SOCIAL NETWORK COMMUNITIES

• US 20130254397A1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Published: 09/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Lai, Sanjaya, Kuruganti, Aditya, Doshi, Kedar
• Granted Patent: US 9,832,156 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1818 Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications

Abstract

Disclosed are methods, apparatus, systems, and computer-readable storage media for providing access to communities of users in an online social network. In some implementations, a server is configured to identify a user identity (ID), received from a computing device, as one of a plurality of first user identities (IDs) of first users belonging to a first community maintained on behalf of a first organization by a social networking system. The computing device can then be provided access to the first community. When a request to access a second community maintained on behalf of a second organization is received from the computing device, the user ID can be identified as one of a plurality of second user IDs of second users belonging to the second community. The computing device can then be provided access to the second community.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for providing access to communities of users in an online social network, the method comprising:

receiving, at a server, a user identity (ID) from a computing device;

identifying the user ID as one of a plurality of first user identities (IDs) of first users belonging to a first community maintained on behalf of a first organization by a social networking system;

providing, to the computing device, access to the first community responsive to identifying the user ID as one of the first user IDs;

receiving, from the computing device, a request to access a second community maintained on behalf of a second organization;

identifying the user ID as one of a plurality of second user IDs of second users belonging to the second community; and

providing, to the computing device, access to the second community responsive to identifying the user ID as one of the second user IDs.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the access to the first community includes unlimited privileges for the computing device to retrieve social network data and initiate social networking actions available to users of the social networking system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the unlimited privileges are available to computing devices of internal users and external users of the first organization.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the social networking actions include one or more of:

communicating with users via one or more feeds, interacting with records via one or more feeds, interacting with one or more tasks, interacting with one or more business processes, interacting with customer relationship management (CRM) records, following users, following records, uploading files, following groups, joining groups, creating groups, following organizations, joining communities, and creating communities.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the social network data includes one or more of:

a record, a user profile, a community file, a community feed item, a group file, a group feed item, and one or more CRM objects.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the CRM objects include one or more of:

a case, an account, an opportunity, a lead, and a contact.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the access to the second community includes limited or unlimited privileges for the computing device to retrieve social network data and initiate social networking actions available to users of a social networking system in which the second community is maintained.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the access to the first community includes limited privileges for the computing device to retrieve social network data and initiate social networking actions available to users of the social networking system, the limited privileges being defined by a user access model stored on a storage medium in association with the first community.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the user access model defines a first set of privileges for external users of the first organization and a second set of privileges for internal users of the organization, the second set of privileges being different from the first set of privileges.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the user access model defines a level of visibility of the first users with each other.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the user access model defines a level of visibility of contact information stored in association with profiles of the first users.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first users are internal users of the first organization, the second users are external users of the second organization, and the second users include one or more of the first users.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first community is accessible to the computing device at a network address configured to include branding information identifying the first community by a first brand.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the network address includes an org value identifying the first organization.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the first community includes one or more first web pages with first branding data providing a first theme and an identification of the first organization, and the second community includes one or more second web pages with second branding data providing a second theme and an identification of the second organization.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first branding data excludes branding data of the social networking system.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the branding data is customizable to include one or more of:

organization-specific colors, organization-specific logos, organization-specific tabs, organization-specific components, and organization-specific navigation options.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the first users include one or more of:

employees of the first organization, customers of the first organization, and partners of the first organization.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the employees, customers, and partners each have a respective set of privileges for a computing device to access social network data and initiate social networking actions available to users of the first community, each privileges set being defined by a respective user access model stored on a storage medium in association with the first community.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the user access model defines a first set of privileges for external users of the first organization and a second set of privileges for internal users of the first organization, the second set of privileges being different from the first set of privileges.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein:

providing access to the first community includes sending first social network data of the first community to the computing device, and

providing access to the second community includes sending second social network data of the second community to the computing device.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting one or more user actions with respect to the second community;

identifying the one or more user actions as being associated with the user ID; and

maintaining a session of access to the first community responsive to identifying the one or more user actions as being associated with the user ID.

23. One or more computing devices for providing access to communities of users in an online social network, the one or more computing devices comprising:

one or more processors operable to execute one or more instructions to;

identify a user ID received from a computing device as one of a plurality of first user identities (IDs) of first users belonging to a first community maintained on behalf of a first organization by a social networking system;

provide, to the computing device, access to the first community responsive to identifying the user ID as one of the first user IDs;

receive, from the computing device, a request to access a second community maintained on behalf of a second organization;

identify the user ID as one of a plurality of second user IDs of second users belonging to the second community; and

provide, to the computing device, access to the second community responsive to identifying the user ID as one of the second user IDs.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a computing device to perform a method for providing access to communities of users in an online social network, the method comprising:

identifying a user ID received from a computing device as one of a plurality of first user identities (IDs) of first users belonging to a first community maintained on behalf of a first organization by a social networking system;

providing, to the computing device, access to the first community responsive to identifying the user ID as one of the first user IDs;

receiving, from the computing device, a request to access a second community maintained on behalf of a second organization;

identifying the user ID as one of a plurality of second user IDs of second users belonging to the second community; and

providing, to the computing device, access to the second community responsive to identifying the user ID as one of the second user IDs.