Ranking to determine relevance of social connections

• US 10,084,732 B1
• Filed: 08/14/2012
• Issued: 09/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Smarr, Joseph Robert, Fabrikant, Alexander, Lider, Brett Rolston, Yeskel, Zachary, Srinivasan, Balaji, Chang, Bin, Bunner, Andrew Ames
• Primary Examiner(s): Dalencourt, Yves
• Application Number:
  US13/585,695
• Time in Patent Office: 2,233 Days
• Field of Search: 709204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/06 Message adaptation to terminal or network requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

In one aspect, a method includes receiving an indication that a first user has interacted with a second user in a social network, calculating a social affinity score between the first user and the second user based on first user information, second user information, or relationship information between the first user and the second user and scheduling delivery of a notification to the recipient based on the social affinity score. Systems and machine-readable media are also provided.

Claims

1. A machine-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by one or more computing devices via an electronic network, an indication that a first user has interacted with a second user in an online social network;

calculating, by the one or more computing devices in response to receiving the indication, a social affinity score between the first user and the second user based on first user information, second user information, or relationship information between the first user and the second user;

selecting, by the one or more computing devices for a computer-implemented notification related to the indication that the first user interacted with the second user, one of a plurality of predetermined delivery actions based on the social affinity score, the plurality of predetermined delivery actions comprising immediately delivering the notification for display to the second user and delivering the notification for display to the second user after a predetermined time period has elapsed together with one or more other notifications delivered after the predetermined time period; and

delivering, by the one or more computing devices via the electronic network, the notification according to the selected one of the plurality of predetermined delivery actions for the notification.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification comprises an indication that the first user has added the second user to one or more social networking circles or groups.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user information comprises a number of times that the first user has been ignored or blocked by users of the social network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user information further comprises one or more of an indication as to how many posts made by the first user have been blocked or flagged by users of the social network, or an indication as to how frequently the first user notifies one or more users of the social network regarding content posted by the first user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second user information comprises a number of times that the second user has posted publicly available content within the social network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second user information comprises a frequency with which the second user logs into the social network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the relationship information comprises an indication as to whether or not the first user has ever commented on a post made by the second user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the relationship information comprises an indication as to whether or not the second user has ever commented on a post made by the first user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the relationship information further comprises one or more of an indication as to how many users, in one or more social networking circles or groups of the second user, have commented on posts by the first user, or whether the first user and the second user share similar demographic information.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein scheduling delivery of the notification to the second user, further comprises:

ranking the notification relative to one or more other notifications based on the social affinity score.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of predetermined delivery actions for the notification further comprise blocking the notification from being displayed to the second user.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein delivering the notification for display to the second user after a predetermined time period has elapsed comprises bundling the notification and other notifications that have not been provided to the second user in to a batch of notifications, and delivering the batch of notifications to the user after the predetermined time period has elapsed.

13. A system for delivering a notification via an electronic network, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the processors, cause the processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving, via the electronic network, an indication that a first user has interacted with a second user in an online social network;

calculating, by one or more computing devices in response to receiving the indication, a social affinity score between the first user and the second user based on first user information, second user information, or relationship information between the first user and the second user;

selecting, for a computer-implemented notification related to the indication that the first user interacted with the second user, one of a plurality of predetermined delivery actions based on the social affinity score, the plurality of predetermined delivery actions comprising immediately delivering the notification for display to the second user and delivering the notification for display to the second user after a predetermined time period has elapsed together with one or more other notifications delivered after the predetermined time period; and

delivering, via the electronic network, the notification according to the selected one of the plurality of predetermined delivery actions, wherein the notification comprises an indication that the first user has added the second user to one or more social networking circles or groups.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the first user information comprises a number of times that the first user has been ignored or blocked by users of the social network.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the first user information further comprises one or more of an indication as to how many posts made by the first have been blocked or flagged by users of the social network, or an indication as to how frequently the first user notifies one or more users of the social network regarding content posted by the first user.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the second user information comprises a number of times that the second user has posted publicly available content within the social network.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the second user information comprises a frequency with which the second user logs into the social network.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the relationship information comprises an indication as to whether or not the first user has ever commented on a post made by the second user.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the relationship information comprises an indication as to whether or not the second user has ever commented on a post made by the first user.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the relationship information further comprises one or more of an indication as to how many users, in one or more social networking circles or groups of the second user, have commented on posts by the first user, or whether the first user and the second user share similar demographic information.

21. The system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of predetermined delivery actions for the notification further comprise blocking the notification from being displayed to the second user.

22. The system of claim 13, wherein delivering the notification for display to the second user after a predetermined time period has elapsed comprises bundling the notification and other notifications that have not been provided to the second user in to a batch of notifications, and delivering the batch of notifications to the user after the predetermined time period has elapsed.

23. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving, via an electronic network, an indication that a first user has interacted with a second user in an online social network;

calculating, by one or more computing devices in response to receiving the indication, a social affinity score between the first user and the second user based on first user information, second user information, or relationship information between the first user and the second user;

selecting, for a computer-implemented notification related to the indication that the first user interacted with the second user, one of a plurality of predetermined delivery actions for the generated notification based on the social affinity score, the plurality of predetermined delivery actions comprising immediately delivering the notification for display to the second user and delivering the notification for display to the second user after a predetermined time period has elapsed together with one or more other notifications delivered after the predetermined time period; and

delivering, via the electronic network, the notification according to the selected one of the plurality of predetermined delivery actions.

24. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the plurality of predetermined delivery actions for the notification further comprise blocking the notification from being displayed to the second user.

25. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 23, wherein delivering the notification for display to the second user after a predetermined time period has elapsed comprises bundling the notification and other notifications that have not been provided to the second user in to a batch of notifications, and delivering the batch of notifications to the user after the predetermined time period has elapsed.