4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sampling comprises monitoring one or more streams of electronic data during transmission of the data but before reception by intended recipients, wherein the one or more streams can come from one geographic location or from multiple geographic locations.
1. A computerized method comprising: sampling one or more streams of electronic data, the electronic data comprising user communications data, to obtain sample data, wherein sampling the streams of electronic data comprises real-time sampling, sensing, and detection of user communications data comprising user-generated content data streams that are in transmission to, but not yet received by, intended recipients; analyzing the user-generated content data streams in the sample data to obtain targeting data for use in targeting electronic advertisements to electronic device users, wherein the targeting data comprises data relating to topics of interest to the electronic device users; based at least in part on the analyzing of the user-generated content data streams in the sample data, increasing one or more sampling frequencies or rates during at least one period based on a determination that targeting data is more likely to be concentrated during the at least one period than during other periods, wherein the increasing of the one or more sampling frequencies or rates is determined by utilizing one or more analytic correlation applications in detecting patterns, and wherein the patterns can include time-based or frequency-based patterns associated with the user-generated content data streams; based at least in part on the targeting data obtained, selecting electronic advertisements for serving to targeted electronic device users; and serving the selected electronic advertisements to the targeted electronic device users, the serving including causing an advertisement serving system to initiate or modify an automated advertising campaign that includes the selected electronic advertisements.