Compatibility Scoring of Users in a Social Network

• US 20090024548A1
• Filed: 09/30/2008
• Published: 01/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lunt, Christopher, ZHU, Xiao Ming
• Granted Patent: US 8,150,778 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 706/21
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

The compatibility score of individuals in a social network is computed based on the compatibility of interests expressed by these individuals. The compatibility score between any two interests is calculated as the log of the estimated probability that a member of the social network will express both interests as his or her interests divided by the product of: (i) the estimated probability that a member of the social network will express the first of the two interests as his or her interest and (ii) the estimated probability that a member of the social network will express the second of the two interests as his or her interest. The compatibility score between two individuals is calculated as the sum of the compatibility scores between each interest appearing in a set of interests expressed by the first of the two individuals and each interest appearing in a set of interests expressed by the second of the two individuals.

Claims

1. A method of quantifying compatibilities between interests using multiple sets of interest data stored in a database, comprising the steps of:

for each interest, calculating an estimated probability pertaining to said interest;

for each pair of interests, calculating an estimated probability pertaining to said pair of interests; and

assigning an interest compatibility score between each pair of interests, wherein the interest compatibility score between each pair of interests is a function of the estimated probability calculated for said pair of interests divided by the product of the estimated probability calculated for a first interest of said pair of interests and the estimated probability calculated for a second interest of said pair of interests.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the estimated probability pertaining to an interest is equal to a probability that said interest will appear as an interest in a set of interest data stored in the database.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the estimated probability pertaining to a pair of interests is equal to a probability that said pair of interests will appear together as interests in a set of interest data stored in the database.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the database maintains interest data for a plurality of users, and each set of interest data relates to interests expressed by one of the users.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising the step of normalizing the interests expressed by the users prior to the steps of calculating and assigning.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein a clustering technique is used during the step of normalizing.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the interest compatibility score provides a numerical score that represents the compatibility of the pair of interests.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the interest compatibility score provides a numerical score that represents the compatibility of the pair of interests.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein a commonly occurring pair of interests has a low interest compatibility score.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein a rarely occurring pair of interests has a high interest compatibility score.

11. A system for quantifying compatibilities between interests, comprising:

a database storing multiple sets of interest data, wherein each set of interest data includes interests of members of an online social network; and

an application server configured to;

for each interest, calculate an estimated probability pertaining to said interest;

for each pair of interests, calculate an estimated probability pertaining to said pair of interests; and

assign an interest compatibility score between each pair of interests, wherein the interest compatibility score between each pair of interests is a function of the estimated probability calculated for said pair of interests divided by the product of the estimated probability calculated for a first interest of said pair of interests and the estimated probability calculated for a second interest of said pair of interests.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the estimated probability pertaining to an interest is equal to a probability that said interest will appear as an interest in a set of interest data stored in the database.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the estimated probability pertaining to a pair of interests is equal to a probability that said pair of interests will appear together as interests in a set of interest data stored in the database.

14. The system according to claim 11, wherein the database maintains interest data for a plurality of members of the online social network, and each set of interest data relates to interests expressed by one of the members.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the application server is further configured to normalize the interests expressed by the users prior to the steps of calculating and assigning.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein a clustering technique is used in normalizing the interests.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the interest compatibility score provides a numerical score that represents the compatibility of the pair of interests.

18. The system according to claim 11, wherein the interest compatibility score provides a numerical score that represents the compatibility of the pair of interests.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein a commonly occurring pair of interests has a low interest compatibility score.

20. The system according to claim 18, wherein a rarely occurring pair of interests has a high interest compatibility score.