PRESENTING DEALS TO A USER OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SYSTEM

• US 20130179268A1
• Filed: 07/12/2011
• Published: 07/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hu, Bo, Winters, Kelly, Sharp, Evan, White, Emily Clark
• Granted Patent: US 10,540,692 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.66
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A social networking system suggests deals relevant to a user. The deals are selected for suggestion based on social information associated with the user. Social information used for selecting candidate deals for a user includes information describing other users connected to the user and their associations with the candidate deals or with related deals, for example, deals from the same provider. Associations of connections of the user with the candidate deals may be determined based on actions associated with the candidate deals performed by the connections. The actions performed by the connections may be weighted based on types of the actions to determine a measure of relevance of the candidate deal for the user. Candidate deals are selected from a set of deals by applying deal targeting criteria received from deal providers. The deal targeting criteria specify attributes describing users to be targeted for a particular deal.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for categorizing deals for a user based on social information associated with the user, the method comprising:

identifying a user of a social networking system for presenting deals;

identifying a plurality of candidate deals for presentation to the user;

selecting a set of candidate deals from the plurality of candidate deals, wherein the selected candidate deals are included in the set based at least in part on matching the selected candidate deals according to information describing a relationship between the candidate deals and one or more other users with whom the user has established a connection in the social networking system; and

sending information describing the selected set of candidate deals for presentation to the user with instructions to present the selected set of candidate deals together.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the instructions to present the selected set of candidate deals comprises instructions to present information describing interactions between the other users with whom the user has established a connection and the candidate deals.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the relationship between the candidate deals and one or more other users comprises a measure of affinity between the user and the other users with whom the user has established a connection.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information describing a relationship between the candidate deals and one or more other users with whom the user has established a connection is based on actions performed by the other users related to the candidate deals.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein actions related to a deal comprise one of purchasing the deal, commenting on the deal, liking the deal, checking-in to a location associated with the deal, or recommending the deal.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein one or more other users with whom the user has established a connection in the social networking system comprises users that attended an event together.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein one or more other users with whom the user has established a connection in the social networking system comprises users that are members of a social group of the social networking system.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein one or more other users with whom the user has established a connection in the social networking system comprises users that checked in to a location together.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein one or more other users with whom the user has established a connection in the social networking system comprises users that are tagged in a photo together.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a candidate deal from the subset matches one or more other users with whom the user is connected if the information describing the candidate deal matches actions of the other user performed using the social networking system.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a candidate deal from the subset matches the other users with whom the user is connected if the information describing the candidate deal matches interests of the other users.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the set of candidate deals is a first set, the one or more other users with whom the user is connected is a first set of users connected to the user, the method further comprising:

selecting a second set of candidate deals from the plurality of candidate deals, wherein the selected candidate deals are included in the set based at least in part on matching the selected candidate deals according to information describing a relationship between the candidate deals and a second set of users connected to the user; and

selecting the first set over the second set for presentation to the user if an aggregate measure of affinity of the first set of users connected to the user is higher than that of the second set of users connected to the user.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein sending information describing the set of candidate deals for presentation to the user further comprises sending information describing connections of the user associated with the subset of candidate deals for presentation to the user along with the subset of candidate deals.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a candidate deal from the set of deals is selected for presentation to the user if information describing the candidate deal matches the actions of the user performed using the social networking system.

15. A computer program product having a computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable code for presenting deals to a user based on social information associated with the user, the code comprising:

a dashboard manager configured to;

receive a request to present deals to a user of a social networking system, the request comprising information identifying the user;

select a set of candidate deals for presentation to the user;

select a subset of candidate deals from the set, each candidate deal from the subset having a higher degree of match with other candidate deals from the subset as compared to candidate deals outside the subset, the matching of candidate deals based on information describing a set of connections of the user; and

send information describing the subset of candidate deals for presentation to the user with instructions to present the subset of candidate deals together.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions to present the selected set of candidate deals comprises instructions to present information describing interactions between the user and the other users with whom the user has established a connection, the interactions associated with the candidate deals.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the relationship between the candidate deals and one or more other users comprises a measure of affinity between the user and the other users with whom the user has established a connection.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the information describing a relationship between the candidate deals and one or more other users with whom the user has established a connection is based on actions performed by the other users related to the candidate deals.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein actions related to a deal comprise one of purchasing the deal, commenting on the deal, liking the deal, checking-in to a location associated with the deal, or recommending the deal.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the set of candidate deals is a first set, the one or more other users with whom the user is connected is a first set of users connected to the user, the dashboard manager further configured to:

select a second set of candidate deals from the plurality of candidate deals, wherein the selected candidate deals are included in the set based at least in part on matching the selected candidate deals according to information describing a relationship between the candidate deals and a second set of users connected to the user; and

select the first set over the second set for presentation to the user if an aggregate measure of affinity of the first set of users connected to the user is higher than that of the second set of users connected to the user.