User engagement in a social network using indications of acknowledgement

• US 8,856,173 B2
• Filed: 10/04/2012
• Issued: 10/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Charytoniuk, Tomasz
• Primary Examiner(s): MORRISON, JAY A
• Application Number:
  US13/644,715
• Publication Number:
  US 20140101197A1
• Time in Patent Office: 733 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/770
• 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

Abstract

A method and system for enhancing and incentivizing user engagement with indications of acknowledgement at a social network is described. An acknowledgement application receives indications of acknowledgement associated with at least one information item from a first user and at least one second user at a social network. The acknowledgement application aggregates and processes the indications of acknowledgement. The acknowledgement application provides at least one result from the processing in response to hovering over an option for the indications of acknowledgement associated with the at least one information item. The acknowledgement application rewards the first user at least one numerical point based on indications of acknowledgement associated with the at least one specific topic and provides at least one badge of achievement to the first user on accumulating at least one threshold of a total number of points.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a social network, indications of acknowledgment associated with at least one information item from at least a first user and a second user, the at least one information item related to a topic;

aggregating the indications of acknowledgment associated with the at least one information item from at least the first user and the second user according to the topic;

receiving search terms from a third user that correspond to the topic;

providing the at least one information item retrieved as a search result matching the search terms and including the aggregated indications of acknowledgement to the third user; and

providing to the first user a number of times that the indication of acknowledgement from the first user appeared in association with the at least one information item retrieved as the search result matching the search terms from the third user that correspond to the topic.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the search terms are received from a search engine and responsive to the search engine receiving the indications of acknowledgement, the search engine generating search results that include the indications of acknowledgement.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user and the second user are followed by the third user according to a social graph and wherein the indications of acknowledgement provided to the third user include an identity of the first user and the second user.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a geographical map including at least a first location associated with the first user and a second location associated with the second user giving the indications of acknowledgment; and

generating a graph plotting a total number of indications of acknowledgment received from the first user and the second user over time.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

distributing, at the social network, at least one point to the first user based on the indications of acknowledgment from the first user and sharing of the at least one information item relating to the topic to the social network; and

providing at least one badge of achievement to the first user based on reaching at least one threshold of a total number of points.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein distributing at least one point to the first user based on the indications of acknowledgment is responsive to receiving the indications of acknowledgment from the first user for the at least one information item relating to the topic.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein distributing at least one point to the first user based on the indications of acknowledgement is responsive to receiving the indications of acknowledgment on the at least one information item shared to the social network from the at least one second user.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising providing for display on a social network profile page associated with the first user at least one badge of achievement and a graphical progress bar that indicates progress toward reaching the at least one threshold of a total number of points.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising providing for display on a social network profile page associated with the first user a first counter for a number of indications of acknowledgment received from the second user and a second counter for a number of times the at least one information item posted by the first user is being shared by the second user on the social network.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising identifying a name of the first user in proximity to the at least one information item relating to the topic based on the at least one badge of achievement received by the first user.

11. The method of claim 5, further comprising the first user exchanging the at least one threshold of a total number of points accumulated for a virtual reward.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of acknowledgement from the first user is received from the first user providing a physical indication of acknowledgement.

13. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, the one or more processors being configured to;

receive, at a social network, indications of acknowledgement associated with at least one information item from a first user and a second user, at least one information item related to a topic;

aggregate the indications of acknowledgement associated with the at least one information item from at least the first user and the second user according to the topic;

receive search terms from a user that corresponds to the topic;

provide the at least one information item retrieved as a search result matching the search terms and including the aggregated indications of acknowledgement to the third user; and

provide to the first user a number of times that the indications of acknowledgement from the first user appeared in association with the at least one information item retrieved as the search result matching the search terms from the third user that correspond to the topic.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

generate a geographical map including at least a first location associated with the first user and at least one second location associated with the second user giving the indications of acknowledgment; and

generate a graph plotting a total number of indications of acknowledgment received from the first user and the second user over time.

15. A system of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to distribute, at the social network, at least one point to the first user based on the indications of acknowledgment from the first user and sharing of the at least one information item relating to the topic to the social network and providing at least one badge of achievement to the first user based on reaching at least one threshold of a total number of points.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein distributing at least one point to the first user based on the indications of acknowledgment is responsive to receiving the indications of acknowledgment from the first user for the at least one information item relating to the topic.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein distributing at least one point to the first user based on the indications of acknowledgement is responsive to receiving the indications of acknowledgment on the at least one information item shared to the social network from the second user.

18. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium encoding instructions that, in response to execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at a social network, indications of acknowledgment associated with at least one information item from a first user and a second user, the at least one information item related to a topic;

aggregating the indications of acknowledgment associated with the at least one information item from at least the first user and the second user relating to the topic;

receiving search terms from a third user that correspond to the topic;

providing the at least one information item retrieved as a search result matching the search terms and including the aggregated indications of acknowledgement to the third user; and

providing to the first user a number of times that the indication of acknowledgement from the first user appeared in association with the at least one information item retrieved as the search result matching the search terms from the third user that correspond to the topic.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising:

generating a geographical map including at least a first location associated with the first user and at least one second location associated with the second user giving the indications of acknowledgment; and

generating a graph plotting a total number of indications of acknowledgment received from the first user and the second user over time.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising:

distributing, at the social network, at least one point to the first user based on the indications of acknowledgment from the first user and sharing of the at least one information item relating to the topic to the social network; and

providing at least one badge of achievement to the first user based on reaching at least one threshold of a total number of points.