Creating Groups of Users in a Social Networking System
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for defining groups of users of a social networking system, the method comprising:
- storing a user profile for a user of the social networking system, the user having one or more connections, where each connection is another user of the social networking system with whom the user has established a relationship;
receiving from the user an indication of one or more of the user'"'"'s connections to add to a group;
determining one or more additional connections to suggest based on one or more similarities to connections that have already been added to the group;
suggesting to the user to add the one or more additional connections to the group;
receiving an indication from the user of whether to add one or more of the of the suggested additional connections to the group; and
receiving an instruction from the user to define the group based on the connections that have been added to the group.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A social networking system facilitates a user'"'"'s creation of a group of other users from among the user'"'"'s connections in the user'"'"'s social network. The created groups may be used, for example, to publish information to certain user-defined groups or to define privacy settings or other access rights to the user'"'"'s content according to such user-defined groups. When a user adds connections to a group, the social networking system determines suggested connections that have not been added to the group, based on a similarity of the suggested connections with one or more of the connections who have been added to the group. These suggested connections are then presented to the user to facilitate the creation of the group. Both positive and negative feedback may be used to generate a useful set of suggestions, which may be updated as the user further defines the group.
205 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for defining groups of users of a social networking system, the method comprising:
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storing a user profile for a user of the social networking system, the user having one or more connections, where each connection is another user of the social networking system with whom the user has established a relationship; receiving from the user an indication of one or more of the user'"'"'s connections to add to a group; determining one or more additional connections to suggest based on one or more similarities to connections that have already been added to the group; suggesting to the user to add the one or more additional connections to the group; receiving an indication from the user of whether to add one or more of the of the suggested additional connections to the group; and receiving an instruction from the user to define the group based on the connections that have been added to the group. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A computer-implemented method for defining groups of users of a social networking system, the method comprising:
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receiving from a user of a social networking system a definition of a group, the group comprising a plurality of other users of the social networking system; a step for identifying users who are not in the group but have a similarity with the users who are in the group; suggesting to the user to add one or more of the identified users to the group; and receiving an indication from the user of whether to add one or more of the identified users to the group.
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19. A computer program product for defining groups of users of a social networking system, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium containing computer program code for:
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storing a user profile for a user of the social networking system, the user having one or more connections, where each connection is another user of the social networking system with whom the user has established a relationship; receiving from the user an indication of one or more of the user'"'"'s connections to add to a group; determining one or more additional connections to suggest based on one or more similarities to connections that have already been added to the group; suggesting to the user to add the one or more additional connections to the group; receiving an indication from the user of whether to add one or more of the of the suggested additional connections to the group; and receiving an instruction from the user to define the group based on the connections that have been added to the group. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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Specification