DYNAMICALLY SERVING CONTENT TO SOCIAL NETWORK MEMBERS

• US 20120209668A1
• Filed: 02/15/2011
• Published: 08/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2011
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: TrialPay Incorporated (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: TrialPay Incorporated (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Angelos, Terry, Campbell, Alexander E., Rampell, Alastair, Jun, Gyuchang, Lim, Eddie, DiMarco, Robert, Wong, Vickie, Wijeyekoon, Arjuna
• Application Number:
  US13/027,819
• Publication Number:
  US 20120209668A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce

Abstract

From a third-party process within a social network having a platform policy, a graph of a social network member is queried. The results of the query are passed to a matching process, without violating the platform policy. Content is requested from the process. In response to passing the results, a description of content is received. The content is caused to be made available to the social network member.

Claims

1. From a third-party process within a social network having a platform policy, a method comprising:

querying a social graph of a social network member;

passing results of the query to a matching process without violating the platform policy, thereby requesting content from the process;

in response to passing the results, receiving a description of content; and

causing the content to be made available to the social network member.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein querying the social graph includes retrieving a characteristic of the social network member.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the characteristic of the social network member include at least one of:

a location of the member, an income level of the member, a birth date of the member, a gender of the member, an income level of the member, a marital status of the member, hobbies of the member, interests of the member, a transaction history of the member, and an anniversary of the member.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the characteristic of the social network member includes a virtual currency balance.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the characteristic of the social network member includes previous interaction with other third-party programs on the social network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein querying the social graph includes retrieving a characteristic of connections of the social network member.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is displayed dynamically within the gaming environment.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the content includes an advertisement.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is interactive.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the content includes an offer to purchase an item, thereby obtaining an ancillary benefit.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the ancillary benefit includes virtual currency usable in an in-game environment.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the ancillary benefit includes access to premium services of a provider.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a social game to the social network member, in which querying the social graph is performed in response to a pre-determined in-game event.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising, prior to causing the content to be displayed, defining an in-game area in which the content is to be displayed.

15. The method of claim 13, in which the in-game event includes the social network member initiating gameplay.

16. The method of claim 13, in which the in-game event includes the social network member initiating an in-game transaction.

17. The method of claim 13, in which the in-game event includes the social network member visiting an in-game environment of a connection in the social network member'"'"'s social graph.