LABEL INFERENCE IN A SOCIAL NETWORK

1 - 15 . (canceled)

16 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:

establishing variational equations based on attribute labels of nodes in an ego network in a social graph of a social networking system;

determining likelihood scores for at least a portion of the attribute labels of neighboring nodes from a focal user node in the ego network based on user-specified attribute labels from the social networking system;

computing probability distributions of possible attribute labels for the focal user node of the ego network based on the variational equations and the likelihood scores; and

providing at least a portion of the computed probability distributions with an external process instance inferring labels for another ego network of the social networking system.

17 . The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , further comprising:

receiving an update to a first attribute label of at least one of the neighboring nodes, wherein the update is a user-reported attribute label or a probability distribution update of possible attribute labels from the external process instance inferring labels for another ego network of the social networking system; and

re-calculating re-computing the probability distributions based at least partly on the update.

18 . The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , further comprising:

inferring an attribute label based on the probability distributions for the focal user node; and

generating a user prompt based on the inferred attribute label for advertisement, friend suggestion, label suggestion, or affiliation suggestion.

19 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein computing the probability distribution includes inferring an explanation for a formation of a social connection in the ego network.

20 . A computer system, comprising:

a component configured to establish variational equations based on attribute labels of nodes in a first ego network in a social graph of a social networking system;

a component configured to set likelihood scores for at least a portion of the attribute labels of neighboring nodes from a focal user node in the ego network based on user-specified attribute labels from the social networking system;

a component configured to compute probability distributions of possible attribute labels for the focal user node of the ego network based on the variational equations and the likelihood scores; and

a component configured to share at least a portion of the computed probability distributions with another process instance of a method inferring labels for a second ego network of the social networking system.

21 . The system of claim 20 , further comprising:

a component configured to receive an update to a first attribute label of at least one of the neighboring nodes, wherein the update is a user-reported attribute label or a probability distribution update of possible attribute labels from an external process instance configured to infer labels for another ego network of the social networking system; and

a component configured to re-compute the probability distributions based at least partly on the update.

22 . The system of claim 20 , further comprising:

a component configured to infer an attribute label based on the probability distributions for the focal user node; and

a component configured to generate a user prompt based on the inferred attribute label for advertisement, friend suggestion, label suggestion, or affiliation suggestion.

23 . The system of claim 20 , wherein computing the probability distribution includes inferring an explanation for a formation of a social connection in the ego network.

24 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

instructions for establishing variational equations based on attribute labels of nodes in an ego network in a social graph of a social networking system;

instructions for determining likelihood scores for at least a portion of the attribute labels of neighboring nodes from a focal user node in the ego network based on user-specified attribute labels from the social networking system;

instructions for computing probability distributions of possible attribute labels for the focal user node of the ego network based on the variational equations and the likelihood scores; and

instructions for providing at least a portion of the computed probability distributions with an external process instance inferring labels for another ego network of the social networking system.

25 . The computer-implemented method of claim 24 , further comprising:

instructions for receiving an update to a first attribute label of at least one of the neighboring nodes, wherein the update is a user-reported attribute label or a probability distribution update of possible attribute labels from the external process instance inferring labels for another ego network of the social networking system; and

instructions for re-computing the probability distributions based at least partly on the update.

26 . The computer-implemented method of claim 24 , further comprising:

instructions for inferring an attribute label based on the probability distributions for the focal user node; and

instructions for generating a user prompt based on the inferred attribute label for advertisement, friend suggestion, label suggestion, or affiliation suggestion.

27 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 24 , wherein the instructions for computing the probability distribution include instructions for inferring an explanation for a formation of a social connection in the ego network.