Method and apparatus to identify outliers in social networks

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining, by a system comprising a processor, seed information, wherein the seed information comprises privacy profile settings of on-line social network users;

comparing, by the system, the seed information to a random population of on-line social network users, resulting in a comparison;

reducing, by the system, a sampling size of a total population of on-line social network users according to the comparison, resulting in a reduced sampling of on-line social network users;

comparing, by the system, the reduced sampling of on-line social network users to one of a social graph, a generalized profile of on-line social network users determined from the total population of on-line social network users, or a combination thereof; determining, by the system, the social graph from a randomized-walk algorithm applied to an on-line social network of the on-line social network users; and

identifying, by the system, an outlier in the reduced sampling of on-line social network users based on relationships between the on-line social network users, and based on one of ambient or publicly available information combined with an intra-graph property of the on-line social network users, wherein the outlier does not conform to one of the social graph or the generalized profile of on-line social network users, wherein the randomized-walk algorithm comprises a Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, and wherein the seed information is received from equipment of a law enforcement agency.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the seed information further comprises one of geographic information, behavioral pattern information, or user information.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the seed information further comprises information associated with the on-line social network users having a relation to a party who may not be an on-line social network user.

4. The method of claim 1 , comprising determining, by the system, the social graph from a crawl procedure applied to the on-line social network.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the seed information comprises receiving from a third party the seed information, and wherein the method further comprises receiving, by the system, one of the social graph, or the generalized profile.

6. A device, comprising:

a memory that stores executable instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor facilitates performance of operations comprising:

receiving seed information, wherein the seed information comprises privacy profile settings of one of on-line social network users or groups of on-line social networks;

comparing the seed information to a random population of on-line social network users to obtain a comparison;

identifying an outlier from a reduced sampling of a total population of on-line social network users based on relationships between the on-line social network users, the comparison and one of a social graph or a generalization of portions of the total population of on-line social network users based on one of ambient or publicly available information combined with an intra-graph property of the on-line social network users;

determining the social graph from a randomized-walk algorithm applied to an on-line social network of the on-line social network users or groups of on-line social networks;

determining one of the social graph or the generalization of portions of the total population of on-line social network users from the total population of on-line social network users;

comparing the random population of on-line social network users to one of the social graph or the generalization; and

determining the outlier based on the comparing of the random population of on-line social network users to the one of the social graph of the generalization,

wherein the randomized-walk algorithm comprises a Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, and

wherein the seed information is received from equipment of a law enforcement agency.

7. The device of claim 6 , wherein the seed information further comprises one of geographic information, behavioral pattern information, or user information.

8. The device of claim 6 , wherein the seed information further comprises information associated with on-line social network users having a relation to a party who may not be an on-line social network user.

9. The device of claim 6 , wherein the operations further comprise determining the social graph from a crawl procedure applied to the on-line social network.

10. The device of claim 6 , wherein the social graph indicates one of a type of user communication, a content type or a user action.

11. A machine-readable storage device, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations comprising:

obtaining seed information, wherein the seed information comprises privacy profile settings of one of on-line social network users or groups of on-line social networks;

comparing the seed information to a random population of on-line social network users, resulting in a comparison;

reducing a sampling size of a population of the on-line social network users according to the comparison of the seed information, resulting in a reduced sampling of on-line social network users;

determining a social graph from a randomized-walk algorithm applied to an on-line social network of the on-line social network users or groups of on-line social networks;

comparing the reduced sampling of on-line social network users to one of a social graph, a generalized profile of on-line social network users determined from a total population of on-line social network users, or a combination thereof; and

identifying an outlier in the reduced sampling of on-line social network users based on relationships between the on-line social network users that do not conform to one of the social graph or the generalized profile of on-line social network users based on one of ambient or publicly available information combined with an intra-graph property of the on-line social network users, wherein the randomized-walk algorithm comprises a Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, and wherein the seed information is received from equipment of a law enforcement agency.

12. The machine-readable storage device of claim 11 , comprising determining the social graph from a crawl procedure applied to the on-line social network.

13. The machine-readable storage device of claim 11 , wherein the seed information further comprises one of geographic information, behavioral pattern information, or user information.

14. The machine-readable storage device of claim 11 , wherein the seed information further comprises information associated with on-line social network users having a relation to a party who may not be an on-line social network user.

15. The machine-readable storage device of claim 11 , wherein obtaining the seed information comprises receiving the seed information from a third party, and wherein the operations further comprise receiving one of the social graph, or the generalized profile.

16. The machine-readable storage device of claim 11 , wherein the social graph indicates one of a type of user communication, a content type or a user action.