Targeting advertisements to groups of social networking system users

• US 10,685,361 B2
• Filed: 03/02/2012
• Issued: 06/16/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yan, Rong, Senaratna, Nuwan
• Primary Examiner(s): Sittner, Michael J
• Application Number:
  US13/411,456
• Publication Number:
  US 20130232012A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,028 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure target advertising to a group of related users of a social networking system. To target advertising to a group of users, the social networking system receives targeting criteria specifying a group to receive an advertisement at substantially the same time. To identify a group of users of the social networking system satisfying the targeting criteria, the social networking system observes the interactions of connected social networking system users. Connected users interacting with each other in a manner that satisfies the targeting criteria may be added to a group. The social networking system serves the advertisement to a set of users included in the group because the served users are members of the group.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a social networking system, a request to provide an advertisement to a group of users of the social networking system within a specified time period, the request including;

a specified characteristic of at least one common interaction to be performed between connected users in the group of users within a specified time interval;

a specification of at least a minimum number of users to be included in the group; and

a specification that the group of users includes at least two users that are connected in the social networking system;

observing, by the social networking system, a plurality of interactions between users of the social networking system;

identifying, by the social networking system, users having one or more observed interactions having the specified characteristic of the at least one common interaction included in the request, the at least one observed common interaction performed between connected users in the group of users within the time interval specified in the request, where the social networking system determined at least a threshold affinity between connected users in the group of users;

maintaining an edge store by the social networking system, the edge store containing information describing a plurality of connections between users of the social networking system;

retrieving from the edge store one or more connections within the social networking system between the identified users;

selecting a candidate group of users from identified users connected to other identified users, the candidate group of users including two or more identified users each connected to at least one other identified user via the social networking system, and the candidate group of users including at least the minimum number of users specified in the request;

identifying a viewing user of the social networking system included in the candidate group of users;

determining that at least one user from the candidate group of users other than the viewing user has been presented with the advertisement; and

sending the advertisement to a client device for display to the viewing user included in the candidate group of users within the specified time period included in the request of a time when the at least one user from the candidate group of users other than the viewing user was presented with the advertisement in response to the determining.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one common interaction included in the request comprises checking in to a location related to the advertisement.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one common interaction included in the request comprises attending an event related to the advertisement.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one common interaction included in the request comprises planning to attend an event related to the advertisement.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one common interaction included in the request comprises interacting with a thread or post, the thread or post including one or more keywords related to the advertisement.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one common interaction included in the request comprises interacting with a common object associated with the social networking system.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the object comprises an image related to the advertisement.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more of the plurality of common interactions comprises listening to an audio object related to the advertisement.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the candidate group of users is formed based at least in part on an affinity between the connected users.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the group is formed based at least in part on whether the connected users are tagged in a common image.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the group is formed based at least in part on a number of distinct types of common interactions performed by the connected users.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the group is formed based at least in part on a frequency of occurrence of one or more of a plurality of common interactions over a period of time.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the group is formed based at least in part on a number connected users to be included in the group.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the group is formed based at least in part on an account activity threshold associated with the connected users.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the advertisement for display to the plurality of the users in the group comprises sending the advertisement to a minimum number of users of the group.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the advertisement for display to the viewing user based on the determining comprises pushing the advertisement to the set of users.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the advertisement for display to the plurality of the users in the group comprises sending the advertisement when an indication that one or more of the set of users accessed a web page associated with the social networking system.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

including, in the advertisement, an indication that the advertisement was sent to one or more other users of the candidate group.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining for at least one user of the group, a role based on observed interactions of users of the group;

receiving personalized content associated with the role; and

including the personalized content in the advertisement to be sent to the user of the group associated with the role.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving payment from an advertiser when receiving an indication that a minimum number of users of the candidate group of users viewed the advertisement.

21. The method of claim 20, comprising receiving an incremental payment from the advertisers when receiving an indication that greater than the minimum number of users of the candidate group of users viewed the advertisement.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement includes an offer for a deal, the method further comprising:

when the deal is redeemed by a minimum number of users of the group, activating the deal for the users of the group, wherein activation enables the users of the group to purchase the deal.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

observing an interaction with the advertisement by one or more users of the group; and

responsive to observing the interaction with the advertisement, sending a notification to the other users of the group indicating the interaction.

24. A method comprising:

maintaining an edge store by a social networking system, the edge store containing information describing a plurality of connections between users of the social networking system;

receiving, at the social networking system, and ad request to provide an advertisement to a group of users of the social networking system within a specified time period, the request including;

a specified characteristic of connected users of the social networking system corresponding to a specified time interval;

a specification that there be at least a minimum number of users in the group; and

a specification that the group of users include at least two users that share a connection;

observing one or more interactions between users of the social networking system;

identifying connected users having the specified characteristic specified in the request, the specified characteristic of the identified connected users corresponding to the time interval specified in the request, where the social networking system determined at least a threshold affinity between connected users in the group of users;

receiving, from the edge store, one or more connections within the social networking system between the identified users;

selecting a candidate group users from the identified users who are connected to at least one other identified user via the social networking system identified connected users, the candidate group users including two or more identified users each connected to at least one other identified user via the social networking system, the candidate group of users having the specified characteristic that is specified in the request, and the candidate group of users including at least the minimum number of users specified in the request;

identifying a viewing user of social networking system that belongs to the candidate group of users;

determining that at least one user from the candidate group of users other than the viewing user has been presented with the advertisement; and

sending the advertisement for display to a client device for presentation to the viewing user of the social networking system within the specified time period included in the request of a time when the at least one user from the candidate group users other than the viewing user was presented with the advertisement in response to the determining.