Social advertisements and other informational messages on a social networking website, and advertising model for same

• US 8,799,068 B2
• Filed: 08/18/2008
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cohler, Matthew R., Zuckerberg, Mark E., Juan, Yun-Fang, Jin, Robert Kang Xing, Rosenstein, Justin M., Bosworth, Andrew G., Palihapitiya, Chamath M., Kendall, Timothy A., Wong, Yishan, D'Angelo, Adam
• Primary Examiner(s): Sittner, Matthew T
• Application Number:
  US12/193,702
• Publication Number:
  US 20090119167A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,178 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/14.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A social networking website logs information about actions taken by members of the website. For a particular member of the website, the website generates socially relevant ads for the member based on the actions logged for other members on the website to whom the member is connected (i.e., the member'"'"'s online friends). The advertiser associated with the social ad may compensate the social networking website for publishing the ad on the website. When presenting a member with a social ad, the website may optimize advertising revenue by selecting an ad from the received ads that will maximize the expected value of the social ad. The expected value may be computed according to a function that includes the member'"'"'s affinity for the ad content and the bid amount. The technique is also applied for providing socially relevant information off the social networking website.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a social networking computer system, an advertisement request from an advertiser to advertise in a social networking system;

identifying an indication in the advertisement request of a type of action performed on an object by a connection of a viewing user, the action type selectable by the advertiser from a plurality of action types on objects provided to the advertiser by the social networking computer system;

maintaining, by the social networking computer system, a profile for a plurality of users of the social networking system, each profile identifying a connection to each of a plurality of other users of the social networking system, the plurality of users comprising the viewing user;

logging, by the social networking computer system, information related to actions taken by the users of the social networking system who have a connection to the viewing user;

using, by the social networking computer system, the logged information to match an advertisement request to an action that;

(1) corresponds to the type of action identified in the advertisement request, and

(2) was taken by a user of the social networking system who has a connection to the viewing user;

generating, by the social networking computer system, an advertisement for the viewing user, the advertisement comprising;

an informational message that communicates information related to the corresponding action that was taken by a user of the social networking system who has a connection to the viewing user; and

providing, by the social networking computer system, the generated advertisement for display to the viewing user.

2. The method of claim1, wherein the steps of using the logged information to match an advertisement request to an action, generating an advertisement, and providing the generated advertisement for display to the viewing user are in response to a request from the user for a web page.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the social networking system is a social networking website.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement is incorporated in a display of non-advertisement messages, each non-advertisement message communicating logged actions associated with other users of the social networking system with whom the viewing user has a connection.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the logged information is related to actions communicated to the social networking system and not directly observed by the socia1 networking system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement requests specify targeting criteria, and using the logged information to match an advertisement request to an action comprises applying the target criteria.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein using the logged information to match an advertisement request to an action comprises:

determining an affinity score between the viewing user and each of a plurality of actions that match an advertisement request; and

selecting the action having the highest affinity score.

8. The method claim 1, wherein the informational message in the generated advertisement communicates information about a plurality of users'"'"' having performed the matching action.

9. A system comprising:

a processor;

a web server configured to present advertisement on web pages;

a profile store containing a profile for each of a plurality of users of a website, each profile identifying a connection to each of a plurality of other users of the website, the plurality of users comprising a viewing user;

an action log for storing a plurality of entries, each entry describing an action taken on an object by a user of the website who has a connection to the viewing user;

an action logger capable of receiving and adding entries to the action log based on messages about actions taken on objects;

an advertisement request database for storing a plurality of advertisement requests from an advertiser, wherein each advertisement identifies;

a type of action performed on an object by a connection of a viewing user, the action type selectable by the advertiser from a plurality of action types on objects provided to the advertiser by the social networking computer system;

an advertising server for receiving advertisement requests from the advertiser to advertise on the website, the advertising server configured to provide an advertisement for the viewing user to the web server, the advertisement obtained by;

determining that an action of the action type identified in the advertisement request was taken on the object by a connection of the viewing user,

using the logged information to match an advertisement request to an action that;

(1) corresponds to the type of action identified in the advertisement request, and

(2) was taken by a connection of the viewing user; and

generating an advertisement for the viewing user, the advertisement comprising an informational message that communicates information related to the corresponding action that was taken by a connection of the viewing user.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the website is a social networking website.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the web server is configured to present the generated advertisement on the web page as being incorporated in a display of non-advertisement messages, each non-advertisement message communicating actions associated with other users of the website with whom the viewing user has a connection.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the action logger is coupled to receive messages about actions communicated to the website and not directly observed by the website, and to add entries to the action log based thereon.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the advertisement requests specify targeting criteria, and using the logged information to match an advertisement request to an action comprises applying the targeting criteria.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the ad server is configured to use the logged information to match an advertisement request to an action by:

determining an affinity score between the viewing user and each of a plurality of actions that match an advertisement request; and

selecting an action with the highest affinity score with the viewing user.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the advertising server is configured to generate an advertisement for which the informational message communicates information about a plurality of users'"'"' having performed the matching action.

16. A system comprising:

means for receiving advertisement requests by a social networking computer system from advertisers for advertising in a social networking system;

means for identifying each advertisement request from an advertiser an indication identifying an action type performed on an object and used for triggering an advertisement, wherein;

the action type is selectable by he advertiser from a plurality of action types on objects provided to the advertiser by the social networking computer system;

means for tracking actions of users by the social networking computer system;

means for generating an advertisement, by the social networking computer system, based on the tracked actions and a determination that a user performed a tracked action of the selected type on an object, the advertisement communicating information about at least one tracked action; and

means for presenting the advertisement, by the social networking computer system, to at least one user of a website, wherein the user is presented with an advertisement associated with an action from at least one other user with whom the user is connected on the website.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the means for presenting is configured to present generated advertisements on the web page as being incorporated in a display of non-advertisement messages, each non-advertisement message communicating logged actions associated with other users of the website with whom the user has a connection.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the tracked actions comprise actions on the website.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the tracked actions comprise actions communicated to the website and not directly observed by the website.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the means for generating an advertisement comprises means for targeting the advertisement requests to users of the website.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the means for presenting the advertisement comprises means for selecting an advertisement based on an affinity between the advertisement and the at least one user to whom the advertisement is to be presented.