Contextually Relevant Affinity Prediction in a Social Networking System
First Claim
1. A method for providing a measure of affinity for a user of a social networking system, the method comprising:
- receiving a request for a measure of affinity for a user of a social networking system from a process, the request specifying one or more weights related to a plurality of actions in the social networking system;
weighting each of a plurality of predictor functions using the received weights, wherein each predictor function predicts whether the user will perform an action associated with the weight applied thereto;
computing a measure of affinity for the user by combining the weighted plurality of predictor functions; and
providing the computed measure of affinity to the process.
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Abstract
A tunable affinity function serves one or more processes running in a social networking environment, where each process may request a measure of affinity for a particular user. A module that implements the affinity function computes the requested measure of affinity by combining (e.g., adding) a weighted set of predictor functions, where each predictor function predicts whether the user will perform a different action. The weights are provided by the process that requests the measure of affinity, which allows the requesting process to weight the predictor functions differently and thus tune the affinity function for its own purpose.
309 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for providing a measure of affinity for a user of a social networking system, the method comprising:
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receiving a request for a measure of affinity for a user of a social networking system from a process, the request specifying one or more weights related to a plurality of actions in the social networking system; weighting each of a plurality of predictor functions using the received weights, wherein each predictor function predicts whether the user will perform an action associated with the weight applied thereto; computing a measure of affinity for the user by combining the weighted plurality of predictor functions; and providing the computed measure of affinity to the process. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for obtaining a prediction of an action of a user of a social networking system, the method comprising:
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sending a request for a measure of affinity for a user of a social networking system from a process, the request specifying one or more weights related to a first plurality of actions in the social networking system; receiving the measure of affinity computed by combining a plurality of predictor functions corresponding to the first plurality of actions; and predicting a second plurality of actions the user will perform in the process according to the received measure of affinity. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification