Leveraging Information in a Social Network for Inferential Targeting of Advertisements
First Claim
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1. A computer-implemented method for targeting advertisements to members of a social network, the method comprising:
- receiving a request for an ad to be provided to a member of the social network;
accessing one or more ads, each ad comprising targeting criteria;
for each of the accessed ads, applying the targeting criteria of the ad to profile information for the member in the social network to determine whether the ad is a candidate for targeting to the member;
responsive to determining that the member'"'"'s profile lacks information for evaluating the targeting criteria, applying the targeting criteria of the ad to profile information for one or more other members of the social network to whom the member is connected, to determine whether the ad is a candidate for targeting to the member;
selecting an ad from the candidate ads determined for the member; and
sending the selected ad to an electronic device associated with the member.
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Abstract
A social network targets advertisements to its members using inferential ad targeting. An inferential ad enables advertisers to reach members that do not meet targeting criteria for lack of information. A member'"'"'s connections in the social network that satisfy the targeting criteria are leveraged to infer a targeted interest. An inferential ad is selected from a candidate set to be presented to the member. Varying complexities of targeting criteria, secondary inferential targeting criteria, and scopes of inference provide flexibility for inferential ad targeting in a social network.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for targeting advertisements to members of a social network, the method comprising:
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receiving a request for an ad to be provided to a member of the social network; accessing one or more ads, each ad comprising targeting criteria; for each of the accessed ads, applying the targeting criteria of the ad to profile information for the member in the social network to determine whether the ad is a candidate for targeting to the member; responsive to determining that the member'"'"'s profile lacks information for evaluating the targeting criteria, applying the targeting criteria of the ad to profile information for one or more other members of the social network to whom the member is connected, to determine whether the ad is a candidate for targeting to the member; selecting an ad from the candidate ads determined for the member; and sending the selected ad to an electronic device associated with the member. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A computer-implemented method for targeting advertisements to members of a social network, the method comprising:
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receiving a request for an ad to be provided to a member of the social network; accessing one or more ads, each ad comprising targeting criteria; for each of the accessed ads, a step for applying the targeting criteria of the ad to profile information for the member in the social network to determine whether the ad is a candidate for targeting to the member; responsive to determining that the member'"'"'s profile lacks information for evaluating the targeting criteria, a step for applying the targeting criteria of the ad to profile information for one or more other members of the social network to whom the member is connected, to determine whether the ad is a candidate for targeting to the member; a step for selecting an ad from the candidate ads determined for the member; and sending the selected ad to an electronic device associated with the member.
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22. A computer-implemented method for targeting advertisements, the method comprising:
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maintaining a plurality of user accounts and a set of connections among the user accounts, wherein one or more of the user accounts includes one or more connections to other user accounts; receiving a request for an ad to be provided to a user associated with one of the user accounts; identifying one or more candidate ads to provide to the user, each candidate ad associated with targeting criteria; for each of the candidate ads, applying the targeting criteria associated with the candidate ad to one or more of the user accounts that have connections to the user account associated with the user; selecting at least one ad from the candidate ads based at least in part on the applying the targeting criteria associated with the candidate ad to one or more of the user accounts that have connections to the user account associated with the user; and sending the selected ad to an electronic device associated with the user. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25)
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26. A computerized system for targeting advertisements to members of a social network, the system comprising:
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a member profile store containing profiles of members of the social network; an ad store containing a plurality of ads, each ad comprising targeting criteria; a communications server for communicating with member devices requesting advertisements; and an ad server, communicatively coupled to the communications server, the member profile store, and the ad store, for targeting advertisements to the members of the social network using an inferential targeting method, the ad server comprising; a module for receiving a request for an ad to be provided to a member of the social network; a module for applying the targeting criteria of one or more of the ads to profile information for the member in the social network to determine whether the ad is a candidate for targeting to the member; a module for applying, responsive to determining that the member'"'"'s profile lacks information for evaluating the targeting criteria, the targeting criteria of the ad to profile information for one or more other members of the social network to whom the member is connected, to determine whether the ad is a candidate for targeting to the member; and a module for selecting an ad from the candidate ads determined for the member - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification