PROVIDING AN ANSWER TO A QUESTION FROM A SOCIAL NETWORK SITE USING A SEPARATE MESSAGING SITE

• US 20110196922A1
• Filed: 02/08/2010
• Published: 08/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thryv, Inc. (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: MARCUCCI, Justin, RANDQUIST, Coby P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,412,770 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• 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 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A question is received on a first social network site from a first user. The question is sent to a second user of a second social network site who receives the question from the second social network site. The first social network site receives an answer to the question from the second user via the second social network site and provides the answer to the first user.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, via a data processing system providing a first social network site, a question from a first user that is a member of the first social network site;

sending, via the data processing system, the question to a second user, wherein the second user is a member of a second social network site, and the second user is to receive the question in a message from the second social network site;

receiving, via the data processing system, an answer to the question from the second user, wherein the answer is received from the second social network site; and

providing, via the data processing system, the answer to the first user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the answer comprises presenting the answer on a list of questions and respective answers provided for presentation in a web page on a display of a user device of the first user.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, via the data processing system, an activity feed to the first user, the activity feed comprising a plurality of answers received to prior questions of the first user, wherein the plurality of answers is received by the data processing system from the second social network site.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing a list of aliases and corresponding user names in at least one storage device of the data processing system, a first alias of the list of aliases corresponding to the first user, wherein the answer received from the second social network site is addressed to the first alias.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the activity feed further comprises a plurality of favorites received from other users of the second social network site, wherein each of the other users has previously provided a respective one of the favorites in a message sent to the second social network site.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second social network site is a Twitter website, and further comprising storing data, on at least one storage device of the data processing system, recording a plurality of friends of the first user, the data including a Twitter user name for each respective friend, and the friends including the second user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second social network site is a Twitter website, the question sent to the second user is a tweet, and the first social network site is integrated with the second social network site using an application program interface for the Twitter website.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user is a member of the second social network site, and the data processing system has previously received an indication from the first user permitting the data processing system to send questions received from the first user to the second social network site for forwarding to other members of the second social network site.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

parsing the answer received from the second social network site to determine a location contained within the answer; and

providing the location, with the answer provided to the first user, for display on a user device of the first user.

10. A machine-readable medium that provides instructions for a processor, which when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

receiving, via a data processing system providing a first social network site, a question from a first user that is a member of the first social network site;

sending, via the data processing system, the question to a second user, wherein the second user is a member of a second social network site, and the second user is to receive the question in a message from the second social network site;

receiving, via the data processing system, an answer to the question from the second user, wherein the answer is received from the second social network site; and

providing, via the data processing system, the answer to the first user.

11. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein providing the answer comprises presenting the answer on a list of questions and respective answers provided for presentation in a web page on a display of a user device of the first user.

12. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, the method further comprising storing a list of aliases and corresponding user names in at least one storage device of the data processing system, a first alias of the list of aliases corresponding to the first user, wherein the answer received from the second social network site is addressed to the first alias.

13. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, the method further comprising:

providing, via the data processing system, an activity feed to the first user, the activity feed comprising a plurality of answers received to prior questions of the first user, wherein the plurality of answers is received by the data processing system from the second social network site;

wherein the activity feed further comprises a plurality of favorites received from other users of the second social network site, wherein each of the other users has previously provided a respective one of the favorites in a message sent to the second social network site.

14. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the second social network site is a Twitter website, the question sent to the second user is a tweet, and the first social network site is integrated with the second social network site using an application program interface for the Twitter website.

15. An apparatus comprising:

a network interface configured to interface with a communications network and to receive a question from a first user that is a member of a first social network site;

a processor configured to;

send the question to a second user, wherein the second user is a member of a second social network site, and the second user is to receive the question in a message from the second social network site,

receive an answer to the question from the second user, wherein the answer is received from the second social network site, and

provide the answer to the first user; and

at least one storage device, coupled to the processor, storing a list of aliases and corresponding user names, a first alias of the list of aliases corresponding to the first user, wherein the answer received from the second social network site is addressed to the first alias.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the network interface is further configured to communicatively couple to receive the question from a user device of the first user.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to present the answer on a list of questions and respective answers provided for presentation in a web page on a display of a user device of the first user.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to:

parse the answer received from the second social network site to determine a location contained within the answer; and

provide the location, with the answer provided to the first user, for display on a user device of the first user.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein:

the processor is further configured to provide an activity feed to the first user, the activity feed comprising a plurality of answers received to prior questions of the first user;

the plurality of answers is received from the second social network site; and

the activity feed further comprises a plurality of favorites received from other users of the second social network site, each of the other users having previously provided a respective one of the favorites in a respective message sent to the second social network site.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the second social network site is a Twitter website, the question sent to the second user is a tweet, and the first social network site is integrated with the second social network site using an application program interface for the Twitter website.