Systems and methods to communicate with users via social networking sites

• US 10,290,018 B2
• Filed: 11/09/2012
• Issued: 05/14/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Spears, Joseph, Carlson, Mark, Stan, Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): Li, Sun M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thuy N
• Application Number:
  US13/673,394
• Publication Number:
  US 20130117108A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,377 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history

Abstract

In one aspect, a computing apparatus is configured with a configurable, generic, data-driven model, in which properties of social networking sites/applications are stored and used in communicating offer-related messages via social networking sites.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing a computing apparatus comprising;

a data warehouse configured to store data, and

a portal configured to provide a merchant interface for establishing a community, provide a user interface for a plurality of users to enrol in the community, the plurality of users to receive messages from the merchant, and provide a management interface configured to allow merchants to manage real-time messaging;

storing, in the data warehouse, community data for the community including the merchant and the plurality of users, the community data including a community message template configured to post messages for the merchant and the users enrolled in the community, and the community data further including an identification of a plurality of application programming interfaces configured to post the messages to a plurality of social networking sites, each application programming interface associated with a respective one of the plurality of social networking sites;

storing, in the computing apparatus, enrollment data for the plurality of users, the enrollment data including an identification of each user of the plurality of users in at least one of the plurality of social networking sites;

receiving, in the computing apparatus, a first message identifying the community, a first user enrolled in the community, and a first social networking site of the plurality of social networking sites;

detecting, by the computing apparatus, a first event associated with a data record for the first user stored in a data warehouse, the data record comprising data provided by the merchant using the management interface;

in response to detecting the first event, detecting, by the computing apparatus, a second event associated with the data record for the first user stored in the data warehouse, the second event including a prerequisite field identifying the first event, wherein the computing apparatus does not detect the second event before the first event identified in the prerequisite field is detected; and

responsive to detecting the second event;

generating an action request comprising an action type field, a community field that identifies the community, and a channel field that identifies the first social networking site, the action type field indicating that a notification is provided via the first social networking site specified by the channel field,

retrieving the community data from the data warehouse based on the community field of the action request,

assembling the second message based on a first social networking site message template, the community data, and the first user, the first social networking site message template comprising a copy of at least a portion of the community message template and a customization for the first social networking site, wherein assembly of the second message comprises replacing a variable of the first social networking site template with the identification of the first user, and

posting, by the computing apparatus, via a first application programming interface of the plurality of application programming interfaces associated with the first social networking site, the second message to the first social networking site, the second message transmitted to the first social networking site specified by the channel field, and the transmitting of the second message causing delivery of the second message to the first user by the social networking site, wherein transmission of messages, including the second message, to the first user is regulated by applying velocity rules to regulate frequency of messages for the first user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, in the computing apparatus, a trigger record for a message of the merchant; and

monitoring, by the computing apparatus, transactions of the first user using the trigger record, wherein the first message Is generated in response to a transaction satisfying one or more conditions of the offer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the merchant is a first merchant, the community is a first community, and the method further comprises:

storing, in the computing apparatus, second community data for a second community Including a second merchant and a plurality of second users enrolled in the second community to receive offers from the second merchant, the second community data including a second community message template configured to post messages related to offers from the second merchant, and the second users enrolled in the second community being independent from enrollment in the first community.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the posting the second message further comprises retrieving the enrollment data from the data warehouse, and using the enrollment data to assemble the second message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message is generated in response to an event.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the posting the second message is further responsive to an event detected in accordance with specifications of an offer campaign.

7. A system, comprising:

a data warehouse configured to store data;

a portal configured to provide a merchant interface for establishing a community, provide a user interface for a plurality of users to enroll in the community, the plurality of users to receive messages from the merchant, and provide a management interface configured to allow merchants to manage real-time messaging;

at least one processor; and

memory storing instructions configured to instruct the at least one processor to;

store, in the data warehouse, community data for the community including the merchant and the plurality of users, the community data including a community message template configured to post messages for the users enrolled in the community, and the community data further Including an identification of a plurality of application programming interfaces configured to post the messages to a plurality of social networking sites, each application programming interface associated with a respective one of the plurality of social networking sites;

store enrollment data for the plurality of users, the enrollment data including an identification of each user of the plurality of users in at least one of the plurality of social networking sites;

receive a first message identifying the community, a first user enrolled in the community, and the social networking site;

detect a first event associated with a data record for the first user stored in the data warehouse, the data record comprising data provided by the merchant using the management interface;

in response to detecting the first event, detect a second event associated with the data record for the first user stored in the data warehouse, the second event including a prerequisite field identifying the first event, wherein the processor does not detect the second event before the first event identified in the prerequisite field is detected; and

responsive to the detecting the second event;

generate an action request comprising an action type field, a community field that identifies the community, and a channel field that identifies the first social networking site, the action type field indicating that a notification is provided via the first social networking site specified by the channel field,

retrieve the community data from the data warehouse based on the community field of the action request,

assemble the second message based on a first social networking site message template, the community data, and the first user, the first social networking site message template comprising a copy of at least a portion of the community message template and a customization for the first social networking site, wherein assembly of the second message comprises replacing a variable of the first social networking site template with the identification of the first user, and

post, via a first application programming interface of the plurality of application programming interfaces associated with the first social networking site, the second message to the first social networking site, the second message transmitted to the first social networking site specified by the channel field, and the transmitting of the second message causing delivery of the second message to the first user by the social networking site, wherein transmission of messages, including the second message, to the first user is regulated by applying velocity rules to regulate frequency of messages for the first user.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising a message broker configured to assemble the second message.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the instructions are further configured to instruct the at least one processor to:

store a trigger record for an offer of the merchant; and

monitor transactions of the first user using the trigger record, wherein the first message is generated in response to a transaction satisfying one or more conditions of the offer.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the merchant is a first merchant, the community is a first community, and the instructions are further configured to instruct the at least one processor to:

store second community data for a second community Including a second merchant and a plurality of second users enrolled in the second community to receive offers from the second merchant, the second community data including a second community message template configured to post messages related to offers from the second merchant, and the second users enrolled in the second community being Independent from enrollment in the first community.

11. The system of claim 7, further comprising a message broker and a media controller, and wherein the posting the second message further comprises:

retrieving, by the message broker, the community message template;

generating, by the message broker, the second message; and

transmitting, by the media controller, the second message to the social networking site.

12. The system of claim 7, further comprising a rule engine configured to match social networking sites used by the community and social networking sites used by the first user.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions, which when executed, cause a system to:

provide a portal configured to provide a merchant interface for establishing a community, provide a user interface for a plurality of users to enroll in the community, the plurality of users to receive messages from the merchant, and provide a management Interface configured to allow merchants to manage real-time messaging;

store, in the data warehouse, community data for the community including the merchant and the plurality of users, the community data including a community message template configured to post messages for the merchant and the users enrolled in the community, and the community data further including an identification of a plurality of application programming interfaces configured to post the messages to a plurality of social networking sites, each application programming interface associated with a respective one of the plurality of social networking sites;

store enrollment data for the plurality of users, the enrollment data including an Identification of each user of the plurality of users in at least one of the plurality of social networking sites;

receive, in a computing apparatus, a first message identifying the community, a first user enrolled in the community, and the social networking site;

detect, by the computing apparatus, a first event associated with a data record for the first user stored in a data warehouse, the data record comprising data provided by the merchant using the management interface;

in response to detecting the first event, detect a second event associated with the data record for the first user stored in the data warehouse, the second event including a prerequisite field Identifying the first event, wherein the system does not detect the second event before the first event identified in the prerequisite field is detected;

responsive to the detecting the second event;

generate an action request comprising an action type field, a community field that identifies the community, and a channel field that identifies the first social networking site, the action type field indicating that a notification is provided via the first social networking site specified by the channel field,

retrieve the community data from the data warehouse based on the community field of the action request,

assemble the second message based on a first social networking site message template, the community data, and the first user, the first social networking site message template comprising a copy of at least a portion of the community message template and a customization for the first social networking site, wherein assembly of the second message comprises replacing a variable of the first social networking site template with the Identification of the first user, and

post, by the computing apparatus, via a first application programming interface of the plurality of application programming interfaces associated with the first social networking site, the second message to the first social networking site the second message transmitted to the first social networking site specified by the channel field, and the transmitting of the second message causing delivery of the second message to the first user by the social networking site, wherein transmission of messages, including the second message, to the first user is regulated by applying velocity rules to regulate frequency of messages for the first user.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

store a trigger record for an offer of the merchant; and

monitor transactions of the first user using the trigger record, wherein the first message is generated in response to a transaction satisfying one or more conditions of the offer.

15. A method, comprising:

providing a computing apparatus comprising;

a data warehouse configured to store data, and

a portal configured to provide an interface for a plurality of users to enroll in a group, one or more of the plurality of users to receive at least one message regarding transactions initiated by a user of the group;

storing, in the data warehouse, group data for the group including the plurality of users, the group data including a group message template configured to post messages for a merchant and the users enrolled in the community, the group data further including an identification of a plurality of application programming interfaces configured to post the messages to a plurality of social networking sites, each application programming interface associated with a respective one of the plurality of social networking sites;

storing, in the computing apparatus, enrollment data for the plurality of users, the enrollment data including an identification of each user of the plurality of users in at least one of the plurality of social networking sites;

receiving, in the computing apparatus, a first message regarding a transaction between a first user and a second user, each enrolled in the group, and first social networking site of the plurality of social networking sites;

in response to receiving the first message, accessing, by the computing apparatus, a data record for the first user stored in the data warehouse;

detecting, by the computing apparatus, a first event associated with the data record for the first user stored in a data warehouse;

in response to detecting the first event, detecting, by the computing apparatus, a second event associated with the data record for the first user stored in the data warehouse, the second event including a prerequisite field identifying the first event, wherein the computing apparatus does not detect the second event before the first event Identified in the prerequisite field is detected; and

responsive to the receiving the first message and detecting the second event;

generate a request comprising an action type field, a group field that identifies the group, and a channel field that identifies the first social networking site, the action type field indicating that a notification is provided via the first social networking site specified by the channel field,

retrieving the group data from the data warehouse based on the community field of the action request,

assemble the second message based on a first social networking site message template, the group data, and the first user, the first social networking site message template comprising a copy of at least a portion of the group message template and a customization for the first social networking site, wherein assembly of the second message comprises replacing a variable of the first social networking site template with the identification of the first user, and

posting, by the computing apparatus, via a first application programming interface of the plurality of application programming interfaces associated with the first social networking site, the second message assembled using the group data to the first social networking site, the second message transmitted to the second user using the first social networking site specified by the channel field, and the transmitting of the second message causing display of a notification regarding the transaction on a computing device of the second user, and wherein transmission of messages, Including the second message, to the second user is regulated by applying velocity rules to regulate frequency of messages for the second user.