METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR RECOMMENDING A CONTEXT BASED ON CONTENT INTERACTION

• US 20120191776A1
• Filed: 01/20/2011
• Published: 07/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Ruffner, Jennifer Granito, Blue, Allen, Alpern, Sarah Jean Culberson
• Granted Patent: US 9,172,762 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/048 Fuzzy inferencing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to methods and systems for recommending a context to a user of a social network service, based on detecting an interaction with some item of web content. With some embodiments, after detecting an interaction with a web document, a topic to which the web document is related is determined. A context, such as an online or offline forum, known to be associated with the topic is then identified. Finally, the identified context is presented to the user as a recommendation for a content source that is likely to be of interest to the user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

within a social network service environment, monitoring for and detecting a user-initiated interaction with a web document, the web document having a Universal Resource Identifier (URI);

identifying one or more topics to which the web document relates; and

recommending a forum of potential interest to the user who initiated the interaction with the web document, the forum selected for being associated with a topic to which the web document relates.

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

subsequent to detecting the user-initiated interaction with the web document, requesting and receiving a copy of the web document from a content source identified by the URI, and performing a textual analysis of the web document to identify one or more topics to which the web document relates, and identifying one or more forums known to be associated with a topic selected from the one or more topics to which the web document relates.

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

subsequent to detecting the user-initiated interaction with the web document and responsive to determining that a copy of the web document has not previously been analyzed to identify topics to which the web document relates, requesting and receiving a copy of the web document from a content source identified by the URI, performing a textual analysis of the web document to identify one or more topics to which the web document relates, and identifying one or more forums known to be associated with a topic selected from the one or more topics to which the web document relates.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein determining that a copy of the web document has not previously been analyzed to identify topics to which the web document relates includes determining that the URI is not stored in a cache or database accessible to the social network service.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying one or more topics to which the web document relates includes performing a database lookup operation to retrieve one or more topic identifiers, the topic identifiers identifying topics to which the web document relates.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein recommending a forum of potential interest to the user who initiated the interaction with the web document includes:

performing a database lookup operation to retrieve a forum identifier identifying a forum, the forum identifier associated with a topic identifier identifying a topic to which the web document relates; and

displaying a link to the forum.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the user-initiated interaction with the web document having the URI is any one of:

the user requesting to view the web document;

the user submitting the web document to the social network service;

the user sharing the web document with another user of the social network service; and

the user providing a comment on the web document.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the forum is an offline forum.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the forum is an online forum hosted by the social network service.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the online forum hosted by the social network service is any one of an online public or private group hosted by the social network service to facilitate online discussions amongst users of the social network service;

an online comment thread hosted by the social network service to enable users to provide comments regarding web content; and

, an online discussion forum hosted by the social network service and organized around a particular subject matter.

11. A server comprising:

a processor to execute instructions stored in memory, the instructions, when executed by the processor, to cause the server to;

monitor for and detect a user-initiated interaction associated with a web document, the web document having a Universal Resource Identifier (URI);

identify one or more topics to which the web document relates; and

recommend a forum of potential interest to the user who initiated the interaction with the web document.

12. The server of claim 11, wherein the instructions cause the server to:

request and receive a copy of the web document from a content source identified by the URI subsequent to detecting the user-initiated interaction with the web document;

perform a textual analysis of the web document to identify one or more topics to which the web document relates;

identify one or more forums known to be associated with a topic selected from the one or more topics to which the web document relates.

13. The server of claim 11, wherein the instructions cause the server to:

subsequent to detecting the user-initiated interaction with the web document and responsive to determining that a copy of the web document has not previously been analyzed to identify topics to which the web document relates, request and receive a copy of the web document from a content source identified by the URI, perform a textual analysis of the web document to identify one or more topics to which the web document relates, and identify one or more forums known to be associated with a topic selected from the one or more topics to which the web document relates.

14. The server of claim 13, wherein the instructions cause the server to determine that the URI is not stored in a cache or database.

15. The server of claim 11, wherein the user-initiated interaction with the web document having the URI is any one of:

the user viewing the web document;

user submitting the web document to the social network service;

the user sharing the web document with another user of the social network service; and

the user providing a comment on the web document.

16. The server of claim 11, wherein the forum is an offline forum.

17. The server of claim 11, wherein the forum is an online forum hosted by the social network service.

18. The server of claim 11, wherein the online forum is any one of an online public or private group hosted by the social network service to facilitate online discussions amongst users of the social network service;

an online comment thread hosted by the social network service to enable users to provide comments regarding web content; and

, an online discussion forum hosted by the social network service and organized around a particular subject matter.

19. The server of claim 11, wherein the web document relates to a news story or event and the forum is one of:

an online public or private group hosted by the social network service to facilitate online discussions amongst users of the social network service;

an online comment thread hosted by the social network service to enable users to provide comments regarding web documents; and

, an online discussion forum hosted by the social networking service and organized around a particular subject matter.

20. A system for operating a social networking service, the system comprising:

a document interaction detection module to monitor for and detect a user-initiated interaction with a web document, the web document having a Universal Resource Identifier (URI);

a topic identifier module to identify one or more topics to which the web document relates; and

a content personalization module to recommend a forum of potential interest to the user who initiated the interaction with the web document, the forum selected for being associated with a topic to which the web document relates.