CALCULATING AN ENTITY'S LOCATION SIZE VIA SOCIAL GRAPH

• US 20160065628A1
• Filed: 08/29/2014
• Published: 03/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Linkedln Corporation
• Inventors: Guo, Songtao, Yan, Baoshi, Lai, Alex Ching, Wang, Ke
• Granted Patent: US 10,044,775 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15

Abstract

Techniques for determining a location of an entity are described. A determination module using member profile data may determine the location of the entity. Member profile data can include information about a member'"'"'s employer and the employer'"'"'s location. The module accesses member profiles from a social network. Additionally, the module may create a subgroup of entity-related member profiles from the accessed member profiles. The entity-related member profiles can be associated with a specific entity. Furthermore, the module may determine a suggested location for the specific entity based on location information derived from the related member profiles. Moreover, the module may calculate a connection density for the specific entity based on connections associated with the entity-related member profiles. Subsequently, the module may determine that the suggested location is a physical location when the calculated connection density is above a pre-determined threshold value.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing, using a network interface device, a specific location associated with an entity, the specific location being determined from entity-related member profiles of a social network;

determining, using a processor, a number of location-related member profiles associated with the specific location from the entity-related member profiles;

determining a penetration rate tier the social network based on the specific location; and

calculating a location size for the specific location associated with the entity based on the determined number of location-related member profiles and the determined penetration rate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination of the number of location-related member profiles includes:

calculating a connection density for a potential member profile from the entity-related member profiles, the potential member profile being associated with the entity and the specific location; and

adding the potential member profile to the number of location-related member profiles, when the connection density is above a pre-determined connection density threshold.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination of the number of location related member profiles further comprises:

calculating a member engagement value for a potential member profile from the entity-related member profiles, the member engagement value corresponding to an amount of usage of the social network by the potential member profile; and

adding the potential member profile to the number of location-related member profiles, when the member engagement value is above a pre-determined engagement threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination of the number of location related member profiles further comprises:

calculating a pagerank value for a potential member profile from the entity-related member profiles, the pagerank value corresponding to a probability that a user accesses the potential member profile; and

adding the potential member profile to the number of location-related member profiles, when the pagerank value is above a pre-determined pagerank. threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the entity has a company page on the social network, further comprising:

presenting, on the company page, the location size for the specific location associated with the entity.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user input corresponding to a company size at the specific location; and

verifying the company size at the specific location based on the calculated location size.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user input corresponding to a company size for the entity; and

verifying the company size based on the calculated location size for the specific location and one or more other location sizes for one or more other locations associated with the entity.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the penetration rate for the social network is further based on a number of active Internet users for the specific location.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the penetration rate for the social network is further based on a penetration rate for a business department associated with the location-related member profiles.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the penetration rate for the social network is further based on social graph data for the location-related member profiles.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the penetration rate for the social network is further based on member activity and behavior data for the location-related member profiles.

12. A system comprising:

a network interface configured to;

access a specific location associated with an entity, the specific location being determined from entity-related member profiles of a social network; and

a location module, using a processor, configured to;

determine a number of location-related member profiles associated with the specific location from the entity-related member profiles;

determine a penetration rate for the social network based on the specific location; and

calculate a location size for the specific location associated with the entity based on the determined number of location-related member profiles and the determined penetration rate.

13. The system of claim 12, the location module further configured to:

calculate a connection density for a potential member profile from the entity-related member profiles, the potential member profile being associated with the entity and the specific location; and

add the potential member profile to the number of location-related member profiles, when the connection density is above a pre-determined connection density threshold.

14. The system of claim 12, the location module further configured to:

calculate a member engagement value for a potential member profile from the entity-related member profiles, the member engagement value corresponding to an amount of usage of the social network by the potential member profile; and

add the potential member profile to the number of location-related member profiles, when the member engagement value is above a pre-determined engagement threshold.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the entity has a company page on the social network, the system comprising a display module configured to:

present, on the company page, the location size for the specific location associated with the entity.

17. The system of claim 12, the location module further configured to:

receive a user input corresponding to a company size at the specific location; and

verify the company size at the specific location based on the calculated location size.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the penetration rate for the social network is further based on a penetration rate for a business department associated with the location-related member profiles.

15. The system of claim 112, the location module further configured to:

calculate a pagerank value for a potential member profile from the entity-related member profiles, the pagerank value corresponding to a probability that a user accesses the potential member profile; and

add the potential member profile to the number of location-related member profiles, when the pagerank value is above a pre-determined pagerank threshold.

18. The system of claim 112, the location module further configured to:

receive a user input corresponding to a company size for the entity; and

verify the company size based on the calculated location size for the specific location and one or more other location sizes for one or more other locations associated with the entity.

20. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

accessing, using a network interface device, a specific location associated with an entity, the specific location being determined from entity-related member profiles of a social network;

determining, using a processor, a number of location-related member profiles associated with the specific location from the entity-related member profiles;

determining a penetration rate for the social network based on the specific location; and

calculating a location size for the specific location associated with the entity based on the determined number of location-related member profiles and the determined penetration rate.