Access to trusted user-generated content using social networks

• US 8,250,096 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2008
• Issued: 08/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Su, Qi, Baker, Wendell
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn, Nathan
• Assistant Examiner(s): WRIGHT, BRYAN F
• Application Number:
  US12/059,711
• Publication Number:
  US 20090249451A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,604 Days
• Field of Search: 726/5
• US Class Current: 707/783
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A method to access trusted user generated content (UGC) is provided. User registration information containing one or more identities is obtained. Each identity corresponds to an internet social network that is facilitated by one of a plurality of social network sites. The social relationships are collected using the provided user identities at the different social network sites and user extended social networks are created for each user by joining the social relationships collected. Then, UGC is collected from the plurality of social network sites and the collected UGC is correlated with the extended social networks. The correlated UGC is filtered according to the user configuration of a user making a request, and then the results are presented to the requesting user. A search function is provided to obtain information on demand, or alternatively, a user receives feeds of information according to configured information regarding the user'"'"'s extended social network.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to access trusted user generated content (UGC), the method comprising:

receiving user registration information, the registration information including one or more identities for each user, each identity corresponding to a social network that is facilitated by one of a plurality of social network sites;

collecting social relationships corresponding to the identities for each user from the plurality of social network sites;

creating user extended social networks for each user by joining the collected social relationships, wherein an unregistered user is associated with an identity of the unregistered user in the one of the plurality of social network sites;

collecting UGC from the plurality of social network sites;

correlating the collected UGC with the extended social networks to identify an author of the UGC;

filtering the correlated UGC according to access rules defined by a requesting user and according to share rules defined by the author of the UGC, wherein the access rules and the share rules are defined in any of the plurality of social network sites of the author; and

providing the UGC to the requesting user, the UGC being available for presentation on a display.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein receiving user registration information further includes,

receiving a user ID for each identity, and

collecting a password associated with the user ID if the user provides the password.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein collecting social relationships further includes,

collecting existing user social relationships in each social network site.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein creating user extended social networks further includes one of,

expanding an existing social network to include the collected social relationships and UGC, or

creating a new social network to manage the user extended social networks.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein collecting UGC further includes,

collecting only content allowed by the content'"'"'s owner.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein collecting UGC further includes using a web crawl algorithm to collect social network site content.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein collecting UGC further includes using an Application Programming Interface (API) to collect social network site content.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the UGC is one of ratings, reviews or wish lists.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the UGC contains information regarding at least one topic from the group consisting of,

travel, restaurants, shopping, products, services, community, politics, employment, or website.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein correlating further includes,

associating each item of collected UGC with all the identities registered for a user that authored the item.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein filtering the correlated UGC further includes sharing UGC according to privacy options of an authoring user, the privacy options being selected from a group consisting of content selection, target users, or authorship identification.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein filtering the correlated UGC further includes imposing restrictions on specific UGC that can not be shared according to privacy options of the author of the UGC.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein filtering the correlated UGC further includes using search parameters to filter the UGC.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein providing content further includes,

accessing content on demand, and

using search parameters to filter information.

15. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein providing content further includes,

receiving a request from the requesting user to subscribe to a service that feeds content,

filtering the feeds content according to the access rules, and

presenting the filtered feed content.

16. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein providing content further includes giving recommendations from authors with similar preferences as those preferences from the user.

17. The method as recited in claim 1 further including,

providing behavioral data obtained from the extended social network.

18. A computer program embedded in a computer-readable storage medium, when executed by one or more processors, for accessing trusted UGC, the computer program comprising:

computer code for receiving user registration information, the registration information including one or more identities for each user, each identity corresponding to a social network that is facilitated by one of a plurality of social network sites;

computer code for collecting social relationships corresponding to the identities for each user from the plurality of social network sites;

computer code for creating user extended social networks for each user by joining the collected social relationships, wherein an unregistered user is associated with an identity of the unregistered user in the one of the plurality of social network sites;

computer code for collecting UGC from the plurality of social network sites;

computer code for correlating the collected UGC with the extended social networks to identify an author of the UGC;

computer code for collecting user privacy preferences for sharing;

computer code for filtering the correlated UGC according to access rules defined by a requesting user and according to share rules defined by the author of the UGC, wherein the access rules and the share rules are defined in any of the plurality of social network sites of the author; and

computer code for providing the UGC to the requesting user, the UGC being available for presentation on a display.

19. The computer program as recited in claim 18, wherein the computer code for collecting UGC further includes using an Application Programming Interface (API) to collect social network site content.

20. The computer program as recited in claim 18, wherein the computer code for correlating further includes associating each item of collected UGC with all the identities registered for a user that authored the item.

21. A system to access trusted UGC, the system comprising:

a plurality of social network sites;

a registration server having a processor to receive user registration information, the registration information including one or more identities for each user, each identity corresponding to a social network that is facilitated by one of the plurality of social network sites;

a crawler that collects UGC and social relationships corresponding to the identities for each user from the plurality of social network sites;

a user metadata database including user extended social networks for each user and user privacy preferences, the user extended social networks being created by joining the collected social relationships, the collected UGC being correlated with the extended social networks, wherein an unregistered user is associated with an identity of the unregistered user in the one of the plurality of social network sites;

a user content database including the UGC obtained by the crawler;

a search engine to filter the correlated UGC according to access rules defined by a requesting user, the access rules being defined in any of the plurality of social network sites of the requesting user; and

a display to provide the UGC to the requesting user.

22. The system as recited in claim 21, further including

a subscription server to enable users to subscribe to a service that feeds content, the feeds content being filtered according to the access rules and presented to the requesting user after being filtered.

23. The system as recited in claim 21, wherein the crawler collects existing user social relationships in each social network site.

24. The system as recited in claim 21, wherein the crawler collects UGC using a web crawl algorithm to collect social network site content.

25. The system as recited in claim 21, wherein the UGC contains information regarding at least one topic from the group consisting of,

travel, restaurants, shopping, products, services, community, politics, employment, or website.