Ad retrieval for user search on social network sites

• US 8,768,922 B2
• Filed: 02/08/2008
• Issued: 07/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Crane, Andrew S., Lee, Philip, Shen, Dou
• Primary Examiner(s): Yen, Syling
• Application Number:
  US12/028,628
• Publication Number:
  US 20090204598A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,335 Days
• Field of Search: 707/706, 707/713, 707722-728, 707731-736, 707/758, 707/781, 707999003- 6, 705/14.73, 706/12, 706/45
• US Class Current: 707/733
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• 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: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

In this invention, systems and methods for providing keywords for advertising are provided. After a user searches for another user in a social network, the webpage or blog of the queried user is retrieved, and keywords are extracted from this webpage. The keywords may be extracted from the user'"'"'s profile on the social network (e.g., favorite sports, music artists, etc.), or keywords may be extracted from the text of the webpage (e.g., comments that comprise the blog entries). Once extracted, these keywords may then be used by an advertising system to provide targeted advertisements to the user.

Claims

1. One or more computer memory devices with computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method for determining keywords used in targeted advertising in a social network, the method comprising:

receiving, from a first user of the social network, a search query for a person on the social network, wherein the first user is associated with the first user'"'"'s own personal network;

determining two or more persons on the social network that satisfy the received search query;

determining one of the two or more persons on the social network that is most closely related to the first user by examining the first user'"'"'s own personal network, such determination being made without further input from the first user;

retrieving a webpage associated with the one of the two or more persons in the social network that is determined to satisfy the received search query and that is most closely related to the first user; and

extracting, using a keyword extracting component, one or more keywords from text of the retrieved webpage associated with the one of the two or more persons in the social network that is determined to satisfy the received search query and that is most closely related to the first user such that the one or more keywords are used to select one or more advertisements for presentation to the first user in association with the webpage associated with the one of the two or more persons in the social network determined to satisfy the received search query and that is most closely related to the first user.

2. The one or more computer storage media of claim 1, wherein the search query comprises a name of a second user on the social network.

3. The one or more computer storage media of claim 1, wherein the search query comprises an alias of a second user on the social network.

4. The one or more computer storage media of claim 1, wherein the search query comprises a name of two or more users on the social network.

5. The one or more computer storage media of claim 4, wherein the first user has a personal social network within the social network, and wherein the queried person is within the personal social network of the first user.

6. The one or more computer storage media of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises determining a value of the one or more keywords.

7. The one or more computer storage media of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises providing a presentation of advertisements of advertisers that have bid on the keywords.

8. A computer system for executing a method by one or more computer processors for providing targeted advertising in a social network, the computer system comprising:

a search request receiving component that receives, from a first user of the social network, a search query for a person on the social network, the search query corresponding to two or more persons on the social network;

a determining component that determines two or more persons on the social network that satisfy the received search query and, without further user action, determines that one of the two or more persons on the social network is most closely related to the first user;

a retrieving component that retrieves a webpage associated with the one of the two or more persons on the social network that satisfies the received search query and that is most closely related to the first user; and

a keyword extracting component that extracts one or more keywords from text of the retrieved webpage associated with the one of the two or more persons in the social network that is determined to satisfy the received search query and that is most closely related to the first user such that the one or more keywords are used to select one or more advertisements for presentation in association with the associated webpage to the first user.

9. The computer system of claim 8, further comprising an advertising system.

10. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the advertising system comprises a value determining component that determines a value for each of the one or more keywords.

11. The computer system of claim 9, further comprising a presenting component that provides a presentation of advertisements from the advertising system.

12. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the search request receiving component receives a search request for a name of a person within the social network.

13. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the search request receiving component receives a search request for an alias of a person within the social network.

14. One or more computer memory devices with computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method for providing targeted advertising on a social network, the method comprising:

receiving a search query from a first user of the social network,

the query being for a person on the social network;

determining two or more persons on the social network that satisfy the received search query;

determining that one of the two or more persons on the social network is most closely related to the first user, such determination being made without further input from the first user;

retrieving a webpage associated with the one of the two or more persons on the social network that is most closely related to the first user, the webpage having information associated therewith;

extracting, using a keyword extracting component, one or more keywords from text of the retrieved webpage associated with the one of the two or more persons in the social network that is determined to satisfy the received search query and that is most closely related to the first user, such that the one or more keywords are used to select one or more advertisements for presentation in association with the associated webpage, such presentation being to the first user in response to the received search query; and

determining a value of the one or more keywords using an advertising system, wherein advertisers bid on the value of the one or more keywords, and where the one or more keywords have not been previously bid by the advertisers.

15. The one or more computer storage media of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

providing for an optimal presentation of the one or more advertisements based on the value of the one or more keywords.

16. The one or more computer storage media of claim 14, wherein the search query comprises an alias for the person on the social network.

17. The one or more computer storage media of claim 14, wherein the information associated with the webpage includes a profile of the person on the social network.

18. The one or more computer storage media of claim 14, wherein the information associated with the webpage includes the text of the webpage of the person on the social network.