MANAGING INFORMATION ABOUT USER STATES IN A SOCIAL NETWORKING SYSTEM

• US 20140365566A1
• Filed: 06/06/2013
• Published: 12/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lessin, Samuel, Lindsay, Robert Taaffe
• Granted Patent: US 9,781,218 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

When a social networking system receives content describing a user via a client device associated with the user, the social networking system determines a state describing a characteristic of the user from the content. One or more options for generating a content item associated with the determined state are provided to the client device for presentation to the user, and the options may be based in part on the determined state. Based on the state and selection of one or more of the options, a content item is generated and provided to one or more client devices for presentation to social networking system users. By interacting with the content item, users may view additional information about the state or perform actions associated with the state.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing a user profile describing a user of a social networking system;

receiving content from the user of the social networking system via a client device associated with the user;

determining a state of the user from at least the received content, the state describing one or more characteristics of the user;

providing to the client device for presentation to the user one or more options to be included in a content item associated with the state of the user, the one or more options selected from a set of options based on the state of the user;

receiving a selection of one or more of the presented options;

generating the content item for the state of the user based on the selection of one or more of the presented options; and

providing the generated content item to one or more client devices for presentation to one or more users of the social networking system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more characteristics of the user are selected from a group consisting of:

a location of the user, an action performed by the user, an emotion of the user, a circumstance of the user, an attribute of the user, a thought of the user, and any combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of options based on the state of the user includes options for specifying one or more selected from a group consisting of:

a start date, an end date, a publication date, privacy settings, and any combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated content item includes one or more options for identifying additional states.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more options for identifying additional states are selected from a group consisting of:

viewing one or more states describing the user during a specified time period, viewing one or more states describing one or more additional users of the social networking system during the specified time period, filtering one or more states of the user based on one or more criteria, sorting one or more states of the user based on one or more parameters, and viewing a most common state of the user.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a query from a client device associated with an additional user of the social networking system, the query based on state information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated content item includes one or more options for identifying additional states, the one or more options for identifying additional states selected from a group consisting of:

ending the state, deleting the state, editing the state, adding the state, attributing the state to one or more additional users of the social networking system, sending a notification associated with the state to additional users of the social networking system, and any combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the state of the user from the received content further comprises:

determining one or more candidate states based on the received content; and

presenting the one or more candidate states to the user.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a candidate state is selected from a group consisting of:

a state describing an additional user of the social networking system during a time period, one or more states describing one or more additional users of the social networking system, a most common state of a set of users of the social networking system, and any combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more additional users of the social networking system are users connected to the user.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting an advertisement for presentation to the user based at least in part on the state of the user.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein providing to the client device for presentation to the user one or more options to be included in a content item associated with the state of the user comprises:

providing one or more candidate states matching a portion of the received content to the client device for presentation to the user.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the candidate states are based at least in part on connections between the user and objects maintained by the social networking system or information in the user profile describing the user.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the generated content item in a story associated with the user to the client device for presentation to the user.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the state of the user and an association between the state of the user and the user profile.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of the state of the user from an additional user;

providing information associated with the state of the user to a client device associated with the additional user for presentation, the information associated with the state of the user selected from a group consisting of;

other users sharing the state, other users in the state, other users in a combination of the state and an additional state, and any combination thereof.

17. A method comprising:

receiving content from a user of a social networking system via a client device associated with the user;

determining a state of the user from the received content, the state describing one or more characteristics of the user;

providing to the client device for presentation to the user one or more options to be included in a content item associated with the state of the user, the one or more options selected from a set of options based on the state of the user;

receiving a selection of one or more of the presented options;

generating the content item for the state of the user based on the selection of one or more of the presented options; and

providing the generated content item to the client device for presentation to the user.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the one or more characteristics of the user are selected from a group consisting of:

a location of the user, an action performed by the user, an emotion of the user, a circumstance of the user, an attribute of the user, a thought of the user, and any combination thereof.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the set of options based on the state of the user includes options for specifying one or more selected from a group consisting of:

a start date, an end date, a publication date, privacy settings, and any combination thereof.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the one or more options for the content item associated with the state of the user are selected from a group consisting of:

ending the state, deleting the state, editing the state, adding the state, attributing the state to one or more additional users of the social networking system, sending a notification associated with the state to additional users of the social networking system, and any combination thereof.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein providing the generated content item to the client device for presentation to the user comprises:

providing the generated content item to the client device such that the client device presents the content item and one or more options for identifying additional states to the user, the one or more options selected from a group consisting of;

viewing one or more states describing the user during a specified time period, viewing one or more states describing one or more additional users of the social networking system during the specified time period, filtering one or more states of the user based on one or more criteria, sorting one or more states of the user based on one or more parameters, and viewing a most common state of the user.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

aggregating information about one or more states of one or more additional users of the social networking system; and

providing the aggregated information to the client device for presentation to the user.

23. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

selecting an advertisement for presentation to the user based at least in part on the state of the user.

24. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

providing the generated content item to one or more client devices for presentation to one or more users of the social networking system.