TARGETED IN-GROUP ADVERTISING
First Claim
1. A method of providing an advertisement for display in an advertisement space of an online group, comprising:
- enabling selection of the online group from a plurality of online groups by an advertiser, wherein the goods or services promoted by the advertiser in the advertisement correlate to a focus of the online group;
receiving a request to display the advertisement in the advertisement space of the online group from the advertiser;
enabling review of the request to displayed the advertisement by a moderator of the online group to determine whether to allow the advertisement to be displayed in the advertisement space of the online group; and
displaying the advertisement in the advertisement space of the online group if the moderator determines to allow the advertisement to be displayed, and not displaying the advertisement if the moderator determines not to allow the advertisement to be displayed.
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Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention fill the need of displaying relevant advertisements to members of targeted online groups (or online community groups), whose group members share common interests. The relevant advertisements are provided by advertisers who promote goods and/or services that the targeted online groups are likely to have an interest. The advertisers choose the targeted online groups based on the description of the common interests, focus or background of the online groups, or based on the categories that the online groups are associated. In one embodiment, moderators of the online groups may screen the advertisements before they are displayed on the online group media spaces. By matching interests, focus or background of online groups with products and/or serviced promoted by the advertisers and by moderators screening advertisements, the advertisements displayed would be more likely to be relevant to the members of the online groups.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method of providing an advertisement for display in an advertisement space of an online group, comprising:
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enabling selection of the online group from a plurality of online groups by an advertiser, wherein the goods or services promoted by the advertiser in the advertisement correlate to a focus of the online group; receiving a request to display the advertisement in the advertisement space of the online group from the advertiser; enabling review of the request to displayed the advertisement by a moderator of the online group to determine whether to allow the advertisement to be displayed in the advertisement space of the online group; and displaying the advertisement in the advertisement space of the online group if the moderator determines to allow the advertisement to be displayed, and not displaying the advertisement if the moderator determines not to allow the advertisement to be displayed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An advertisement system for displaying advertisements provided by advertisers to online groups of an online group system, comprising:
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an advertiser unit, wherein the advertiser unit collects inputs, analyzes inputs, and interacts with other units in the advertisement system to prepare responses to requests from the advertisers, the advertisers selecting online groups whose group focus matches the products or services promoted by the advertisements provided the advertisers, the advertisers placing requests to display the advertisements on media spaces of the selected online groups; and an moderator unit, wherein the moderator unit collects inputs, analyzes inputs, and interacts with other units in the advertisement system to prepare responses to requests from the moderators of the online groups, and wherein the moderators after reviewing the requests to display the advertisements placed by the advertisers decide whether to allow the advertisements to be displayed in the online groups that they moderate. - View Dependent Claims (16, 18)
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17. The advertisement system of clam 16, further comprising:
an advertisements display unit, wherein the advertisement display unit interacts with the moderator unit and the advertisement storage to display the advertisements allowed to be displayed by the moderators in the online groups they moderate.
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19. Computer readable media including program instructions for providing an advertisement for display in an advertisement space of an online group, comprising:
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program instructions for enabling selection of the online group from a plurality of online groups by an advertiser, wherein the goods or services promoted by the advertiser in the advertisement match the focus of the online group; program instructions for receiving a request to display the advertisement in the advertisement space of the online group from the advertiser; program instructions for enabling review of the request to displayed the advertisement by a moderator of the online group to determine whether to allow the advertisement to be displayed in the advertisement space of the online group; and program instructions for displaying the advertisement in the advertisement space of the online group if the moderator determines to allow the advertisement to be displayed, and not displaying the advertisement if the moderator determines not to allow the advertisement to be displayed. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification