Predicting user responses to invitations in a social networking system based on keywords in user profiles

• US 8,145,584 B2
• Filed: 08/21/2011
• Issued: 03/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Juan, Yun-Fang, Jin, Kang-Xing
• Primary Examiner(s): Gaffin, Jeffrey A
• Assistant Examiner(s): OLUDE AFOLABI, OLATOYOSI
• Application Number:
  US13/214,211
• Publication Number:
  US 20110302160A1
• Time in Patent Office: 219 Days
• Field of Search: 706/45, 705/319, 709/218
• US Class Current: 706/45
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

A social networking system selects a subset of keywords from a set of master keywords found in user profiles. The method includes selecting a first and second group of user profiles including one or more keywords and computing the number of occurrences of each of the master keywords in the first and second group of profiles. A value may be computed for each of the master keywords based on a comparison of the number of occurrences in the first group of profiles and the number of occurrences in the second group of profiles. The computed value may be used for selecting the subset of keywords from the master keywords and/or ranking the master keywords.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining a set of keywords for predicting a user'"'"'s response to an invitation in a social networking system;

sending the invitation to each of a plurality of users of a social networking system;

observing responses to the invitation from a first group of users who responded positively to the invitation;

observing responses to the invitation from a second group of users who responded negatively to the invitation;

determining an occurrence of the keywords in a first group of user profiles, the first group of user profiles associated with the first group of users;

determining an occurrence of the keywords in a second group of user profiles, the second group of user profiles associated with the second group of users;

computing a score for each keyword based on a comparison of the occurrences of the keywords in the first and second groups of user profiles; and

selecting one or more of the keywords from the keywords based on the score of the keywords.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the invitation comprises a request to perform an action, the action selected from a group consisting of:

joining a group, exchanging information, responding to a survey, writing a blog entry, and verifying a photo tag.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the invitation comprises an advertisement.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the responses to the invitation from the first group of users comprise performing an action requested by the invitation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the responses to the invitation from the second group of users comprise declining to perform an action requested by the invitation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the responses to the invitation from the second group of users comprise ignoring the invitation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the keywords comprise words relate to demographic information about the users.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the keywords comprise words relate to declared interests of the users.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the keywords comprise words relate to actions performed by the users.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the computed score for each keyword is a function of a differential between the occurrences of the keywords in the first and second groups of user profiles.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the computed score for each keyword is based on a function that increases as the difference between the occurrence of the keyword in the first group of user profiles versus the occurrence of the keyword in the second group of user profiles increases.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the computed score for each keyword is based on a function of the occurrences of the keywords in the first and second groups of user profiles, wherein the function is selected from a group consisting of:

an arithmetic difference, a ratio difference, an information gain, an odds ratio, and a relevancy score.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of users of the social networking system to whom the invitation is sent comprise a randomly selected subset of all users of the social networking system.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of users of the social networking system to whom the invitation is sent are selected based on a calculated probability that the users will respond to the invitation.

15. A computer-implemented method comprising:

sending an invitation to each of a plurality of users of a social networking system, the invitation prompting the users to perform an action in the social networking system;

observing responses to the invitation from a first group of users who responded positively to the invitation;

observing responses to the invitation from a second group of users who responded negatively to the invitation;

determining an occurrence of a set of keywords in a first group of user profiles corresponding to the first group of users;

determining an occurrence of the set of keywords in a second group of user profiles corresponding to the second group of users;

selecting one or more of the keywords from the set of keywords based on a comparison of the occurrence of the keywords in the first group of user profiles versus the occurrence of the keyword in the second group of user profiles; and

for a user of the social networking system other than the first and second groups of users, predicting whether the will respond to the invitation based at least in part on whether the selected keywords occur in the user'"'"'s user profile.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the action is selected from a group consisting of:

joining a group, exchanging information, responding to a survey, writing a blog entry, and verifying a photo tag.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the invitation comprises an advertisement.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the keywords comprise words relate to demographic information about the users.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the keywords comprise words relate to declared interests of the users.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the keywords comprise words relate to actions performed by the users.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the computed score for each keyword is based on a function of the occurrences of the keywords in the first and second groups of user profiles, wherein the function is selected from a group consisting of:

an arithmetic difference, a ratio difference, an information gain, an odds ratio, and a relevancy score.

22. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining a set of keywords for predicting a user'"'"'s response to an invitation in a social networking system;

sending the invitation to each of a plurality of users of a social networking system;

observing responses to the invitation from users who responded to the invitation;

a step for scoring the keywords based on an occurrence of the keywords in one or more user profiles of the users who responded to the invitation;

selecting one or more of the keywords based on the step for scoring the keywords; and

using the selected keywords to predict how one or more other users will respond to the invitation.