Presenting Groups of Content Item Selected for a Social Networking System User Based on Content Item Characteristics

• US 20160055159A1
• Filed: 08/21/2014
• Published: 02/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Connolly, Christopher James, Dimson, Thomas Frederick, Hochmuth, Gregor, Taby, Majd Jack
• Granted Patent: US 10,706,057 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A social networking system provides a user with a feed of content items associated with other users connected to the user via the social networking system. Additionally, the social networking system identifies additional content items for presentation to the user and generates groups of additional content items so each group includes content items having a characteristic associated with the group. A scoring function is applied to each group to determine an expected amount of user interaction with content items in the group. Based on the expected amounts of user interaction, a featured content item is selected from each group. When a group of the additional content items is presented, the featured content item is visually distinguished from other content items in the group.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

retrieving information associated with a user of a social networking system, the information maintained by the social networking system;

generating a feed of content items for presentation to the user, the feed including content items associated with one or more additional users connected to the user;

retrieving content items having one or more characteristics from a set of characteristics;

generating a score for each of the retrieved content items having one or more characteristics from the set, a score for a content item representing a measure of interest of the user in the content item and based at least in part on the retrieved information associated with the user and one or more characteristics of the content item;

selecting one or more of the content items having one or more characteristics based at least in part on the generated scores;

generating an additional feed of content items including the selected one or more of the content items;

generating one or more groups of content items included in the additional feed of content items, each group associated with a characteristic and including one or more content items in the additional feed of content items having the characteristic;

selecting a featured content item in each group of content items included in the additional feed of content items, a featured content item in a group determined by applying a scoring function associated with the group to content items included in the group; and

communicating the additional feed and information identifying the one or more groups to a client device for presentation to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved information associated with the user includes information describing one or more selected from a group consisting of:

demographic information associated with the user, connections between the user and one or more other users of the social networking system, interactions between the user and one or more content items, demographic information associated with users connected to the user by the social networking system, and any combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved information associated with the user includes information describing one or more selected from a group consisting of:

a location of the user associated with one or more interactions between the user and one or more content items, a type of device associated with an interaction between a user and a content item, and any combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a characteristic of a content item is selected from a group consisting of:

information associated with a user providing the content item to the social networking system, indications of preference for the content item, comments associated with the content item, interactions with the content item by one or more users of the social networking system, information identifying users that interacted with the content item, information identifying users connected to at least one user that interacted with the content item, metadata associated with the content item, textual data associated with the content item, and any combination thereof.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a characteristic of a content item is selected from a group consisting of:

a location associated with the content item, a type of device used to provide the content item to the social networking system, a type of device associated with interactions with the content item, a time when a threshold number of users interacted with the content item, and any combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the score is based at least in part on a number of characteristics of the content item matching one or more attributes of the user determined form the retrieved information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating the additional feed and information identifying the one or more groups to the client device for presentation to the user comprises:

retrieving a template for presenting the group of content items from the additional feed based at least in part on a characteristic associated with the group, the template including a plurality of slots, each slot having a size specifying a location for presentation of a content item.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

associating slots in the template with each content item in the group of content items so the featured content item in the group is associated with a slot having a larger size than slots associated with other content items in the group.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein a number of slots in the template for presenting the group of content items is based at least in part on the characteristic associated with the group.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating the additional feed and the information identifying the one or more groups to a client device for presentation to the user comprises:

communicating the additional feed, one or more templates each describing locations for presentation of content items, and information associating each of the one or more groups with a template.

11. A method comprising:

receiving a feed of content items for presentation to a user of a social networking system, the feed including content items associated with one or more additional users of the social networking system;

receiving information identifying one or more groups of content items included in the feed, each a group including one or more content items each having a common characteristic;

selecting a featured content item in each group of content items, a featured content item in a group determined by applying a scoring function associated with the group to content items included in the group; and

presenting one or more of the groups of content items so featured content items in each group are visually distinguished from other content items in each group.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the scoring function associated with the group determines an expected amount of interaction by the user with content items included in the group.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein selecting the featured content item in each group of content items comprises:

ranking content items included in the group based on the expected amount of interaction by the user with each content item included in the group; and

selecting the featured content item based at least in part on the ranking.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein presenting one or more of the groups of content items so featured content items in each group are visually distinguished from other content items in each group comprises:

retrieving a template for presenting the group of content items in additional feed based at least in part on a characteristic associated with the group, the template including a plurality of slots, each slot having a size and specifying a location for presentation of a content item; and

associating slots in the template with each content item in the group of content items so the featured content item in the group is associated with a slot having a larger size than slots associated with other content items in the group.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the content items included in the feed have one or more characteristics from a set and have at least a threshold score representing a measure of interest of the user in the content items determined based at least in part on information associated with the user and one or more characteristics of the content items.

16. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having instruction encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

receive a feed of content items for presentation to a user of a social networking system, the feed including content items associated with one or more additional users of the social networking system;

receive information identifying one or more groups of content items included in the feed, each a group including one or more content items each having a common characteristic;

select a featured content item in each group of content items, a featured content item in a group determined by applying a scoring function associated with the group to content items included in the group; and

present one or more of the groups of content items so featured content items in each group are visually distinguished from other content items in each group.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the scoring function associated with the group determines an expected amount of interaction by the user with content items included in the group.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein select the featured content item in each group of content items comprises:

rank content items included in the group based on the expected amount of interaction by the user with each content item included in the group; and

select the featured content item based at least in part on the ranking.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein present one or more of the groups of content items so featured content items in each group are visually distinguished from other content items in each group comprises:

retrieve a template for presenting the group of content items in additional feed based at least in part on a characteristic associated with the group, the template including a plurality of slots, each slot having a size and specifying a location for presentation of a content item; and

associate slots in the template with each content item in the group of content items so the featured content item in the group is associated with a slot having a larger size than slots associated with other content items in the group.

20. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the content items included in the feed have one or more characteristics from a set and have at least a threshold score representing a measure of interest of the user in the content items determined based at least in part on information associated with the user and one or more characteristics of the content items.