RESOURCE MANAGEMENT OF SOCIAL NETWORK APPLICATIONS

• US 20160142354A1
• Filed: 01/25/2016
• Published: 05/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rush, Alexander Matthew, Whitnah, Thomas Scott, Zhou, Ding, Sanghvi, Ruchi
• Granted Patent: US 9,832,150 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/783 Distributed allocation of resources, e.g. bandwidth brokers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers

Abstract

Applications in social networks support interaction between members through various types of channels such as notifications, newsfeed, and so forth. For each channel, applications are ranked based on their user affinity measures. User affinity is based on measuring positive and negative interactions by users as both senders and recipients of messages generated by applications. Metrics are computed for the different types of messages and interactions provided by applications. For each channel, an application receives user affinity score based on specific weighted combination of the metrics. Applications use channel resources to send messages to increase their user base. Given the large number of applications that are available, the extent to which applications are allowed to use channels is controlled, limiting their resource consumption. User affinity scores of applications calculated for a channel are used to decide the allocation of channel resources for an application.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

providing access to a plurality of applications provided by third-party developers on a social networking system;

receiving information about a plurality of interactions of a plurality of users of the social networking system, the interactions relating to one or more of the applications, each interaction associated with one of a plurality of action types, each action type associated with a measure of affinity of a user for an application;

aggregating the interactions of the plurality of users for a subject application of the plurality of applications based on the action types;

determining, by the social networking system, a user affinity score for the subject application indicating affinity of the users of the social networking system for the application, the user affinity score based at least in part on the aggregated interactions, weighted based on the action types of the interactions; and

receiving, by the social networking system, request to send one or more messages associated with the subject application; and

determining whether to send the one or more messages based on the user affinity score for the subject application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether to send the one or more messages comprises:

determining to send the one or more messages if the user affinity score for the subject application exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether to send the one or more messages comprises:

determining to block the one or more messages if the user affinity score for the subject application is below a predetermined threshold value.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more messages comprise a message for sending information describing the subject application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more messages comprise a request to a user of the social networking system to interact with the social networking system in relation to the subject application.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more messages are sent by a user of the social networking system executing the subject application, each of the one or more messages including information describing the subject application and sent to another user connected to the user via the social networking system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each action type is associated with a channel, wherein the channel is a computer mediated communication mechanism for facilitating communication between users of the social networking system and the social networking system.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the channel comprises one of:

notification channel, invitation channel, mini-feed channel, and wall post channel.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the user affinity score represents a likelihood of a user taking an action of a particular action type when presented with a specific application.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining to disable the subject application from being accessible to users of the social networking system if the user affinity score for the subject application is below a predetermined threshold value.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more messages comprise information for promoting the subject application.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for:

providing access to a plurality of applications provided by third-party developers on a social networking system;

receiving information about a plurality of interactions of a plurality of users of the social networking system, the interactions relating to one or more of the applications, each interaction associated with one of a plurality of action types, each action type associated with a measure of affinity of a user for an application;

aggregating the interactions of the plurality of users for a subject application of the plurality of applications based on the action types;

determining, by the social networking system, a user affinity score for the subject application indicating affinity of the users of the social networking system for the application, the user affinity score based at least in part on the aggregated interactions, weighted based on the action types of the interactions; and

receiving, by the social networking system, request to send one or more messages associated with the subject application; and

determining whether to send the one or more messages based on the user affinity score for the subject application.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein determining whether to send the one or more messages comprises:

determining to send the one or more messages if the user affinity score for the subject application exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein determining whether to send the one or more messages comprises:

determining to block the one or more messages if the user affinity score for the subject application is below a predetermined threshold value.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the one or more messages comprise a message for sending information describing the subject application.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the one or more messages comprise a request to a user of the social networking system to interact with the social networking system in relation to the subject application.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the one or more messages are sent by a user of the social networking system executing the subject application, each of the one or more messages including information describing the subject application and sent to another user connected to the user via the social networking system.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein each action type is associated with a channel, wherein the channel is a computer mediated communication mechanism for facilitating communication between users of the social networking system and the social networking system.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 wherein the channel comprises one of:

notification channel, invitation channel, mini-feed channel, and wall post channel.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the user affinity score represents a likelihood of a user taking an action of a particular action type when presented with a specific application.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the one or more messages comprise information for promoting the subject application.

22. A computer system, comprising:

an electronic processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for execution by the electronic processor, the instructions for;

providing access to a plurality of applications provided by third-party developers on a social networking system;

receiving information about a plurality of interactions of a plurality of users of the social networking system, the interactions relating to one or more of the applications, each interaction associated with one of a plurality of action types, each action type associated with a measure of affinity of a user for an application;

aggregating the interactions of the plurality of users for a subject application of the plurality of applications based on the action types;

determining, by the social networking system, a user affinity score for the subject application indicating affinity of the users of the social networking system for the application, the user affinity score based at least in part on the aggregated interactions, weighted based on the action types of the interactions; and

receiving, by the social networking system, request to send one or more messages associated with the subject application; and

determining whether to send the one or more messages based on the user affinity score for the subject application.