Author interactions using online social networks

• US 9,183,172 B1
• Filed: 06/22/2011
• Issued: 11/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Anderson, Emily Margaret, Killalea, Tom, Leng, Daniel, Larsen, Peter A., Anderson, Kevin M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chacko, Joe
• Application Number:
  US13/166,661
• Time in Patent Office: 1,602 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/217
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/02 manually operated with input through keyboard and computation using a built-in program, e.g. pocket calculators
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/0291 for reading, e.g. e-books constructional details of portable computers G06F1/1613
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• 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

Abstract

Communications from digital content consumers may be entered on reader devices as social media posts. Rather than specifying a particular recipient, a consumer may enter a reserved keyword, such as @author, as the recipient. Upon submission, this keyword is automatically replaced with the recipient identifier, such as with the user identifier of the actual author of the currently rendered content item.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

under control of one or more processors configured with executable instructions, displaying, on a user device for viewing by a user, a first electronic book comprising electronic or digital representations of a first textual work or a second electronic book comprising electronic or digital representations of a second textual work;

while displaying the first electronic book or the second electronic book, accepting from the user a social media post having a generic reserved keyword, wherein the generic reserved keyword indicates that the social media post is intended for a creator of the first electronic book when the first electronic book is displayed and that the social media post is intended for a creator of the second electronic book when the second electronic book is displayed;

identifying the creator of the first electronic book or the creator of the second electronic book in response to the generic reserved keyword in the social media post;

determining a specific user identifier that is associated with the identified creator by a social media network;

substituting the specific user identifier for the generic reserved keyword in the social media post; and

posting the social media post to the social media network using the substituted specific user identifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the social media post comprises message text that contains the specific user identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising inserting a link to a web page into the social media post, wherein the web page indicates context of the social media post.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a notification to the identified creator in conjunction with the social media post.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising aggregating social media posts designating the identified creator on one or more web pages for viewing by the identified creator.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising summarizing social media posts designating the identified creator on one or more web pages for viewing by the identified creator.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising sharing the social media post with multiple consumers of the electronic book as annotations accompanying the electronic book.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the user identifier is used by the social media network to correspond with the identified creator via the social media network.

9. A method comprising:

receiving a social media post including a generic keyword from a device that is rendering one of a first electronic content item comprising an electronic or digital representation of a first textual work having a first author or a second electronic content item comprising an electronic or digital representation of a second textual work having a second author, wherein;

the social media post and the generic keyword do not specify the first author or the second author,

the generic keyword indicates that the social media post is intended for the first author when the device is rendering the first electronic content item, and

the generic keyword indicates that the social media post is intended for the second author when the device is rendering the second electronic content item;

identifying an author of the rendered content item as the first author if the rendered content item is the first electronic content item or as the second author if the rendered content item is the second electronic content item;

determining a user identifier associated with the identified author of the rendered content item; and

posting the social media post to a social network feed using the user identifier associated with the identified author of the rendered content item.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the received social media post does not specify a particular recipient of the social media post.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising specifying the identified author of the rendered content item as the recipient of the social media post.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising providing a web page indicating context of the social media post, and providing a link to the web page from the social media post.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising providing a web page that aggregates social media posts relating to the identified author of the rendered content item.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising providing a web page that summarizes social media posts relating to the identified author of the rendered content item.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising sharing the social media post with multiple consumers of the rendered content item as annotations accompanying the rendered content item.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising posting the social media post to multiple social network feeds associated with the identified author of the rendered content item.

17. A method comprising:

under control of one or more hardware processors configured with executable instructions,

accepting a social media post from a user who is consuming an electronic content item comprising a first electronic content item comprising an electronic or digital representation of a first textual work or a second electronic content item comprising an electronic or digital representation of a second textual work, wherein the social media post includes a keyword indicating a creatorship role, the first electronic content item has a first one or more creators, and the second electronic content item has a second one or more creators;

identifying the electronic content item the user is consuming as the first electronic content item or the second electronic content item;

at least in part in response to accepting the social media post including the keyword and identifying the electronic content item the user is consuming, identifying a creator having the creatorship role indicated by the keyword from the first one or more creators when the electronic content item the user is consuming is the first electronic content item and from the second one or more creators when the electronic content item the user is consuming is the second electronic content item;

determining one or more social messaging feeds associated with the identified creator; and

posting the social media post to the one or more social messaging feeds associated with the identified creator.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising creating a web page indicating context of the social media post, and providing a link from the social media post to the web page.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising notifying the identified creator in conjunction with posting the social media post.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising aggregating social media posts for viewing by the identified creator.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising summarizing social media posts for viewing by the identified creator.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising automatically responding to the social media post.

23. The method of claim 17, further comprising sharing the social media post with multiple consumers of the electronic content item as annotations accompanying the electronic content item.

24. The method of claim 17, further comprising posting the social media post to multiple messaging feeds associated with the identified creator.

25. The method of claim 17, wherein the creatorship role comprises one or more of the following:

author;

editor;

translator;

illustrator;

artist;

distributor;

provider;

retailer;

publisher;

or

agent.