AUTOMATIC GENERATION OF CONTENT RECOMMENDATIONS WEIGHTED BY SOCIAL NETWORK CONTEXT

• US 20080134053A1
• Filed: 11/30/2006
• Published: 06/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: FISCHER, Donald
• Granted Patent: US 8,091,032 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/747
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide users with suggested content that is weighted based on the social network context of the suggestion. In particular, the suggested content is selected based on incorporating the preferences of users having a relationship with the user. For example, content recommendations from a family member or known friend of the user may be highly weighted over other recommendations.

Claims

1. A method of providing recommendations for content to a user of a social network service, said method comprising:

collecting recommendations for content;

determining preferences of the user and preferences of the user'"'"'s social networks;

selecting recommendations based on the preferences of the user and the user'"'"'s social networks; and

providing the selected recommendations to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining preferences of the user and preferences of the user'"'"'s social networks comprises monitoring sharing activity of the user and the user'"'"'s social network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining preferences of the user and preferences of the user'"'"'s social networks comprises determining a history of previous recommendations provided to the user and the user'"'"'s social network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting recommendations based on the preferences of the user and the user'"'"'s social networks comprises selecting only recommendations that originate from the user'"'"'s social network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting recommendations based on the preferences of the user and the user'"'"'s social networks comprises selecting recommendations based on recent activity of the user and user'"'"'s social network.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising filtering the selected recommendations based on a profile of the user.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising filtering the selected recommendations based on an age of the user.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising filtering the selected recommendations based on a location of the user.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising filtering the selected recommendations based on a type of content recommended to the user.

10. The method of claim 1, harder comprising providing information indicating a strength of the recommendation.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing information indicating a source of the recommendation.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing information indicating an opinion of other users in the user'"'"'s social network about the recommendation.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing information indicating an opinion of other users outside of the user'"'"'s social network about the recommendation.

14. An apparatus comprising means configured to perform the method of claim 1.

15. A computer readable medium comprising executable program code to configure a computer to perform the method of claim 1.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein determining preferences of the user and preferences of the user'"'"'s social networks comprises monitoring sharing activity of the user and the user'"'"'s social network.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein determining preferences of the user and preferences of the user'"'"'s social networks comprises determining a history of previous recommendations provided to the user and the user'"'"'s social network.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting recommendations comprises selecting only recommendations that originate from the user'"'"'s social network.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting recommendations comprises selecting recommendations based on recent activity of the user and user'"'"'s social network.

16. A method of providing recommendations for content to a user of a social network service, said method comprising:

determining preferences of the user and preferences of the user'"'"'s social networks, based on passive observation of activity by the user'"'"'s social network;

selecting recommendations based on the activity of the user and the user'"'"'s social networks; and

providing the selected recommendations to the user.