One-way public relationships

• US 8,380,639 B2
• Filed: 07/06/2009
• Issued: 02/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Aleong, Michelle M., Elliott, Paul A., Sethi, Bhupinder S., Zappa, Eric J.
• Primary Examiner(s): OUELLETTE, JONATHAN P
• Application Number:
  US12/498,279
• Publication Number:
  US 20110004519A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,324 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1
• US Class Current: 705/319
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/00 Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications user-to-user messaging H04L51/00; network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols

Abstract

Techniques are described to establish one-way public relationships. In an implementation, a control is exposed that is operable to become a fan of an object within a social networking page. Responsive to operation of the control, data may be stored to establish a one-way public relationship between a user and the selected object. By establishing a one-way public relationship rather than a mutual friend relationship, the object and/or a corresponding owner of the object is not included in the user'"'"'s social network and is not provided access to the user'"'"'s profile, status, or other personal information. The one-way public relationship may be employed by a service provider to serve content related to the object to the user. The one-way public relationships may also be employed by the service provider to push status updates regarding the object to “fans” of the object.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

configuring a webpage for output to a client over a network to provide to a user of the client an indication of one or more other users that are part of a social network of the user and have established one-way public relationships, respectively, with another user corresponding to an object of a social networking service available from a service provider;

exposing a control on the webpage to the client in conjunction with the object, the control selectable by the user of the client to establish a one-way public relationship with the other user corresponding to the object;

responsive to operation of the control, establishing the one-way public relationship by storing data to associate the user as a fan of the object without establishing a mutual friend relationship between the user and the other user; and

based on the one-way public relationship, allowing the user of the client to post on a profile page associated with an owner of the object.

2. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the one-way public relationship enables the user to obtain content and status updates regarding the object in conjunction with a plurality of services from the service provider.

3. A method as described in claim 1, wherein storing data to associate the user as a fan of the object comprises storing the data in association with an account of the user with the service provider.

4. A method as described in claim 3, wherein the account of the user enables access to a plurality of services provided by the service provider based upon a single authentication.

5. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the webpage is a social networking page presented to the user in conjunction with the social networking service available from the service provider.

6. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the webpage is a personal page of the user presented in conjunction with one or more services from the service provider.

7. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising communicating status updates regarding the object to the user based upon the one-way public relationship.

8. A method as described in claim 7, wherein communicating the status updates regarding the object comprises configuring webpages for output to the user that include the status updates.

9. A method as described in claim 7, wherein communicating the status updates regarding the object comprises distributing the status updates to the user as one or more electronic communications.

10. A method as described in claim 1, wherein operation of the control comprises a single-click that automatically causes the establishing of the one-way public relationship.

11. A method as described in claim 1, wherein:

operation of the control presents the user with an option to select the one-way public relationship or a mutual friend relationship with the other user; and

the establishing of the one-way public relationship occurs based upon a selection received from the user in response to the option.

12. A method as described in claim 1, wherein:

the client is authenticated to an account of the user with the service provider;

profile data associated with the account includes a setting that designates the one-way public relationship as a default type of relationship; and

the establishing of the one-way public relationship occurs based upon the setting included in the profile data.

13. A method comprising:

authenticating a client to an account of a user to permit interaction with a plurality of services available via a service provider over a network;

ascertaining one or more one-way public relationships between the client and objects of a social networking service provided by the service provider based upon relation data stored in conjunction with the account; and

configuring webpages for the interaction of the client with the plurality of services based upon the ascertained one or more one-way public relationships, at least one of the plurality of services configured to allow the client to post on social network pages associated with owners of the objects based upon the ascertained one or more one-way public relationships, the webpages being configured to provide an indication of one or more other user that are in a social network associated with the account of the user and which have established one-way public relationships, respectively, with the objects.

14. A method as described in claim 13, wherein the one or more one-way public relationships enable the user to express interest in the objects without establishing mutual friend relationships with owners of the objects.

15. A method as described in claim 14, wherein configuring the webpages includes selecting content and advertisements for the webpages that are related to the objects.

16. One or more computer-readable storage media comprising instructions that, when executed by a computing device configured to provide social networking service to a plurality of clients, cause the computing device to:

establish one-way public relationships between the plurality of clients and an object corresponding to a social networking webpage of an owner in response to user selections of the object received from the plurality of clients;

allow the plurality of clients to post on the social networking webpage of the owner of the object based upon the established one-way public relationships;

serve content associated with the object to the plurality of clients based upon the one-way public relationships; and

configure webpages output to one or more of the plurality of clients based upon the established one-way public relationships by at least causing the webpages to indicate which of the plurality of clients having the established one-way public relationships with the object are also in a social network associated with the one or more of the plurality of clients to which the webpages are output.

17. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 16, wherein the one-way public relationships to the object are configured such that the owner is not included in social networks corresponding to the plurality of clients.

18. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 16, wherein the content includes advertisements selected based upon the one-way public relationships.

19. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 16, wherein the one-way public relationships are established in accordance with an attribute of the object that designates a type of relationship to establish for the object.

20. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 16, wherein the one-way public relationships are establishable without requiring an acknowledgment by the owner of the object.