Abstract: A method and apparatus are implemented in one or more processors for processing various social media data received over a network for collection, analysis, and application to business logic and/or business applications. Based on personally identifying information of an account holder, social media data regarding the account holder is retrieved from one or more social media sources or a clearing house over the network. The retrieved social media data is processed (i.e., parsed and/or filtered, and validated) via certain criteria. A usefulness score for the social media data is computed based on various factors including at least one of an identity match value, a truth confidence value, and a context data relevance value. The social media data and its computed usefulness score can be presented to a user and business applications for further processing and treatment of the account holder.