Method and system for directly targeting and blasting messages to automatically identified entities on social media

• US 8,606,869 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2011
• Issued: 12/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Dun & Bradstreet Corp., DUN & Bradstreet Incorporated (Dun & Bradstreet Corp.), Hoover's Incorporated (Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Credibility Corp. (Dun & Bradstreet Corp.)
• Inventors: Stibel, Jeffrey M., Stibel, Aaron B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Daftuar, Saket K
• Application Number:
  US13/300,368
• Publication Number:
  US 20130097251A1
• Time in Patent Office: 753 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/200, 709/201, 709/202, 709/203, 709/204, 709/205, 709/207, 707/7, 707/10, 707/501, 707/513, 707/533, 715/526, 715/513, 715/531, 715/500, 715/501.1, 705/319
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/08 Annexed information, e.g. attachments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42382 Text-based messaging services in telephone networks such as PSTN/ISDN, e.g. User-to-User Signalling or Short Message Service for fixed networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4786 e-mailing message switching systems, e.g. electronic mail systems H04L51/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/9994 Distributed or remote access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99941 Database schema or data structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a communication tool that directly sends messages to accounts of different entities across different social media sites by automatically identifying and associating the accounts of the entities when the entities are referenced in the contents of the messages. Such identification and association is performed without the message originator manually specifying the accounts as intended recipients for the messages. The communication tool also automatically sends messages to different social media accounts of the message originator. The communication tool also blasts messages to an information aggregator that aggregates messages to develop a database from which the messages that target a particular entity can be presented irrespective of whether the particular entity has registered an account with any social media site, irrespective of which social media site the messages are originally destined for, and irrespective of whether a recipient is explicitly specified for the messages by the message originator.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method performed using at least one processor of an information aggregator, the computer-implemented method for generating a page comprising messages of a plurality of social media sites with each message referencing a particular entity, the method comprising:

aggregating, at the information aggregator, a plurality of messages from a plurality of communication tools, wherein each communication tool of the plurality of communication tools runs on a different end user device, wherein the information aggregator aggregates the plurality of messages upon dissemination from the plurality of communication tools to at least one social media site of the plurality of social media sites, and wherein the aggregating is performed without accessing the at least one social media site to which a message is disseminated;

identifying an entity that is referenced in body text of each message of the plurality of messages by detecting an alphanumeric identifier for the entity in the body text, wherein body text of a message is separate from headers of the message specifying a source and a recipient;

sorting the plurality of messages based on different entities that are identified in the body text of the plurality of messages; and

producing a set of groups based on said sorting with a particular group in the set of groups comprising at least a first message and a second message containing at least one identifier that references a common particular entity; and

generating a page at the information aggregator based on the particular group, the page comprising at least the first and the second messages that are aggregated for the particular entity.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising displaying the page when a request for the page of the particular entity is received.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying the entity comprises matching different fragments of a particular message from the plurality of messages to a plurality of alphanumeric identifiers that identify a plurality of entities, said matching for identifying a particular fragment that matches to an alphanumeric identifier for said entity.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the alphanumeric identifier comprises at least one of an entity name, username, address, telephone number, and email address.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying the entity comprises identifying the entity when the entity is at least one of a target of a message and a subject of a message.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising providing an interface for identifying an entity and displaying a page that presents messages that are aggregated for the entity identified in said interface.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising retrieving an advertisement that pertains to an identified entity that is referenced in a message aggregated from a particular communication tool of the plurality of communication tools.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 further comprising passing said advertisement to the particular communication tool for display on the particular communication tool.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising quantifying sentiment expressed in messages of the particular group and generating a score to represent said sentiment.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein generating the page comprises generating the page to present (i) the messages that are aggregated for the particular entity that is referenced within each message of the particular group and (ii) the score for the sentiment of the messages of the particular group.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising retrieving credit information for the particular entity, wherein said credit information expresses creditworthiness of the particular entity.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein generating the page comprises generating the page to present (i) the messages that are aggregated for the particular entity that is referenced within each message of the particular group and (ii) said credit information.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating the page to present the messages comprises presenting messages that are posted at a plurality of social media sites.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising configuring the plurality of communication tools to send a message to at least one social media site and the information aggregator performing each of said aggregating, identifying, sorting, producing and generating.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising deploying to a plurality of end users, the plurality of communication tools with a configuration for enabling said aggregation of the plurality of messages at the information aggregator.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first message specifies a recipient at a first social media site and the second message specifies a recipient at a second social media site that is different than the first social media site.

14. A communication system comprising:

a plurality of communication tools, each communication tool of the plurality of communication tools comprising a processor operable to disseminate messages to at least one account of at least one social media site, wherein the at least one account to which a particular message is disseminated is automatically identified from body text of the particular message by the processor of a particular communication tool of the plurality of communication tools that is used to disseminate the particular message, wherein the body text of the particular message comprises an alphanumeric identifier for an entity that has registered said account and said entity is not specified as a source or intended recipient of the particular message; and

an information aggregator comprising a processor operable to (i) aggregate said particular message from the particular communication tool upon dissemination of the particular message from the particular communication tool, (ii) sort the particular message and a plurality of messages that are aggregated from the plurality of communication tools by detecting alphanumeric identifiers that reference different entities within corresponding body text of the particular message and the plurality of messages, (iii) group said particular message in a group comprising at least a second message that contains an alphanumeric identifier for said entity in corresponding body text of the second message, and (iv) present messages of said group in a single interface, wherein the second message is aggregated from a communication tool of the plurality of communication tools that is different than the particular communication tool.

15. The communication system of claim 14, wherein each communication tool of the plurality of communication tools executes on a different end user device.

16. The communication system of claim 14 further comprising an advertising server communicably coupled to the information aggregator, wherein the advertising server provides to the particular communication tool an advertisement that is relevant for said entity.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon, wherein the program instructs a microprocessor to perform sets of instructions for:

aggregating a plurality of messages from a plurality of communication tools, wherein each communication tool of the plurality of communication tools runs on a different end user device, wherein the plurality of messages are aggregated upon dissemination from the plurality of communication tools to a plurality of social media sites, and wherein the aggregating is performed without accessing the at least one social media site to which a message is disseminated;

identifying an entity that is referenced in body text of a particular message of the plurality of messages by detecting an identifier for the entity in the body text of the particular message, wherein said identifier is not specified as a source or intended recipient of the particular message, and wherein said identifier comprises at least one of the entity'"'"'s name, telephone number, email address, and street address;

identifying at least one of an advertisement and promotional content based on the identified entity that is referenced in the body text of the particular message such that the at least one advertisement and promotional content is relevant on the basis of the body text irrespective of who originates and who receives the particular message, wherein each of the advertisement and promotional content is obtained from a source other than the communication tool; and

sending the identified advertisement or identified promotional content to a communication tool from which the particular message is aggregated for display in said communication tool.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the identified entity is a first entity and the particular message is a first message, and wherein said program further comprises a set of instructions for identifying a second entity that is referenced in a second message and a set of instructions for sending information about said second entity to a communication tool from which the second message is aggregated.