INFERRING TARGET CLUSTERS BASED ON SOCIAL CONNECTIONS

• US 20160267549A1
• Filed: 05/20/2016
• Published: 09/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zigoris, Philip, Yan, Rong, Singla, Ankush, Garcia-Martinez, Antonio Felipe
• Granted Patent: US 10,489,825 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A seed cluster comprising a group of users who share a particular attribute and/or affiliation is determined by a social networking system. For each user of the seed cluster, other users and/or entities connected to the user in the social networking system are retrieved. For each retrieved other user or entity, the social networking system may determine whether the other user or entity exhibits the attribute or affiliation based on a random walk algorithm. A resulting targeting cluster of users and/or entities may be used for targeting advertisements targeting to members. A social networking system may also infer an affiliation for a user based on the user'"'"'s interaction with a page, application, or entity where other users who interacted with the same page, application, or entity have the same affiliation.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a plurality of seed users of an online social networking system, where each seed user previously self-declared a particular affiliation in the user'"'"'s profile on the online social networking system;

for each seed user;

selecting a plurality of social connections connected to the seed user in the online social networking system, wherein each of the plurality of social connections has not previously self-declared the particular affiliation; and

for each selected social connection of the plurality of social connections connected to the seed user in the online social networking system, determining by a processor an inference that the social connection has the particular affiliation based on one or more secondary connections of the social connection having the particular affiliation satisfying a predetermined criteria; and

storing information defining a targeting cluster of users in the online social networking system, where the targeting cluster comprises the seed cluster of users and the one or more social connections inferred to have the particular affiliation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a plurality of social connections of the seed user further comprises:

retrieving a listing of the plurality of social connections connected to the seed user from the user profile of the seed user; and

determining the plurality of social connections connected to the seed user based on the retrieved listing.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a plurality of social connections of the seed user further comprises:

retrieving a plurality of edge objects associated the seed user in the online social networking system; and

determining the plurality of social connections connected to the seed user based on the retrieved plurality of edge objects.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a plurality of social connections of the seed user further comprises:

retrieving a plurality of content objects associated the seed user in the online social networking system; and

determining the plurality of social connections connected to the seed user based on the retrieved plurality of content objects.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an inference that the social connection has the particular affiliation further comprises:

responsive to determining that a predetermined threshold percentage of one or more secondary connections of the social connection that have the particular affiliation, determining the inference that the social connection has the particular affiliation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an inference that the social connection has the particular affiliation further comprises:

responsive to a score exceeding a predetermined threshold score, the score determined using a scoring model on the one or more secondary connections of the social connection that have the particular affiliation, determining the inference that the social connection has the particular affiliation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined criteria comprises at least a predetermined threshold percentage of one or more secondary connections of the social connection having the particular affiliation.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the predetermined threshold percentage comprises at least eighty percent.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of the particular affiliation shared by the targeting cluster from an advertiser selecting targeting criteria for an ad request.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein inferring that the social connection has the particular affiliation based on one or more secondary connections of the social connection having the particular affiliation satisfying a predetermined criteria further comprises:

determining a weighted average using a plurality of affinity scores of the seed user for the one or more secondary connections as weights; and

responsive to the determined weighted average exceeding a predetermined threshold for the social connection, inferring that the social connection has the particular affiliation.

11. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured to be executed by a server system, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

determining a plurality of seed users of an online social networking system, where each seed user previously self-declared a particular affiliation in the user'"'"'s profile on the online social networking system;

for each seed user;

selecting a plurality of social connections connected to the seed user in the online social networking system, wherein each of the plurality of social connections has not previously self-declared the particular affiliation; and

for each selected social connection of the plurality of social connections connected to the seed user in the online social networking system, determining by a processor an inference that the social connection has the particular affiliation based on one or more secondary connections of the social connection having the particular affiliation satisfying a predetermined criteria; and

storing information defining a targeting cluster of users in the online social networking system, where the targeting cluster comprises the seed cluster of users and the one or more social connections inferred to have the particular affiliation.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein determining a plurality of social connections of the seed user further comprises:

retrieving a listing of the plurality of social connections connected to the seed user from the user profile of the seed user; and

determining the plurality of social connections connected to the seed user based on the retrieved listing.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein determining a plurality of social connections of the seed user further comprises:

retrieving a plurality of edge objects associated the seed user in the online social networking system; and

determining the plurality of social connections connected to the seed user based on the retrieved plurality of edge objects.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein determining a plurality of social connections of the seed user further comprises:

retrieving a plurality of content objects associated the seed user in the online social networking system; and

determining the plurality of social connections connected to the seed user based on the retrieved plurality of content objects.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein determining an inference that the social connection has the particular affiliation further comprises:

responsive to determining that a predetermined threshold percentage of one or more secondary connections of the social connection that have the particular affiliation, determining the inference that the social connection has the particular affiliation.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein determining an inference that the social connection has the particular affiliation further comprises:

responsive to a score exceeding a predetermined threshold score, the score determined using a scoring model on the one or more secondary connections of the social connection that have the particular affiliation, determining the inference that the social connection has the particular affiliation.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the predetermined criteria comprises at least a predetermined threshold percentage of one or more secondary connections of the social connection having the particular affiliation.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the predetermined threshold percentage comprises at least eighty percent.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a selection of the particular affiliation shared by the targeting cluster from an advertiser selecting targeting criteria for an ad request.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein inferring that the social connection has the particular affiliation based on one or more secondary connections of the social connection having the particular affiliation satisfying a predetermined criteria further comprises:

determining a weighted average using a plurality of affinity scores of the seed user for the one or more secondary connections as weights; and

responsive to the determined weighted average exceeding a predetermined threshold for the social connection, inferring that the social connection has the particular affiliation.