8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the strength of the first relationship is determined from a combination of a directional strength from the first entity to the second entity and a directional strength from the second entity to the first entity.
1. A computer-implemented method of generating a user's social network model, the method comprising: receiving a set of documents associated with a user; accessing the user's contact data, the contact data identifying a plurality of entities; analyzing the documents, using the contact data, to identify references to entities therein; identifying relationships among the referenced entities; determining a strength of a first relationship between a first entity and a second entity responsive to a volume of documents in which both the first entity and the second entity appear, wherein the first and second entities are a subset of the referenced entities; building a social network model for the user responsive to the identified relationships among the referenced entities and the strength of the first relationship; storing the social network model; receiving a new document associated with the user; identifying, in the new document, a reference to an ambiguous entity; performing name disambiguation using the social network model to determine which of at least two candidate entities from the social network model is an intended entity for the ambiguous entity; identifying other entities referenced by the new document; and updating the social network model by modifying relationship strengths in the social network model between the intended entity and the other entities referenced by the new document.