SPONSORED INTERFACES IN A SOCIAL NETWORKING SYSTEM

• US 20140208234A1
• Filed: 01/23/2013
• Published: 07/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Amit, Alon, Badros, Gregory Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 10,445,786 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/753
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A sponsored interface of a social networking system includes links to different items accessible in the system, arranged by category. Each of the items is associated with a category from a plurality of categories. The social networking system may enable advertisers to boost the ranking of an item in the interface per user, such as a bookmark in a menu of bookmarks, a notification in a menu of notifications, and/or a message in a menu of messages, based on a fee arrangement. The items in the interface are then ranked based on expected fee maximization, taking into account an expected click-through rate.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving sponsored item information comprising a plurality of bids to sponsor a subset of a plurality of items interacted with on a social networking system by a plurality of users connected to a viewing user in the social networking system;

determining a ranking of the plurality of items based in part on the sponsored item information, where the subset of the plurality of items are boosted in the ranking of the plurality of items over a remainder of the plurality of items not included in the subset of the plurality of items;

determining an ordering of a plurality of links for the plurality of items in a user interface based on the determined ranking of the plurality of items, where the plurality of links comprise one or more sponsored links for the subset of the plurality of items to provide one or more shortcuts to one or more corresponding sponsored items of the plurality of items in the social networking system; and

providing the plurality of links comprising the one or more sponsored links in the user interface for display to the viewing user according to the determined ordering of the plurality of links.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the ranking of the plurality of items is further based on a factor for maximizing an expected value of a sponsored item identified in the sponsored item information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the ranking of for the plurality of items further comprises discounting an item based on negative user feedback associated with the item.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the ranking of the plurality of items is further based on a factor for maximizing an expected click-through rate of a sponsored item identified in the sponsored item information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the ranking of the plurality of items is further based on a plurality of bids included in the received sponsored item information for a plurality of ordered slots in the user interface.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the ranking of the plurality of items is further based on a plurality of scores for the plurality of items, where the plurality of scores are based in part on the received sponsored item information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the ranking of at least one item is further based at least in part on an amount of money the viewing user has spent on goods or services in relation to the at least one item.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the ranking of the plurality of items is further based at least in part on a popularity of the plurality of items among a group of users.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the ranking of the plurality of items is further based at least in part on one or more affinity scores associated with the viewing user for the subset of the plurality of items identified in the sponsored item information.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface comprises one or more selected from a group consisting of:

a drop down menu, a navigation menu, a notification interface, a messaging system interface, and any combination thereof.

11. A method comprising:

receiving sponsored item information comprising a plurality of bids to sponsor a subset of a plurality of items interacted with on a social networking system by a plurality of users in the social networking system;

determining a plurality of scores for the plurality of items based in part on the sponsored item information, where the one or more scores for the subset of the plurality of items include one or more boosts based on the plurality of bids included in the received sponsored item information;

determining a ranking of the plurality of items based on the plurality of scores for the plurality of items;

determining an order of the plurality of items represented by a plurality of links in a user interface comprising the plurality of links to the plurality of items in the social networking system, where the order is determined based on the ranking of the plurality of items; and

providing the user interface for display to a viewing user, where the plurality of links are provided in the user interface according to the determined order of the plurality of items.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the plurality of scores for the plurality of items is further based at least in part on user profile information of the viewing user comprising one or more affinity scores for the plurality of items.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the viewing user is not connected to a sponsored item in the social networking system, where the sponsored item is identified in the received sponsored item information.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the user interface comprises a plurality of ordered slots and wherein determining the plurality of scores is further based at least in part on one or more bids received for the plurality of ordered slots.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the plurality of scores for the plurality of items further comprises:

generating a scoring model for maximizing an expected value of the item based on user profile information about the viewing user; and

determining the plurality of scores for the plurality of items based on the generated scoring model.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the sponsored item information identifies one or more entities in the social networking system, and wherein determining the plurality of scores for the plurality of items further comprises:

generating a scoring model that boosts one or more user interactions with the identified one or more entities in the sponsored item information; and

determining the plurality of scores for the plurality of items based on the generated scoring model.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein determining a ranking of the plurality of items is further based on a category of the item.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the plurality of scores for the plurality of items further comprises:

for each item of the plurality of items,

retrieving a scoring model for the item based on a category of the item; and

determining a score for the item using the retrieved scoring model.

19. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of sponsored item requests from a plurality of advertisers in a social networking system, where the plurality of sponsored item requests include a plurality of bids to boost a plurality of rankings of a plurality of entities in one or more user interfaces in the social networking system;

for a viewing user, selecting a set of sponsored item requests based on a plurality of user interactions with a subset of the plurality of entities;

based on the selected set of sponsored item requests and the plurality of user interactions with the subset of the plurality of entities, determining one or more sponsored items for display in a particular user interface of the one or more user interfaces in the social networking system for the viewing user, where the one or more sponsored items correspond to the selected set of sponsored item requests that further include one or more boosted rankings of the subset of the plurality of entities; and

providing the particular user interface comprising the determined one or more sponsored items for display to the viewing user, where the determined one or more sponsored items are provided for display in the one or more boosted rankings among a plurality of non-sponsored items in the particular user interface.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the particular user interface comprises a plurality of ordered slots and wherein determining the one or more sponsored items is based at least in part on one or more bids received for the plurality of ordered slots.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein a sponsored item request comprises a particular bid value and wherein determining the one or more sponsored items is based at least in part on the one or more particular bid values received by the social networking system.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein selecting a set of sponsored item requests for a viewing user further comprises:

retrieving user profile information for the viewing user; and

selecting one or more sponsored item requests based on the retrieved user profile information.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein selecting a set of sponsored item requests for a viewing user further comprises:

retrieving one or more user interactions performed by the viewing user; and

selecting one or more sponsored item requests based on the one or more retrieved user interactions.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein selecting a set of sponsored item requests for a viewing user further comprises:

retrieving one or more user interactions performed by one or more social connections of the viewing user in the social networking system; and

selecting one or more sponsored item requests based on the one or more retrieved user interactions.