Trends in a messaging platform

• US 10,592,539 B1
• Filed: 07/11/2014
• Issued: 03/17/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: X Corp. (f/k/a Twitter, Inc.) (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: X Corp. (f/k/a Twitter, Inc.) (X Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Snow, Rion Langley, Mishne, Gilad Avraham
• Primary Examiner(s): Channavajjala, Srirama
• Application Number:
  US14/329,771
• Time in Patent Office: 2,076 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3334 Selection or weighting of terms from queries, including natural language queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/345 Summarisation for human users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A method of operating a messaging platform, including: obtaining, for a first profile, a first and a second topic of interest, a first intra-profile (IP) weight for the first topic of interest, and a second IP weight for the second topic of interest; obtaining a first plurality of trending entities for the first topic and a first plurality of intra-topic (IT) weights for the first plurality of trending entities; obtaining a second plurality of trending entities for the second topic and a second plurality of IT weights for the second plurality of trending entities; selecting a subset of the first plurality of trending entities and the second plurality of trending entities based on the first IP weight, the second IP weight, the first plurality of IT weights, and the second plurality of IT weights; and sending content associated with the subset for display to a user of the first profile.

Claims

1. A method of operating a messaging platform, comprising:

obtaining, for a first profile of the messaging platform, a first topic of interest, a first intra-profile (IP) weight for the first topic of interest, a second topic of interest, and a second IP weight for the second topic of interest, wherein each IP weight indicates a degree of interest the first profile has in the respective topic, and the first IP weight is different from the second IP weight;

obtaining a first plurality of trending entities for the first topic of interest and a second plurality of trending entities for the second topic of interest, wherein a trending entity for a particular topic of interest is an entity with a calculated intra-topic weight for the particular topic of interest that satisfies a threshold and wherein obtaining trending entities for a particular topic of interest comprises;

obtaining a plurality of entities and calculating an intra-topic (IT) weight for the particular topic for each of the obtained plurality of entities,

wherein for each entity, the IT weight for a particular topic indicates a degree to which the entity is trending within the particular topic, the IT weight of the entity is calculated for the particular topic based on a current value of a frequency counter for the entity with respect to the particular topic relative to a historical baseline for occurrence of the entity with respect to the particular topic, and

wherein each entity having a calculated IT weight that satisfies the threshold is designated as a trending entity for the particular topic;

selecting a combined subset of entities from the first plurality of trending entities and the second plurality of trending entities using the first IP weight, the second IP weight, the first plurality of IT weights, and the second plurality of IT weights, wherein whether a particular entity for a particular topic is included in the combined subset is determined using the IT weight of the particular entity for the particular topic and the IP weight for the particular topic;

identifying content associated with the entities in the combined subset of entities; and

sending the identified content for display to a user of the first profile.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing a search on contents posted on the messaging platform by using entities in the combined subset of entities that are selected from the first plurality of trending entities and the second plurality of trending entities, as search criteria;

wherein sending the identified content comprises sending a plurality of results from the search for display to the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the first topic of interest and the second topic of interest comprises:

identifying followed profiles that the user of the first profile is following, each followed profile of the identified follow profile having respective expert weights that represent degrees of expertise of the followed profile in respective topics based on content of messages broadcast by the followed profile;

determining that a second profile of the followed profiles is known for the first topic of interest based on an expert weight for the first topic of interest; and

determining that a third profile of the followed profiles is known for the second topic of interest based on an expert weight for the second topic of interest.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the combined subset of entities from the first plurality of trending entities and the second plurality of trending entities comprises:

calculating a plurality of products, each product of the plurality of products being associated with at least one of the first plurality of trending entities and the second plurality of trending entities by;

multiplying each of the first plurality of IT weights with the first IP weight; and

multiplying each of the second plurality of IT weights with the second IP weight; and

identifying a subset of the plurality of products comprising products that are in excess of a predetermined threshold,

wherein the combined subset of entities includes entities that corresponds to at least one product in the subset of the plurality of products.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the combined subset of entities from the first plurality of trending entities and the second plurality of trending entities comprises:

calculating a first list size N based on the first IP weight and a second list size M based on the second IP weight, wherein the first IP weight is greater than the second IP weight and N is greater than M;

identifying a top N trending entities of the first plurality of trending entities based on the first plurality of IT weights; and

identifying a top M trending entities of the second plurality of trending entities based on the second plurality of IT weights,

wherein the subset of the first plurality of trending entities and the second plurality of trending entities corresponds to the top N trending entities and the top M trending entities.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

calculating a plurality of products by;

multiplying the first IP weight with each IT weight of the top N trending entities; and

multiplying the second IP weight with each IT weight of the top M trending entities; and

ordering the subset according to the plurality of products.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a geographic region affiliated with the first profile; and

filtering, before selecting the combined subset of entities, the first plurality of trending entities to exclude a trending entity associated with a geographical location outside the geographic region.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first topic is a geographic location.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a message from a second profile of the messaging platform;

determining the second profile is known for one or more topics by accessing a repository that stores mappings between profiles and topics each profile is known for;

extracting an entity from the message;

incrementing a first frequency count for the entity in each of the one or more topics;

obtaining a first historical baseline for the entity in each of the one or more topics; and

calculating an IT weight for the entity in each of the one or more topics, wherein an IT weight for the entity for a topic is calculated based on a respective first frequency count and a respective historical baseline for the entity in the topic.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein in the combined subset of entities, the number of entities selected from the first plurality of trending entities relative to the number of entities selected from the second plurality of trending entities corresponds to the first IP weight relative to the second IP weight.

11. A messaging platform system comprising:

a processor;

a topic repository storing;

mappings between a first topic and a first profile of the messaging platform; and

mapping between a second topic and the first profile;

a trends repository storing;

a first plurality of trending entities obtained for the first topic and a second plurality of trending entities for the second topic, wherein a trending entity for a particular topic is an entity with a calculated topic weight for the particular topic that satisfies a threshold and wherein obtaining trending entities for a particular topic comprises;

obtaining a plurality of entities and calculating an intra-topic (IT) weight for the particular topic each of the obtained plurality of entities,

wherein for each entity, the IT weight for a particular topic indicates a degree to which the entity is trending within the particular topic, the IT weight of the entity is calculated for the particular topic based on a current value of a frequency counter for the entity with respect to the particular topic relative to a historical baseline for occurrence of the entity with respect to the particular topic, and

wherein each entity having a calculated IT weight that satisfies the threshold is designated as a trending entity for the particular topic; and

a trends personalization engine executing on the processor and configured to;

determine, by accessing the topic repository, that the first profile is interested in the first topic and in the second topic;

obtain, for the first profile, a first intra-profile (IP) weight for the first topic and a second IP weight for the second topic, wherein each IP weight indicates a degree of interest the first profile has in the respective topic, and the first IP weight is different from the second IP weight;

select, for the first profile, a combined subset of entities from the first plurality of trending entities and the second plurality of trending entities using the first IP weight, the second IP weight, the first plurality of IT weights, and the second plurality of IT weights, wherein whether a particular entity for a particular topic is included in the combined subset is determined using the IT weight of the particular entity for the particular topic and the IP weight for the particular topic;

identify content associated with the entities in the combined subset of entities; and

send the identified content for display to a user of the first profile.

12. The messaging platform system of claim 11, further comprising:

a trending engine comprising a first frequency counter and configured to;

obtain a message from a second profile of the messaging platform;

determine, by accessing the topic repository, that the second profile is known for one or more topics by accessing a repository that stores mappings between profiles and topics each profile is known for;

extract an entity from the message;

increment a first frequency count for the entity in each of the one or more topics;

obtain a first historical baseline for the entity in each of the one or more topics; and

calculate a first IT weight for the entity in each of the one or more topics, wherein a first IT weight for the entity for a topic is calculated based on a respective first frequency count and a respective historical baseline for the entity in the topic.

13. The messaging platform system of claim 11, wherein the first topic is a geographical location.

14. The messaging platform system of claim 11, wherein in the combined subset of entities, the number of entities selected from the first plurality of trending entities relative to the number of entities selected from the second plurality of trending entities corresponds to the first IP weight relative to the second IP weight.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium (CRM) storing a plurality of instructions for operating a messaging platform, the instructions comprising functionality for:

obtaining, for a first profile of the messaging platform, a first topic of interest, a first intra-profile (IP) weight for the first topic of interest, a second topic of interest, and a second IP weight for the second topic of interest, wherein each IP weight indicates a degree of interest the first profile has in the respective topic, and the first IP weight is different from the second IP weight;

obtaining a first plurality of trending entities for the first topic of interest and a second plurality of trending entities for the second topic of interest, wherein a trending entity for a particular topic of interest is an entity with a calculated intra-topic weight for the particular topic of interest that satisfies a threshold and wherein obtaining trending entities for a particular topic of interest comprises;

obtaining a plurality of entities and calculating an intra-topic (IT) weight for the particular topic for each of the obtained plurality of entities,

wherein for each entity, the IT weight for a particular topic of interest indicates a degree to which the entity is trending within the particular topic, the IT weight of the entity is calculated for the particular topic based on a current value of a frequency counter for the entity with respect to the particular topic relative to a historical baseline for occurrence of the entity with respect to the particular topic, and

wherein each entity having a calculated IT weight that satisfies the threshold is designated as a trending entity for the particular topic;

selecting a combined subset of entities from the first plurality of trending entities and the second plurality of trending entities using the first IP weight, the second IP weight, the first plurality of IT weights, and the second plurality of IT weights, wherein whether a particular entity for a particular topic is included in the combined subset is determined using the IT weight of the particular entity for the particular topic and the IP weight for the particular topic;

identifying content associated with the entities in the combined subset of entities; and

sending the identified content for display to a user of the first profile.

16. The non-transitory CRM of claim 15, wherein the instructions for obtaining the first topic of interest and the second topic of interest comprise functionality for:

identifying followed profiles that the user of the first profile is following, each followed profile of the identified followed profiles having respective expert weights that represent degrees of expertise of the followed profile in respective topics based on content of messages broadcast by the followed profile;

determining that a second profile of the followed profile is known for the first topic based on an expert weight for the first topic; and

determining that a third profile of the followed profiles is known for the second topic based on an expert weight for the second topic.

17. The non-transitory CRM of claim 15, wherein the instructions for selecting the combined subset of the first plurality of trending entities and the second plurality of trending entities comprise functionality for:

calculating a first list size N based on the first IP weight and a second list size M based on the second IP weight wherein the first IP weight is greater than the second IP weight and N is greater than M,

identifying a top N trending entities of the first plurality of trending entities based on the first plurality of IT weights; and

identifying a top M trending entities of the second plurality of trending entities based on the second plurality of IT weights,

wherein the subset of the first plurality of trending entities and the second plurality of trending entities corresponds to the top N trending entities and the top M trending entities.

18. The non-transitory CRM of claim 15, the instructions further comprising functionality for:

identifying a geographic region affiliated with the first profile; and

filtering, before selecting the combined subset of entities, the first plurality of trending entities to exclude a trending entity associated with a geographical location outside the geographic region.

19. The non-transitory CRM of claim 15, the instructions further comprising functionality for:

obtaining a message from a second profile of the messaging platform;

determining the second profile is known for one or more topics by accessing a repository that stores mappings between profiles and topics each profile is known for;

extracting an entity from the message;

incrementing a first frequency count for the entity in each of the one or more topics;

obtaining a first historical baseline for the entity in each of the one or more topics; and

calculating a first IT weight for the entity in each of the one or more topics, wherein a first IT weight for the entity for a topic is calculated based on a respective first frequency count and a respective first historical baseline for the entity in the topic.

20. The non-transitory CRM of claim 15, wherein in the combined subset of entities, the number of entities selected from the first plurality of trending entities relative to the number of entities selected from the second plurality of trending entities corresponds to the first IP weight relative to the second IP weight.