Communicating Information in a Social Network System about Activities from Another Domain

• US 20110231240A1
• Filed: 02/08/2011
• Published: 09/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Schoen, Kent Matthew, Kendall, Timothy, Dingle, Gregory Luc
• Granted Patent: US 10,110,413 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.41
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/234 for tracking messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method is described for tracking information about the activities of users of a social networking system while on another domain. The method includes maintaining a profile for each of one or more users of the social networking system, each profile identifying a connection to one or more other users of the social networking system and including information about the user. The method additionally includes receiving one or more communications from a third-party website having a different domain than the social network system, each message communicating an action taken by a user of the social networking system on the third-party website. The method additionally includes logging the actions taken on the third-party website in the social networking system, each logged action including information about the action. The method further includes correlating the logged actions with one or more advertisements presented to the one or more users on the third-party website as well as correlating the logged actions with a user of the social networking system.

Claims

1. A method for tracking information about the activities of users of a social networking system while on another domain, the method comprising:

maintaining a profile for each of one or more users of the social networking system, each profile identifying a connection to one or more other users of the social networking system and including information about the user;

receiving one or more communications from a third-party website having a different domain than the social network system, each message communicating an action taken by a user of the social networking system on the third-party website;

logging the actions taken on the third-party website in the social networking system, each logged action including information about the action; and

correlating the logged actions with one or more advertisements presented to the one or more users.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating statistical data that associates one or more user profile attributes to one or more of the advertisements and actions that correlate to respective ones of the advertisements.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the statistical data comprises a conversion rate for at least one advertisement presented to one or more users on the social networking system based on the number of impressions for the at least one advertisement and the number of logged actions that have been correlated to the at least one advertisement.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the statistical data further comprises a click thru rate for at least one advertisement presented to one or more users on the social networking system based on the number of impressions for the at least one advertisement and the number of logged clicks that have been correlated to the at least one advertisement.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the statistical data comprises, for at least one advertisement presented to one or more users on the social networking system, a number of conversions that have been correlated to an ad impression, wherein the conversion occurred within a specified period of time from the correlated ad impression.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more advertisements is a social advertisement generated from data recorded from activities of one or more users by the social networking system.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving a plurality of advertisement requests to advertise on the social networking system, each advertisement request identifying a type of action on which to base a social advertisement;

and for one of the users of the social networking website;

matching an advertising request to a logged action, wherein the logged action matches the type of action identified in the advertising request, and wherein the logged action is associated with another user of the social networking system with whom the user has a connection, generating a social advertisement directed to the user, wherein the social advertisement comprises an informational message that communicates the matching logged action, and providing content to the user, the content comprising the advertisement.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the activities of the one or more users are actions taken by the one or more users on the social networking system or a third party web site.

9. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory comprising instructions executable by the one or more processors; and

the one or more processors coupled to the memory and operable to execute the instructions, the one or more processors being operable when executing the instructions to;

maintain a profile for each of one or more users of the social networking system, each profile identifying a connection to one or more other users of the social networking system and including information about the user;

receive one or more communications from a third-party website having a different domain than the social network system, each message communicating an action taken by a user of the social networking system on the third-party website;

log the actions taken on the third-party website in the social networking system, each logged action including information about the action; and

correlate the logged actions with one or more advertisements presented to the one or more users.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are further operable when executing the instructions to:

generate statistical data that associates one or more user profile attributes to one or more of the advertisements and actions that correlate to respective ones of the advertisements.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the statistical data comprises a conversion rate for at least one advertisement presented to one or more users on the social networking system based on the number of impressions for the at least one advertisement and the number of logged actions that have been correlated to the at least one advertisement.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the statistical data further comprises a click thru rate for at least one advertisement presented to one or more users on the social networking system based on the number of impressions for the at least one advertisement and the number of logged clicks that have been correlated to the at least one advertisement.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the statistical data comprises, for at least one advertisement presented to one or more users on the social networking system, a number of conversions that have been correlated to an ad impression, wherein the conversion occurred within a specified period of time from the correlated ad impression.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein at least one of the one or more advertisements is a social advertisement generated from data recorded from activities of one or more users by the social networking system.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors are further operable when executing the instructions to:

receive a plurality of advertisement requests to advertise on the social networking system, each advertisement request identifying a type of action on which to base a social advertisement; and

for one of the users of the social networking website;

match an advertising request to a logged action, wherein the logged action matches the type of action identified in the advertising request, and wherein the logged action is associated with another user of the social networking system with whom the user has a connection, generate a social advertisement directed to the user, wherein the social advertisement comprises an informational message that communicates the matching logged action, and provide content to the user, the content comprising the advertisement.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the activities of the one or more users are actions taken by the one or more users on the social networking system or a third party web site.

17. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions operable to cause one or more processors to:

maintain a profile for each of one or more users of the social networking system, each profile identifying a connection to one or more other users of the social networking system and including information about the user;

receive one or more communications from a third-party website having a different domain than the social network system, each message communicating an action taken by a user of the social networking system on the third-party website;

log the actions taken on the third-party website in the social networking system, each logged action including information about the action; and

correlate the logged actions with one or more advertisements presented to the one or more users.

18. The computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein at least one of the one or more advertisements is a social advertisement generated from data recorded from activities of one or more users by the social networking system.

19. The computer-readable media of claim 18, wherein the one or more processors are further operable when executing the instructions to:

receive a plurality of advertisement requests to advertise on the social networking system, each advertisement request identifying a type of action on which to base a social advertisement; and

for one of the users of the social networking website;

match an advertising request to a logged action, wherein the logged action matches the type of action identified in the advertising request, and wherein the logged action is associated with another user of the social networking system with whom the user has a connection, generate a social advertisement directed to the user, wherein the social advertisement comprises an informational message that communicates the matching logged action, and provide content to the user, the content comprising the advertisement.

20. The computer-readable media of claim 18 wherein the activities of the one or more users are actions taken by the one or more users on the social networking system or a third party web site.