Aspects of the technology described herein detect experts in social networks. Experts may be identified within social networks using social network data. A collection of topics may be compiled based on search engine behavioral data. A combination of the social network data and search engine behavioral data is utilized to score each topic within potential topics for a user. When a topic score is over a predetermined threshold, a user may be classified as an expert for that topic. Expert search interfaces may be generated for use in browsing or searching for experts within a topic.