Establishing a social network

• US 20080270615A1
• Filed: 05/31/2007
• Published: 10/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: President and Fellows of Harvard College (Harvard Corporation)
• Original Assignee: President and Fellows of Harvard College (Harvard Corporation)
• Inventors: Centola, Damon M.T., Christakis, Nicholas A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,713,143 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

A method of creating social networks designed to facilitate diffusion of desired behavior among groups of people. A social network may be created prior to assigning people to nodes in the network. Communications between people in the network may be controlled and modified to promote diffusion of the desired behavior.

Claims

1. A method for use with an on-line computer service having a plurality of account holders that each has at least one account with the on-line computer service, the method comprising acts of:

(A) creating a social network among at least a subset of the plurality of account holders by;

(A1) creating a network architecture comprising a set of nodes and a set of edges, wherein each one of the edges connects at least two of the nodes and specifies a path for a flow of information between the nodes connected by the one of the edges; and

(A2) populating the network architecture by assigning each of the account holders in the at least a subset of the plurality of account holders to at least one of the nodes so that when at least one action is taken by a first account holder assigned to a first node, information relating to the at least one action is communicated to at least one second account holder assigned to a second node that is directly connected via at least one of the edges to the first node.

2. The method of any of claim 1, wherein the act (A1) comprises establishing the network architecture without regard to which particular account holders will be assigned to which particular nodes.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the act (A1) comprises creating the network architecture to encourage a desired behavior among the at least a subset of the plurality of account holders.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the desired behavior is desired by a provider of the on-line computer service.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the desired behavior is a purchase of one or more goods and/or services via the on-line computer service.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the act (A1) comprises creating the network architecture to be a non-random architecture that propagates complex contagions more efficiently than a random architecture.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein account holders assigned to nodes connected via at least one edge are neighbors in the social network;

wherein the act (A1) comprises creating the network architecture to constrain communication among account holders via the social network so that each account holder can communicate, via the social network, only with his or her neighbors.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein account holders assigned to nodes connected via at least one edge are neighbors in the social network;

wherein the act (A1) comprises creating the network architecture so that an average number of neighbors per account holder is less than 50.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein account holders assigned to nodes connected via at least one edge are neighbors in the social network;

wherein the act (A1) comprises creating the network architecture so that an average number of neighbors per account holder is less than 10.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein account holders assigned to nodes connected via at least one edge are neighbors in the social network;

and

wherein the act (A1) comprises creating the network architecture to be pre-defined prior to any communication among account holders via the social network so that each account holder is assigned neighbors and cannot, based on user action, create a new neighbor in the social network by communicating with another account holder.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein account holders assigned to nodes connected via at least one edge are neighbors in the social network;

wherein the act (A1) comprises creating the network architecture to constrain communication among account holders via the social network so that each account holder can only communicate with pre-defined neighbors via the social network.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein account holders assigned to nodes connected via at least one edge are neighbors in the social network;

wherein the act (A1) comprises creating the network architecture to encourage at least one behavior among the at least a subset of the plurality of account holders that is desired by a provider of the on-line computer service; and

wherein the act (A2) comprises populating the network architecture by assigning each of the account holders in the at least a subset of the plurality of account holders to at least one of the plurality of nodes in a manner that promotes similarity between neighbors in at least one characteristic that is relevant to the desired at least one behavior.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one characteristic that is relevant to the desired at least one behavior comprises age, gender, educational background, political affiliation, cultural heritage, race, religion, body mass index, geographical location of residence, height and/or weight.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one characteristic that is relevant to the desired at least one behavior comprises at least one interest, taste and/or hobby.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein account holders assigned to nodes connected via at least one edge are neighbors in the social network;

wherein the act (A2) comprises populating the network architecture by assigning each of the account holders in the at least a subset of the plurality of account holders to at least one of the plurality of nodes by applying at least one homophily rule.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising acts of:

(B) evaluating effectiveness of the social network for encouraging the at least one behavior; and

(C) when it is determined that the network is not performing at a sufficient level for encouraging the behavior, altering the social network.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the act (C) comprises altering the network architecture to make changes to manner in which the set of edges connects the set of nodes.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the act (C) comprises altering the assignment of the at least a subset of account holders among the nodes.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein account holders assigned to nodes connected via at least one edge are neighbors in the social network, and wherein the act (A) comprises providing at least one account holder with information about at least one of his or her neighbors in the social network.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the act (A) comprises creating the social network so that when the at least one action is taken by the first account holder the information relating to the at least one action is communicated to the at least one second account holder along with information about the first account holder.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein account holders assigned to nodes connected via at least one edge are neighbors in the social network;

wherein the act (A1) comprises creating the network architecture to encourage at least one behavior among the at least a subset of the plurality of account holders that is desired by a provider of the on-line computer service; and

wherein the method further comprises an act of;

(B) seeding the social network to encourage a propagation through the network of communications among neighbors to encourage the at least one desired behavior.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the act (A1) comprises creating the network architecture to have statistical properties that are unaffected by behavior of the at least a subset of account holders.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the statistical properties comprise a clustering coefficient, frequency of wide bridges, length, the fraction of closed triads given the possible number of closed triads, the mean geodesic between all nodes, the average fraction of neighborhood overlap between non-neighbors, and/or the distribution of degree centrality in the network.

24. A method for use with an on-line computer service having a plurality of account holders that each has at least one account with the on-line computer service, the method comprising acts of:

(A) assigning a pre-specified topology of interpersonal social ties to otherwise anonymous users who comprise at least a subset of the plurality of account holders for the purpose of facilitating the spread of behavior among the users by;

(A1) creating a network architecture comprising a set of nodes and a set of edges, wherein each one of the edges connects exactly two of the nodes and specifies a path for a flow of information between the nodes connected by the one of the edges, the network architecture comprising a pre-specified degree distribution, clustering coefficient, characteristic path length, and average bridge width between nodes; and

(A2) populating the network architecture by assigning each of the account holders in the at least a subset of the plurality of account holders to at least one of the nodes so that when at least one action is taken by a first account holder assigned to a first node, information relating to the at least one action is communicated to at least one second account holder assigned to a second node that is directly connected via at least one of the edges to the first node.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein people assigned to nodes connected via at least one edge are neighbors in the social network;

and

wherein the method further comprises an act of providing at least a first account holder from among the subset of account holders with information about his or her neighbors in the social network.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the actual identities of the neighbors for the first account holder are not provided to the first account holder so that the neighbors are anonymous.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein people assigned to nodes connected via at least one edge are neighbors in the social network;

and

wherein social interaction via the social network is constrained to the neighbors for an account holder so that an account holder cannot receive direct contact, via the social network from any account holder who is not a neighbor.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein people assigned to nodes connected via at least one edge are neighbors in the social network;

and

wherein behavior of an account holder is communicated to his or her neighbors along with information identifying the specific account holder who did the behavior.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein people assigned to nodes connected via at least one edge are neighbors in the social network;

and

wherein when an account holder engages in a behavior, the account holder'"'"'s neighbors are automatically informed of the behavior without the account holder needing to take any action other than selecting the behavior to trigger informing his or her neighbors.

30. A method of using an on-line computer service having a plurality of account holders that each has at least one account with the on-line computer service, the method performed via a first account holder having a first account with the on-line computer service, the method comprising acts of:

(A) receiving at least one communication providing the first account holder with information about at least one behavior of at least one other account holder who is a neighbor of the first account holder in a social network created by the on-line service.