Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to rank users in an online social network

• US 8,874,727 B2
• Filed: 07/13/2010
• Issued: 10/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Swahar, Gayathri
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing F
• Assistant Examiner(s): WOO, ANDREW M
• Application Number:
  US12/835,563
• Publication Number:
  US 20110296004A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,568 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to rank users in an online social network are described. An example method to rank in an online social network includes determining a connectedness of a user on a social networking site based on a number of contacts of the user, determining a number of first interactions directed from the user to at least one of the contacts, determining a number of second interactions associated with the first interaction and at least one of the contacts, and ranking the user with other users on the social networking site based on the connectedness, the first interactions, and the second interactions.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to rank users in an online social network, comprising:

determining, using a computer, a connectedness of a user on a social networking site based on a number of first-degree contacts of the user and a number of second-degree contacts of the user, wherein determining the connectedness comprises assigning a first weight to at least a portion of the first-degree contacts who have restricted respective connections with the user, and assigning a second weight to the first-degree contacts who have not restricted respective connections with the user;

determining, using the computer, a number of first interactions directed from the user to at least one of the contacts by generating at least one of a matrix or a vector representative of an interaction between the user and at least one of the contacts;

determining, using the computer, a number of second interactions associated with the first interaction and at least one of the contacts by generating or updating the at least one of the matrix or the vector representative of an interaction between the user and at least one of the contacts; and

ranking, using the computer, the user with other users on the social networking site based on the connectedness, the first interactions, and the second interactions.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first interactions comprise updating a status, sending a message, chatting, uploading media, tagging media with a user identity, posting a comment, or posting results from an application.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein determining the connectedness of the user further comprises assigning a first weight to the number of first-degree contacts and a second weight to the number of second-degree contacts.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein ranking the user comprises determining a percentile rank of the user.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising generating a report comprising the rank of the user for selection of an advertisement to be displayed in association with the user.

6. A system to rank users in an online social network, comprising:

a connectedness monitor to determine a connectedness for a user of an online social network based on a number of direct contacts and a number of indirect contacts, the connectedness monitor to assign a first weight to at least a portion of the direct contacts who have restricted respective connections with the user and assign a second weight to the direct contacts who have not restricted respective connections with the user;

an interactivity monitor to determine an interactivity for the user based on a number of first interactions directed by the user to one or more second users and a number of second interactions directed at the user by one or more of the second users, generate at least one of a matrix or a vector in response to identifying an initial interaction, store the interaction count in the matrix or the vector, and update the at least one of the matrix or the vector in response to identifying a response interaction to an initial interaction;

a user ranker to determine a rank for the user based on the connectedness and the interactivity; and

a logic circuit to implement at least one of the connectedness monitor, the interactivity monitor, or the user ranker.

7. A system as defined in claim 6, further comprising a database to store at least one of the connectedness, the interactivity, or the rank.

8. A system as defined in claim 6, wherein the interactivity monitor is to process a plurality of interactions to generate an interaction count, at least one of the number of first interactions or the number of second interactions being based on the interaction count.

9. A system as defined in claim 6, wherein the direct contacts are first-degree contacts and the indirect contacts are second-degree contacts.

10. A tangible computer readable medium, comprising computer readable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

assign a first weight to at least a portion of first-degree contacts who have restricted respective connections with a user;

assign a second weight to the first-degree contacts who have not restricted respective connections with the user;

determine a connectedness of a user on a social networking site based on the first weight, the second weight, a number of the first-degree contacts of the user, and a number of second-degree contacts of the user;

determine an interactivity of the user based on a number of first interactions directed from the user to at least one of the contacts from at least one of a matrix or a vector representative of an interaction between the user and at least one of the contacts and based on a number of second interactions associated with the first interactions from at least one of an updated matrix or an updated vector representing at least one of the second interactions; and

rank the user with other users on the social networking site based on the connectedness, the first interactions, and the second interactions.

11. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 10, wherein the first interactions comprise at least one of updating a status, sending a message, chatting, uploading media, tagging media with a user identity, posting a comment, or posting results from an application.

12. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 10, wherein determining the connectedness of the user further comprises assigning a third weight to the number of second-degree contacts.