Providing an answer to a question from a social network site using a separate messaging site

• US 8,412,770 B2
• Filed: 02/08/2010
• Issued: 04/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thryv, Inc. (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Original Assignee: YellowPages.com LLC (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Inventors: Marcucci, Justin, Randquist, Coby P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Joo, Joshua
• Application Number:
  US12/702,114
• Publication Number:
  US 20110196922A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,149 Days
• Field of Search: 709204-206
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A question is received on a first social network site from a first user. The question is sent to a second user of a second social network site who receives the question from the second social network site. The first social network site receives an answer to the question from the second user via the second social network site and provides the answer to the first user.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, via a computing device, a question posted on a first social network site by a first user that is a member of the first social network site;

sending, via the computing device, the question to a second social network site, such that the question is posted on the second social network site and is directed to a second user that is a member of a second social network site;

receiving, via the computing device, an answer to the question from the second user, wherein the answer is received from the second social network site;

providing the answer to the first user;

receiving, via the computing device, a plurality of prior questions of the first user that were sent to the second social network site;

receiving, via the computing device, a plurality of answers to the prior questions of the first user, wherein the plurality of answers are received from a plurality of users of the second social network site;

correlating, via the computing device, one or more of the plurality of prior questions with one or more of the plurality of answers to the prior questions; and

providing, via the computing device, an activity feed to the first user on the first social network site, the activity feed comprising the one or more of the plurality of prior questions and the one or more of the plurality of answers to the prior questions correlated to the one or more of the plurality of prior questions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the answer comprises presenting the answer on a list of questions and respective answers provided for presentation in a web page on a display of a user device of the first user.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing a list of aliases and corresponding user names, a first alias of the list of aliases corresponding to the first user, wherein the answer received from the second social network site is addressed to the first alias.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the activity feed further comprises a plurality of favorites received from other users of the second social network site, wherein each of the other users has previously provided a respective one of the favorites in a message sent to the second social network site.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second social network site is a microblogging website, and further comprising storing data, on at least one a storage device, recording a plurality of friends of the first user, the data including a user name for each respective friend, and the friends including the second user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second social network site is a microblogging website, the question sent to the second user is a microblogging message, and the first social network site is integrated with the second social network site using an application program interface for the microblogging website.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user is a member of the second social network site, and the computing device has previously received an indication from the first user permitting the computing device to send questions received from the first user to the second social network site for forwarding to other members of the second social network site.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

parsing the answer received from the second social network site to determine a location contained within the answer; and

providing the location, with the answer provided to the first user, for display on a user device of the first user.

9. A non-transitory machine-readable medium, storing instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving a question posted on a first social network site by a first user that is a member of the first social network site;

sending the question to a second social network site, such that the question is posted on the second social network site and is directed to a second user that is a member of a second social network site;

receiving an answer to the question from the second user, wherein the answer is received from the second social network site;

providing the answer to the first user;

receiving a plurality of prior questions of the first user that were sent to the second social network site;

receiving a plurality of answers to the prior questions of the first user, wherein the plurality of answers are received from a plurality of users of the second social network site;

correlating one or more of the plurality of prior questions with one or more of the plurality of answers to the prior questions; and

providing an activity feed to the first user on the first social network site, the activity feed comprising the one or more of the plurality of prior questions and the one or more of the plurality of answers to the prior questions correlated to the one or more of the plurality of prior questions.

10. The tangible non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein providing the answer comprises presenting the answer on a list of questions and respective answers provided for presentation in a web page on a display of a user device of the first user.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9, the method further comprising storing a list of aliases and corresponding user names, a first alias of the list of aliases corresponding to the first user, wherein the answer received from the second social network site is addressed to the first alias.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the activity feed further comprises a plurality of favorites received from other users of the second social network site, wherein each of the other users has previously provided a respective one of the favorites in a message sent to the second social network site.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the second social network site is a microblogging website, the question sent to the second user is a microblogging message, and the first social network site is integrated with the second social network site using an application program interface for the microblogging website.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory to;

receive a question posted on a first social network site by a first user that is a member of the first social network site;

send the question to a second social network site, such that the question is posted on the second social network site and is directed to a second user that is a member of a second social network site,

receive an answer to the question from the second user, wherein the answer is received from the second social network site,

provide the answer to the first user;

receive a plurality of prior questions of the first user that were sent to the second social network site;

receive a plurality of answers to the prior questions of the first user, wherein the plurality of answers are received from a plurality of users of the second social network site;

correlate one or more of the plurality of prior questions with one or more of the plurality of answers to the prior questions; and

provide an activity feed to the first user on the first social network site, the activity feed comprising the one or more of the plurality of prior questions and the one or more of the plurality of answers to the prior questions correlated to the one or more of the plurality of prior questions;

a storage device, coupled to the processor, storing a list of aliases and corresponding user names, a first alias of the list of aliases corresponding to the first user, wherein the answer received from the second social network site is addressed to the first alias.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the apparatus receives the question from a user device of the first user.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to present the answer on a list of questions and respective answers provided for presentation in a web page on a display of a user device of the first user.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to:

parse the answer received from the second social network site to determine a location contained within the answer; and

provide the location, with the answer provided to the first user, for display on a user device of the first user.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein:

the activity feed further comprises a plurality of favorites received from other users of the second social network site, each of the other users having previously provided a respective one of the favorites in a respective message sent to the second social network site.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the second social network site is a microblogging website, the question sent to the second user is a microblogging message, and the first social network site is integrated with the second social network site using an application program interface for the microblogging website.