Compatibility scoring of users

• US 8,571,998 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2012
• Issued: 10/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhu, Xiao Ming, Lunt, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): OUELLETTE, JONATHAN P
• Application Number:
  US13/432,641
• Publication Number:
  US 20120185539A1
• Time in Patent Office: 580 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1.1, 705/319
• US Class Current: 705/319
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

The compatibility score of members of a social network is based on the compatibility of their expressed interests. The compatibility score between any two interests is calculated as the log of the estimated probability that a member of the social network will express both interests divided by the product of: (i) the estimated probability that a member of the social network will express the first of the two interests and (ii) the estimated probability that a member of the social network will express the second of the two interests. The compatibility score between two individuals is calculated as the sum of the compatibility scores between each interest appearing in a set of interests expressed by the first of the two individuals and each interest appearing in a set of interests expressed by the second of the two individuals.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving search criteria from a first user of an online social network, the search criteria comprising one or more interests;

selecting, using the one or more computer processors, one or more second users of the online social network who meet the search criteria, the selecting of each second user being based on;

(1) the one or more interests of the search criteria, and

(2) the interests of the second user,

estimating a probability of compatibility of each pair of interests, each pair including a first interest from the interests of the first user and a second interest from the interests of the second user;

calculating, for each second user, a total probability of compatibility score for all interests with respect to the first user; and

sending information associated with the one or more second users to the first user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting is based on an interest compatibility score for each pair of interests.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the interest compatibility score for a pair of interests is based on the estimated probability of compatibility calculated for the pair of interests divided by the product of the estimated probability of compatibility calculated for a first interest of the pair of interests and the estimated probability of compatibility calculated for a second interest of the pair of interests.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the search criteria is received in relation to the online social network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the search criteria is received in relation to a third-party website, application, or web service.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more second users are connected to the first user within the online social network.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating an interest compatibility score between each pair of interests, the interest compatibility score for each pair of interests being based on the estimated probability of compatibility of the pair of interests.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the search criteria is received from a client system of the first user.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising determining one or more compatible interests, wherein each compatible interest has an interest compatibility score in relation to a first interest that exceeds a pre-determined threshold score.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the selecting of each second user is further based on:

(3) the one or more compatible interests.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the sent information associated with the one or more second users comprises search results identifying one or more of the second users.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing a social graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes, each of one or more of the nodes being associated with one of a plurality of users of an online social network, each connection between two nodes representing a relationship between the two nodes and establishing a single degree of separation between the two nodes.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the first user is associated with a first node of the plurality of nodes; and

each second user is associated with a second node of the plurality of nodes.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the selecting of each second user is further based on:

(3) a degree of separation between the first user and the second user in the social graph.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising normalizing the one or more interests received in the search criteria from the first user.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein normalizing the one or more interests comprises classifying each interest of the search criteria to a corresponding normalized interest, wherein each normalized interest corresponds to a plurality of interests.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimated probability of compatibility of a pair of interests represents the probability that a user of the social network will express both interests of the pair of interests among the interests of the user.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the interests of the first user comprise the interests received in the search criteria from the first user.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the interests of the first user comprise one or more interests associated with a user profile of the first user.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the sent information associated with the one or more second users comprises the calculated total probability of compatibility scores for the second users.

21. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying logic that is operable when executed to:

receive search criteria from a first user of an online social network, the search criteria comprising one or more interests;

select one or more second users of the online social network who meet the search criteria, the selection of each second user being based on;

(1) the one or more interests of the search criteria, and

(2) the interests of the second user,

estimating a probability of compatibility of each pair of interests, each pair including a first interest from the interests of the first user and a second interest from the interests of the second user;

calculate, for each second user, a total probability of compatibility score for all interests with respect to the first user; and

send information associated with the one or more second users to the first user.

22. A system, comprising:

one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media encoded with instructions; and

one or more processors operable to execute the instructions to;

receive search criteria from a first user of an online social network, the search criteria comprising one or more interests;

select one or more second users of the online social network who meet the search criteria, the selection of each second user being based on;

(1) the one or more interests of the search criteria, and

(2) the interests of the second user,

estimating a probability of compatibility of each pair of interests, each pair including a first interest from the interests of the first user and a second interest from the interests of the second user;

calculate, for each second user, a total probability of compatibility score for all interests with respect to the first user; and

send information associated with the one or more second users to the first user.