Determining influence in a social networking system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method comprising:
- storing, in a social networking system, associations between a plurality of users and a plurality of objects maintained by the social networking system;
identifying a target object maintained by the social networking system;
identifying a set of users associated with the target object from the stored associations, the set of users comprising a plurality of users;
determining a set of affinities for the set of users, the set of affinities comprising an affinity for each of the plurality of users for the target object;
generating an influence metric associated with the target object based on the set of affinities by applying a weight to each of the set of affinities to generate weighted affinities and by determining a mean of the weighted affinities, the influence metric representing a relevance of the target object to the set of users as a whole; and
storing the influence metric.
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Abstract
An influence metric describing the influence of a social networking system object on social networking system users is determined based on affinities between the users and the object. For example, affinities between the associated users and the object are combined to determine the influence metric. Content may be selected for presentation to users based in part on influence metrics of the content. Additionally, influence metrics of objects associated with a user may be combined to determine the relevance of objects associated with the user, which may also be used to select content for presentation to the user.
35 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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storing, in a social networking system, associations between a plurality of users and a plurality of objects maintained by the social networking system; identifying a target object maintained by the social networking system; identifying a set of users associated with the target object from the stored associations, the set of users comprising a plurality of users; determining a set of affinities for the set of users, the set of affinities comprising an affinity for each of the plurality of users for the target object; generating an influence metric associated with the target object based on the set of affinities by applying a weight to each of the set of affinities to generate weighted affinities and by determining a mean of the weighted affinities, the influence metric representing a relevance of the target object to the set of users as a whole; and storing the influence metric. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. The method of claim Oil 1, wherein generating the influence metric based on the weighted affinities further comprises:
determining a median of the weighted affinities.
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6. A method comprising:
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identifying a target object maintained by a social networking system; identifying a set of users associated with the target object based on stored information describing interactions performed by users and connections between users and objects maintained by the social networking system; determining a set of affinities for the set of users, the set of affinities comprising an affinity for each of the plurality of users for the target object; generating an influence metric associated with the target object based on the set of affinities by applying a weight to each of the set of affinities to generate weighted affinities and by determining a mean of the weighted affinities, the influence metric representing a relevance of the target object to the set of users as a whole; and determining whether to present a story associated with the target object to one or more additional users based at least in part on the influence metric associated with the target object. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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10. A method comprising:
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identifying a target object maintained by a social networking system; identifying a set of users associated with the target object based on stored information describing interactions performed by users and connections between users and objects maintained by the social networking system; determining a set of affinities for the set of users, the set of affinities comprising an affinity of each of the identified users for the target object; generating an influence metric associated with the target object based on the affinities by applying a weight to each of the set of affinities to generate weighted affinities and by determining a mean of the weighted affinities, the influence metric representing a relevance of the target object to the identified users as a whole; identifying an advertisement associated with the target object; and determining whether to present the advertisement associated with the target object to one or more additional users based at least in part on the influence metric associated with the target object.
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Specification