Abstract: An adaptive system processes social media streams in real time. The adaptive system included a data management engine that generates combined data sets by detecting and mining a plurality of text-based messages from a social networking service on the Internet. An analytics engine in communication with the data management engine monitors topics in the text-based messages and tracks topic evolution contained in the text-based messages. A visualization engine in communication with the analytics engine renders historical and current activity associated with the plurality of text-based messages.