SOCIAL GRAPH THAT INCLUDES WEB PAGES OUTSIDE OF A SOCIAL NETWORKING SYSTEM

• US 20110265011A1
• Filed: 04/21/2010
• Published: 10/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kinsey, Mark William, Cain, Gerald Richard, Taylor, Bret Steven, Vernal, Michael Steven
• Granted Patent: US 9,530,166 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/751
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2379 Updates performed during online database operations; commit processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/221 Parsing markup language streams streaming G06F40/149
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A social networking system includes a mechanism for incorporating nodes in the social graph, where the nodes are associated with a web page. Each web page includes one or more tags, which contain meta-information for defining the node in the social networking system, such as the type of the node. The social networking system retrieves the tags from the markup language document and stores their information in connection with the node for the web page. The web page may be outside of the social networking system'"'"'s domain and may be operated by an entity other than the social networking operator; thus, third parties can define, create, and maintain nodes that are then used by the social networking system. Users may then interact with the nodes on websites outside of the social networking system, and these interactions are tracked by and reflected back within the social networking system.

Claims

19. A method comprising:

requesting a web page from a web server, wherein the web page is within a domain different from a domain of a social networking system;

receiving a markup language document for the requested web page, the markup language document including an instruction to create a frame within the web page that includes information from the social networking system;

requesting information from the social networking system based on an instruction in the markup language document;

receiving the requested information from the social networking system, the received information for enabling a user to interact with a node in the social networking system;

displaying the web page on a user device, wherein the web page enables a user to interact with a node in the social networking system; and

responsive to detecting a user interaction with the node, communicating the interaction to the social networking system, the social networking system configured to store the interaction.

1. A method comprising:

accessing information from a web page to define a node in a social networking system, the web page being associated with a domain that is different from a domain associated with the social networking system;

maintaining the node in the social networking system, the node defined at least in part according to the accessed information;

enabling one or more users of the social networking system to perform an action related to the node;

receiving requests from one or more users of the social networking system to perform an action related to the node; and

storing information related to one or more users'"'"' interactions with the node by the social networking system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

communicating a user'"'"'s action related to the node in a stream directed to one or more other users of the social networking system with whom the user has established a connection.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating an affinity between a user and a node for a user who has performed an action related to the node.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating a profile of a user who has performed an action related to the node to reflect that the user has performed the action.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating stored information about the node to reflect that a user has performed an action related to the node.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the node in the social networking system represents a page of content in the social networking system.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the action comprises a user'"'"'s expressing an interest in the page.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

response to a user'"'"'s expressing an interest in the page associated with the node, updating a profile of the user with the expressed interest.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the node in the social networking system represents an event.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the action comprises a user'"'"'s confirming attendance at the event.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the node in the social networking system represents a location.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the action comprises a user'"'"'s confirming the user'"'"'s presence at the location.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing the information from the web page comprises:

obtaining a markup language document for the web page; and

identifying one or more tags in the markup language document, the tags containing the accessed information.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more tags comprise at least one information item selected from a group consisting of:

a type of the node, a name of the node, a textual description associated with the node, location information associated with the node, and a unique identifier for the node, an identity of one or more users of the social networking system designated as an administrator of the node.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessed information comprises a definition of a type of the node, and wherein the method further comprises limiting the one or more actions that a user can perform related to the node based on the type of the node.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessed information comprises a textual description associated with the node, and wherein the method further comprises displaying the textual description at the social networking system in connection with the node.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessed information comprises an identity of one or more users of the social networking system designated as an administrator of the node, and wherein the method further comprises providing an interface enabling the one or more users designated as administrators for the node to update the information about the node stored by the social networking system.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating the node responsive to receiving from a user device a request associated with the web page and determining that a node associated with the web page does not exist.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the node is associated with the web page.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the web page includes a link to a second web page, and the second web page is associated with the node.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the web page enables a user to perform multiple different types of interactions with the node.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the web page enables a user to interact with multiple nodes, where one or more of the multiple nodes are associated with different web pages.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the frame comprises an iframe that contains a web page in the domain of the social networking system.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the iframe includes an action button for performing an action related to the node directly within the domain of the social networking system.

26. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving from the social networking system information about one or more other users who have interacted with the node and with whom the user has established a connection within the social networking system; and

displaying in the web page the information about the other users'"'"' interactions with the node.

27. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

responsive to communicating the interaction to the social networking system, receiving a confirmation of the interaction from the social networking system; and

displaying the confirmation on the user device.

28. A method for providing social information, the method comprising:

receiving at a server of a social networking system a request for information based on an instruction in a markup language document, wherein the request for information is responsive to a request for a web page of a third-party website that is within a domain of a third-party website that is different from a domain of the social networking system, and wherein the markup language document includes an instruction to create a frame within the web page that includes information obtained from the social networking system;

determining the requested information, the information for enabling a user to interact with a node in the social networking system;

sending the information for display in the frame of the web page;

receiving a request to interacted with the node by the user; and

storing the interaction at the social networking system.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the frame comprises an iframe that contains a web page in the domain of the social networking system.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the iframe includes an action button for performing an action related to the node directly within the domain of the social networking system.

31. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

sending for display on the user device information about one or more other users who have interacted with the node and with whom the user has established a connection within the social networking system.

32. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

sending for display on the user device a confirmation of the interaction.

28-1. The method of claim 27, wherein the node is associated with the web page.