PREDICTING REAL-WORLD CONNECTIONS BASED ON INTERACTIONS IN SOCIAL NETWORKING SYSTEM

• US 20120166533A1
• Filed: 12/23/2010
• Published: 06/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rubinstein, Yigal Dan, Brill, Jacob Andrew, Bejar, Arturo, Frank, Jonathan H., Breger, David
• Granted Patent: US 9,727,886 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

A social networking system performs account recovery for a user with the help of the user'"'"'s connections (e.g., friends). The social networking system selects connections of the user based on information indicating likelihood of real-world interactions between the user and the selected connections. Access codes are sent to the selected connections and the user instructed to obtain access codes from the selected connections via a communication that is outside the social networking system, for example, via phone. The user provides the access codes obtained from the selected connections to the social networking system. If the access codes provided by the user match the access codes sent to the selected connections, the user is granted access to the account. Real-world interactions between two users are determined based on sharing of devices between the users or information indicating presence of the users in the same place during same time interval.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for determining real-world interactions between users of a social networking system, the method comprising:

associating a first device with a first user of a social networking system, wherein the first device is associated with interactions of the first user with the social networking system;

associating a second device with a second user of the social networking system, wherein the second device is associated with interactions of the second user with the social networking system;

matching the first device with the second device to determine that the first and second devices are the same device;

responsive to matching the first and second devices, creating an association between the first user and the second user, wherein the association indicates that the first and second users have interacted in the real world; and

storing the association between the first user and the second user.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first device and the second device are client devices used for interacting with the social networking system.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein matching the first device and the second device comprises matching a first cookie value stored at the first client device with a second cookie value stored at the second client device.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein matching the first device and the second device comprises matching a first internet protocol address associated with the first client device with a second internet protocol address associated with the second client device.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first device and the second device are cameras used for capturing images uploaded to the social networking system.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein matching the first device and the second device comprises comparing metadata describing a camera used for capturing images stored in the social networking system associated with the first user and the second user.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein matching the first device and the second device comprises comparing dead pixels in images uploaded to the social networking system by the first user and the second user.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a score value indicative of a likelihood of real-world interactions between the first user and the second user, wherein the score value is determined based on criteria including interactions between the first user and the second user.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 10, wherein the score value indicates a higher likelihood of real-world interactions between the first user and the second user responsive to identifying an overlap of a time interval associated with the interactions of the first user with a time interval associated with the interactions of the second user.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 10, wherein the criteria for determining the score value include a frequency of interactions of the first user associated with the first device and the frequency of interactions of the second user associated with the second device.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 10, wherein the score value is low if users other than the first user and the second user share the first device compared to the score value when only the first user and the second user share the first device.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 10, wherein the criteria for determining the score value include whether the first user is connected to the second user.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 14, wherein the criteria for determining the score value include a type of connection between the first user and the second user.

16. The computer implemented method of claim 10, wherein the criteria for determining the score value include the type of information used for matching the first device with the second device.

17. The computer implemented method of claim 16, wherein the first device and the second device are client devices for interacting with the social networking system and the score value is higher for devices matched based on cookies compared with devices matched based on internet protocol addresses.

18. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to determining that the first user and the second user are associated based on real-world interactions, sending a message to the second user requesting authentication information associated with the first user.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving information from the first user indicating a likelihood of the first user attending a future real-world event;

selecting a set of users with real-world associations with the first user; and

sending a message describing the real-world event to each selected user.

20. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving information from the first user indicating a sale of items by the first user;

selecting a set of users with real-world associations with the first user; and

sending a message describing the sale of items to each selected user.

21. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the interaction in real world comprises interactions between users in addition to online interactions.

22. A computer implemented method for determining real-world interactions between users of a social networking system, the method comprising:

determining a location associated with a first user of a social networking system based on a set of interactions of the first user with the social networking system;

identifying a second user of the social networking system, wherein the second user is determined to be associated with the location based on a set of interactions of the second user with the social networking system;

responsive to determining an overlap in a time interval associated with the set of interactions of the first user and the set of interactions of the second user, creating an association between the first user and the second user, wherein the association is indicative of real-world interactions between the first user and the second user; and

storing the association between the first user and the second user.

23. The computer implemented method of claim 22, wherein determining location of a user based on interactions of the user with the social networking system comprises obtaining the location provided by a global positioning system (GPS) associated with the user.

24. The computer implemented method of claim 22, wherein determining location of a user based on interactions of the user with the social networking system comprises obtaining the location by determining an internet address associated with a client device used for interacting with the social networking system and mapping the internet address to a location.

25. The computer implemented method of claim 22, wherein determining location of a user based on interactions of the user with the social networking system comprises obtaining the location by input provided by the user indicating the user'"'"'s presence at a location.

26. The computer implemented method of claim 22, wherein determining location of a user based on interactions of the user with the social networking system comprises obtaining the location from the metadata of an image indicating the location of the place used for capturing the image.

27. The computer implemented method of claim 22, wherein determining location of a user based on interactions of the user with the social networking system comprises associating the user with the location of capturing the image in which the user is tagged.

28. The computer implemented method of claim 22, further comprising:

determining a score value indicative of a likelihood of real-world interactions between the first user and the second user, wherein the score value is determined based on criteria including interactions between the first user and the second user.

29. The computer implemented method of claim 28, wherein the criteria for determining the score value include a frequency of interactions of the first user indicating presence of the first user at the location and the frequency of interactions of the second user indicating presence of the second user at the location.

30. The computer implemented method of claim 22, further comprising:

responsive to determining that the first user and the second user are associated based on real-world interactions, sending a message to the second user requesting authentication information associated with the first user.

31. The computer implemented method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving information from the first user indicating a likelihood of the first user attending a future real-world event;

selecting a set of users with real-world associations with the first user; and

sending a message describing the real-world event to each selected user.

32. The computer implemented method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving information from the first user indicating a sale of items by the first user;

selecting a set of users with real-world associations with the first user; and

sending a message describing the sale of items to each selected user.

33. The computer implemented method of claim 22, wherein the real-world interactions comprise interactions between users in addition to online interactions.