extract a plurality of topic categories associated with the plurality of products from within textual content discussing the plurality of products in sources of information on the Internet, and

the processor is further programmed to automatically execute computer-executable code programmed to:

for each topic category, determine an affinity score of the selected individual to the topic category, the affinity score indicating a likelihood of the selected individual having interest in the topic category;

determine a ranking of the plurality of products in descending affinity scores of the selected individual to the topic categories associated with the plurality of products; and

generate an ordered list of the plurality of products based on the ranking of the plurality of products.

12. The computational system of claim 11 , wherein a first affinity score of the selected individual to a first topic category associated with a first product is determined based on one or more of the following: a number of occurrences of the first topic category in the textual content associated with the selected individual, a number of occurrences of the first topic category in textual content associated with a second individual who is associated with the selected individual, a number of occurrences of the first topic category in textual content associated with a plurality of individuals, and a time of a last occurrence of the first topic category in the textual content associated with the selected individual.

13. The computational system of claim 10 , wherein the computational system is configured to recommend a plurality of gifts for the selected individual, and wherein the processor is further programmed to:

determining a plurality of giftability scores associated with the plurality of products, based on analysis of one or more characteristics of the products, each giftability score indicating a suitability of a corresponding product as a gift; and

determining a ranking of the plurality of products in descending giftability scores associated with the plurality of products; and generating an ordered list of the plurality of products based on the ranking of the plurality of products.

14. The computational system of claim 10 , wherein: the computational system is configured to recommend a plurality of gifts for the selected individual,

the semantic analysis engine is programmed to extract a plurality of topic categories associated with the plurality of products from within textual content discussing the plurality of products in sources of information on the Internet, and

the processor is further programmed to:

for each product in the plurality of products, determine a number of topic categories of interest to the selected individual associated with the product;

determine a ranking of the plurality of products in descending numbers of topic categories associated with the plurality of products; and

generate an ordered list of the plurality of products based on the ranking of the plurality of products.

15. The computational system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more products are determined based on one or more connections among social elements identified by analyzing a plurality of data streams from multiple different social media services.

16. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having encoded thereon computer-executable instructions configured to cause performance of a method for recommending one or more gifts for a selected individual, the method comprising:

receiving, by an interest determination module, textual content authored and published by the selected individual;

forwarding the textual content to a semantic analysis engine;

performing, by the semantic analysis engine, semantic analysis on the textual content to extract one or more topic categories of interest to the selected individual from within the textual content;

receiving the one or more topic categories of interest from the semantic analysis engine;

determining, by a computing device executing computer-executable code associated with a product lookup module, one or more products corresponding to the one or more topic categories of interest that are giftable; and

recommending the one or more giftable products as gifts for the selected individual;

wherein the semantic analysis of the textual content performed by the semantic analysis engine comprises:

determining that the selected individual has a negative sentiment of a first topic category among the one or more topic categories based on the textual content authored and published by the selected individual and received by the determination module; and,

excluding the first topic category from the one or more topic categories of interest, the first topic category not utilized in the determining of the one or more products corresponding to the one or more topic categories of interest.

17. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises:

recommending a plurality of gifts for the selected individual;

using the semantic analysis engine to extract a plurality of topic categories associated with the plurality of products from within textual content discussing the plurality of products in sources of information on the Internet;

determining an affinity score of the selected individual to the topic category, the affinity score indicating a likelihood of the selected individual having interest in the topic category;

determining a ranking of the plurality of products in descending affinity scores of the selected individual to the topic categories associated with the plurality of products; and

generating an ordered list of the plurality of products based on the ranking of the plurality of products.

18. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 17 , wherein a first affinity score of the selected individual to a first topic category associated with a first product is determined based on one or more of the following: a number of occurrences of the first topic category in the textual content associated with the selected individual, a number of occurrences of the first topic category in textual content associated with a second individual who is associated with the selected individual, a number of occurrences of the first topic category in textual content associated with a plurality of individuals, and a time of a last occurrence of the first topic category in the textual content associated with the selected individual.

19. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises:

recommending a plurality of products as gifts for the selected individual;

determining a plurality of giftability scores associated with the plurality of products, based on analysis of one or more characteristics of the products, each giftability score indicating a suitability of a corresponding product as a gift; and

determining a ranking of the plurality of products in descending giftability scores associated with the plurality of products; and generating an ordered list of the plurality of products based on the ranking of the plurality of products.

20. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises:

recommending a plurality of gifts for the selected individual;

using the semantic analysis engine to extract a plurality of topic categories associated with the plurality of products;

for each product in the plurality of products, extracting a number of topic categories of interest to the selected individual associated with the product from within textual content discussing the plurality of products in sources of information on the Internet;

determining a ranking of the plurality of products in descending numbers of topic categories associated with the plurality of products; and

generating an ordered list of the plurality of products based on the ranking of the plurality of products.

21. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the one or more products are determined based on one or more connections among social elements identified by analyzing a plurality of data streams from multiple different social media services demographic characteristics of the selected individual.