RELEVANCE-BASED AGGREGATED SOCIAL FEEDS

• US 20130097186A1
• Filed: 10/18/2011
• Published: 04/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Flipboard Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Flipboard Incorporated
• Inventors: van Hoff, Arthur A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,463,795 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/749
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

Relevant items are selected from personalized items included in a variety of social networking system feeds based on a relevance threshold. Content included in the received items is observed to facilitate grouping the items. Items satisfying a grouping criteria are grouped based on the content of the items. Items are then scored based on relevance factors, such as whether an item is included in the group or an indication of interest level associated with items in a group. Scored items meeting a relevance threshold are selected for display in an aggregated social feed in a content region of a page.

Claims

1. A method for generating an aggregated social feed the method comprising:

receiving a feed from each of a plurality of social networking systems, each feed comprising a plurality of content items personalized for a user based on the user'"'"'s social connections in the social networking system;

determining a grouping criteria based on content in the plurality of content items;

forming a group including a plurality of content items satisfying the grouping criteria;

scoring the content items from the plurality of feeds based on one or more relevance factors, wherein each content item is scored by;

assigning one or more of the relevance factors to the content item,

weighting the assigned relevance factors based on a target velocity of the aggregated social feed, the target velocity representing a predetermined number of content items received from the plurality of social networking system feeds to be included in the aggregated social feed, wherein the weighting is applied to achieve the target velocity for the aggregated social feed, and

calculating a composite score based on the weighted relevance factors for the content item;

selecting one or more of the scored content items having a composite score that meets a relevance threshold; and

sending the selected content items in the aggregated social feed for display in a content region of a page.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising responsive to observing content associated with the plurality of content items, removing duplicate content items from the plurality of content items.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the grouping criteria is further based on a subject associated with the content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the grouping criteria comprises an author of the content item.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the grouping criteria comprises geo-location information associated with the content item.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, based on the content of the content items included in the group, an indication of an interest level associated with the content items in the group, the interest level providing a basis to score the content items included in the group.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a relevance factor is based on a social networking system from which the content item originated.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a relevance factor is based on an indication of popularity associated with the content item.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a relevance factor is based on a number of content items in the group.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a relevance factor is based on a quality indicator associated with the content item.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the quality indicator is based on at least one of a presence of an image, a length of text, or a completeness of text included in the content item.

12. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing computer program code for generating an aggregated social feed, the code for:

receiving a feed from each of a plurality of social networking systems, each feed comprising a plurality of content items personalized for a user based on the user'"'"'s social connections in the social networking system;

determining a grouping criteria based on content in the plurality of content items;

forming a group including a plurality of content items satisfying the grouping criteria;

scoring the content items from the plurality of feeds based on one or more relevance factors, wherein each content item is scored by;

assigning one or more of the relevance factors to the content item,

weighting the assigned relevance factors based on a target velocity of the aggregated social feed, the target velocity representing a predetermined number of content items received from the plurality of social networking system feeds to be included in the aggregated social feed, wherein the weighting is applied to achieve the target velocity for the aggregated social feed, and

calculating a composite score based on the weighted relevance factors for the content item;

selecting one or more of the scored content items having a composite score that meets a relevance threshold; and

sending the selected items in the aggregated social feed for display in a content region of a page.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising code for:

responsive to observing content associated with the plurality of content items, removing duplicate content items from the plurality of content items.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the grouping criteria is further based on a subject associated with the content.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the grouping criteria comprises an author of the content item.

16. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the grouping criteria comprises geo-location information associated with the content item.

17. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising code for:

determining, based on the content of the content items included in the group, an indication of an interest level associated with the content items in the group, the interest level providing a basis to score the content items included in the group.

18. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein a relevance factor is based on a social networking system from which the content item originated.

19. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein a relevance factor is based on an indication of popularity associated with the content item.

20. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein a relevance factor is based on a quality indicator associated with the content item.

21. A method for generating an aggregated social feed, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of feeds, each feed including a plurality of content items and received from a social networking service;

determining a relevance score for each of the plurality of content items based on one or more relevance factors;

adjusting the relevance scores for each of one or more of the content items based on the social networking service from which the content item was received, where the adjusting comprises reducing or increasing the relevance score of the content item based on a number of other content items received from the same social networking service;

ranking the content items based on the relevance scores thereof;

selecting a plurality of the ranked content items based on ranking; and

displaying the selected content items in the aggregated social feed.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein a relevance factor is based on an indication of popularity associated with the content item.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein a relevance factor is based on a number of content items in the group.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein a relevance factor is based on a quality indicator associated with the content item.