Systems and methods to identify candidates for targeted advertising in an online social gaming environment

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

generating a network graph representative of relationships between users associated with an online social gaming environment, the relationships based on connections between the users;

collecting first social gaming data corresponding to participation by a first user and a second user in the online social gaming environment during a first period of time;

assigning different weights to different types of the first social gaming data based at least in part on when the different types of the first social gaming data were collected, a first weight of older social gaming data of a first type being less than a second weight of newer social gaming data of the first type;

calculating, via a processor, a first degree of influence of the first user of the online social gaming environment on the second user of the online social gaming environment, the first degree of influence based on the weights of the first social gaming data;

predicting, via the processor, a behavior of the second user based on the first degree of influence of the first user on the second user;

comparing, via the processor, the predicted behavior of the second user to second social gaming data corresponding to participation by the second user in the online social gaming environment during a second period of time after the first period of time;

updating, via the processor, the first degree of influence of the first user on the second user based on the comparison; and

analyzing, via the processor, the network graph to identify the first user as a candidate for targeted advertising when the first degree of influence satisfies a threshold and to provide information identifying the candidate to at least one of a game publisher, a social gaming service provider, or a third party advertiser.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further including:

generating a sub-network graph representative of relationships between a group of users, the group of users corresponding to a portion of the users associated with the online social gaming environment having a same characteristic determined from the first social gaming data, wherein the portion of the users includes the first user and the second user, and wherein the characteristic is associated with targeted advertising; and

analyzing the sub-network graph to identify the first user as a candidate for targeted advertising when the first degree of influence satisfies a threshold.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first social gaming data includes a historical timeline of transactions, and the different types of the first social gaming data correspond to at least some of the transactions corresponding to a purchase of a game, a purchase of a virtual product associated with a game, or a purchase of a real product associated with a game.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the different types of the first social gaming data include at least one of a duration of the relationship between the first user and the second user, a game preference, an interaction between the first user and the second user, a purchase of a real product associated with a game, a group with which the first or second user is associated, a primary group with which the first or second user is associated, a geographic location of the first user or the second user, an amount of time online, a last date online, or a frequency of time online.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the different types of the first social gaming data include at least one of a game played, a game purchased, a type of game played, a type of game purchased, a frequency of game play, an amount of time of game play, a game most frequently played with another user, or a time of day of game play.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the different types of the first social gaming data include an overlap of game play with another user.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the different types of the first social gaming data include a purchase of a virtual product associated with a game.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first degree of influence of the first user on the second user is based on an amount of the social gaming data associated with the first user that corresponds to the social gaming data associated with the second user.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the online social gaming environment corresponds to one of a social networking website or a dedicated social gaming network.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first degree of influence of the first user on the second user is different than a second degree of influence of the second user on the first user.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further including:

calculating a second degree of influence of the first user of the online social gaming environment on a third user of the online social gaming environment; and

calculating a combined degree of influence for the first user based on the first degree of influence of the first user and the second degree of influence of the first user.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further including:

calculating a strength of relationship between the first user and the second user; and

calculating the first degree of influence based on the strength of relationship.

13. A system comprising:

a prediction model generator to predict a behavior of a second user in an online social gaming environment based on a first degree of influence of a first user in the online social gaming environment on the second user;

a processor to determine the first degree of influence of the first user on the second user based on first social gaming data corresponding to participation by the first user and the second user in the online social gaming environment during a first period of time, the processor to compare the predicted behavior of the second user to second social gaming data corresponding to participation by the second user in the online social gaming environment during a second period of time after the first period of time, the processor to update the first degree of influence of the first user on the second user based on the comparison, wherein different types of the social gaming data are to be weighted differently when calculating the first degree of influence of the first user on the second user, the different weights based on when the different types of the social gaming data were collected, wherein a first weight of older social gaming data of a first type is to be less than a second weight of newer social gaming data of the first type, wherein the first degree of influence of the first user on the second user is different than a second degree of influence of the second user on the first user;

a network graph generator to generate a network graph representative of relationships between a plurality of users associated with the online social gaming environment, the relationships based on connections between the users, the plurality of users including the first and second users, the network graph representative of the first degree of influence of the first user on the second user and the second degree of influence of the second user on the first user; and

a target identifier to identify the first user as a candidate for targeted advertising when the first degree of influence satisfies a threshold and to provide information identifying the candidate to at least one of a game publisher, a social gaming service provider, or a third party advertiser.

14. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

generate a network graph representative of relationships between users associated with an online social gaming environment, the relationships based on connections between the users;

collect first social gaming data corresponding to participation by a first user and a second user in the online social gaming environment during a first period of time, the first social gaming data including first user data corresponding to the first user and second user data corresponding to the second user;

calculate a first influence of the first user of the online social gaming environment on the second user of the online social gaming environment, the first influence based on the first social gaming data, the first influence selected from a plurality of different degrees of influence corresponding to different portions of the first user data that match the second user data;

assign weights to the different portions of the first user data, the weights to decrease over time based on when corresponding ones of the different portions of the first user data were collected;

calculate a second influence of the first user of the online social gaming environment on a third user of the online social gaming environment;

calculate a combined influence for the first user based on the first influence of the first user and the second influence of the first user;

predict a behavior of the second user based on the first influence of the first user on the second user;

compare the predicted behavior of the second user to second social gaming data corresponding to participation by the second user in the online social gaming environment during a second period of time after the first period of time; and

update the first influence of the first user on the second user based on the comparison;

identify the first user as a candidate for targeted advertising based on the network graph when the combined influence satisfies a threshold; and

identify the candidate to at least one of a game publisher, a social gaming service provider, or a third party advertiser.