Gathering Information about Connections in a Social Networking Service

• US 20110004692A1
• Filed: 07/01/2009
• Published: 01/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Adeagbo, Olumakinde Adegboyega, Occhino, Tom
• Application Number:
  US12/496,606
• Publication Number:
  US 20110004692A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

To enhance information about connections in a social networking service, embodiments of the invention enable users to reference nodes while posting content to a communication channel. To identify connections within content in the social networking service, users of the social networking service are provided an interface to post content items in communication channels of the social networking service. A trigger received in the interface indicates that a user wishes to identify a connection in the posted content item. Selectable links enable the user to mention another node in the social networking service when posting a content item. As users reference nodes in content items, information about the connections with the referenced nodes is gathered and stored in a database that is indexable and searchable in real-time.

Claims

1. A method for gathering information about connections in a social networking service, the method comprising:

maintaining in a database a plurality of nodes of a social graph, where at least some of the nodes represent users of the social networking service;

maintaining in a database a plurality of connections in the social graph, where each connection represents a connection between two or more nodes in the social graph;

maintaining in a database information about one or more of the connections;

providing an interface for users of the social networking service to post content items in one or more communication channels of the social networking service;

receiving via the interface a posted content item from a user of the social networking service, the posted content item including a link referencing a node of the social graph other than a node of the posting user; and

storing in a database information about the connection between the node of the posting user and the node referenced in the posted content item, wherein the stored information is based at least in part on the posted content item.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about the plurality of connections comprises affinity scores.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

decreasing the affinity score of the connection with the referenced node as a function of a time-based decay factor.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the stored information modifies the affinity score.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the maintained connections comprise direct and indirect connections.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored information influences an affinity with the referenced node.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the connection between the user and the node did not previously exist, further comprising:

generating a connection between the user and the node in the maintained database of the plurality of connections in the social graph; and

generating information about the connection in the maintained database of information about the one or more connections, the generated information comprising the updated information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface posts content items to the communication channel comprising a stream.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface posts content items to the communication channel comprising a wall post.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface posts content items to the communication channel comprising a comment on a posted content item.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface posts content items to the communication channel comprising a mobile application.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface posts content items to the communication channel comprising a notification.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface posts content items to the communication channel comprising a mobile SMS message.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface posts content items to the communication channel comprising a third-party website.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface posts content items to the communication channel comprising an advertising communication channel.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the referenced node is mapped by the social networking service from several nodes on the social networking service.

17. A method of posting content that identifies connections between nodes in a social networking service, the method comprising:

displaying an interface for a user of the social networking service to post content items in one or more communication channels of the social networking service;

in response to receiving a user input comprising a trigger, displaying in the interface a list of selectable nodes;

receiving a selection of a node from the list of selectable nodes; and

displaying in the interface a link to the selected node.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the list of selectable nodes comprises connections from a social graph of connected nodes, the connections identifying nodes of the social networking service connected to the user in the social graph.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the link is displayed with a trigger in a rendered graphical representation of the link within the interface.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the rendered graphical representation comprises a photo of the selected node.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the link comprises a shorthand description of the node.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the link comprises the full name of the selected node.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the list of selectable connections comprise direct and indirect connections.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of nodes represent users of the social networking service.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the referenced node comprises an entity.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the referenced node comprises a concept.

27. A method of identifying a node in a social networking service, the method comprising:

maintaining information in a database about connected nodes, the information comprising data about the nodes and connections between the nodes;

receiving posted content from a user of the social networking service, the posted content comprising a trigger and an identifier immediately following the trigger;

identifying candidate nodes from the connected nodes in the social networking service, wherein the candidate nodes are identified by matching the identifier to the information maintained about the candidate nodes;

providing selectable links corresponding to the candidate nodes;

receiving a selection of a link, the selected link identifying a selected node from the candidate nodes;

storing the maintained information in the database about the selected node and the connection with the user, wherein the stored information is based at least in part on the posted content.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the stored information influences an affinity of the user with the selected node.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the connection between the user and the selected node did not previously exists, further comprising:

generating a connection between the user and the selected node in the database of maintained information about the connected nodes;

generating information about the connection in the database of maintained information about the connected nodes, the generated information comprising the stored information.

30. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

distributing the posted content to the selected node through a particular communication channel based on placement of the trigger and the identifier within the posted content.

31. A system for gathering information about connections in a social networking service, comprising:

a node data store configured to maintain a plurality of nodes of a social graph, where at least some of the nodes represent users of the social networking service;

a connection data store configured to maintain a plurality of connections in the social graph, each connection representing a connection between two or more nodes in the social graph, the connection data store further configured to maintain information about one or more of the connections;

a server configured to provide an interface for users of the social networking service to post content items in one or more communication channels of the social networking service, to receive via the interface a posted content item from a user of the social networking service, the posted content item including a link referencing a node of the social graph other than a node of the posting user, and to store in a database information about the connection between the node of the posting user and the node referenced in the posted content item, wherein the stored information is based at least in part on the posted content item.