Methods and systems for recommending a context based on content interaction

• US 9,247,015 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2013
• Issued: 01/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Ruffner, Jennifer Granito, Blue, Allen, Alpern, Sarah Jean Culberson
• Primary Examiner(s): Ibrahim, Mohamed
• Application Number:
  US13/853,020
• Publication Number:
  US 20130227020A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,034 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/048 Fuzzy inferencing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to methods and systems for recommending a context to a user of a social network service, based on detecting an interaction with some item of web content. With some embodiments, after detecting an interaction with a web document, a topic to which the web document is related is determined. A context, such as an online or offline forum, known to be associated with the topic is then identified. Finally, the identified context is presented to the user as a recommendation for a content source that is likely to be of interest to the user.

Claims

1. A method of automatically generating a notification for presentation in a user interface on a computer system of a member of a plurality of members of an online computerized social networking system, the notification including a recommendation of a context pertaining to a topic of interest of the member, the method comprising:

storing a plurality of content items in a database of the online computerized social networking system, the plurality of content items generated by the plurality of members of the online computerized social networking system;

detecting a plurality of interactions initiated by the member of the plurality of members with respect to the plurality of content items;

determining a topic of interest of the member based on the detecting of the plurality of interactions and based on a similarity between a plurality of subjects corresponding to the plurality of content items; and

based on a detecting of an action by the member pertaining to the topic of interest, automatically generating the notification, the recommendation of the context identifying a relationship between the topic of interest and a subset of the plurality of content items stored in the database of the online computerized social networking system, the subset of the plurality of content items being maintained by a group of the plurality of members separately from content items that are generally-accessible by the plurality of members.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the context from a plurality of contexts based on a relevance of the context to the member in comparison to a relevance of an additional context of the plurality of contexts to the member.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the selecting the context from the plurality of contexts is further based on information specified by the member in a profile of the member.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the selecting the context from the plurality of contexts is further based on tracking of behavior of a plurality of connections of the member with respect to the social networking system.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the selecting of the context from the plurality of contexts is further based on a plurality of interactions of connections of the member with respect to the topic.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification includes a link that allows the member to access the subset of the plurality of content items stored in the database of the online computerized social networking system by joining the group of the plurality of members of the online computerized social networking system.

7. the method of claim 6, wherein the group is administered for a company and the including of the link is based on the member being an employee of the company.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the topic relates to a person and the at least one of the plurality of content items is included on a profile page associated with the person.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the context includes an online forum and the subset of the plurality of members includes participants of the online forum.

10. A system comprising:

a memory comprising a set of instructions;

one or more processors coupled to the memory and configured to, at least, based on the set of instructions,

store a plurality of content items in a database of an online computerized social networking system, the plurality of content items generated by a plurality of members of the online computerized social networking system;

detect a plurality of interactions initiated by a member of the plurality of members with respect to the plurality of content items;

determine a topic of interest of the member based on the detecting of the plurality of interactions and based on a similarity between a plurality of subjects corresponding to the plurality of content items; and

based on a detecting of an action by the member pertaining to the topic of interest, automatically generate a notification for presentation in a user interface on a computer, system of the member, the notification including a recommendation of a context pertaining to the topic of interest of the member, the recommendation of the context identifying a relationship between the topic of interest and a subset of the plurality of content items stored in the database of the online computerized social networking system, the subset of the plurality of content items being maintained by a group of the plurality of members separately from content items that are generally-accessible by the plurality of members.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to, based on the set of instructions, select the context from a plurality of contexts based on a relevance of the context to the member in comparison to a relevance of an additional context of the plurality of contexts to the member.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the selecting the context from the plurality of contexts is further based on information specified by the member in a profile of the member.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the selecting of the context from the plurality of contexts is further based on a plurality of interactions of connections of the member with respect to the topic.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the selecting the context from the plurality of contexts is further based on tracking of behavior of a plurality of connections of the member with respect to the social networking system.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the topic relates to a person and at least one of the plurality of content items is included on a profile page associated with the person.

16. A non-transitory machine readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

storing a plurality of content items in a database of an online computerized social networking system, the plurality of content items generated by a plurality of members of a social networking system;

detecting a plurality of interactions initiated by a member of the plurality of members with respect to the plurality of content items;

determining a topic of interest of the member based on the detecting of the plurality of interactions and based on a similarity between a plurality of subjects corresponding to the plurality of content items; and

based on a detecting of an action by the member pertaining to the topic of interest, automatically generate a notification for presentation in a user interface on a computer system of the member, the notification including a recommendation of a context pertaining to the topic of interest of the member, the recommendation of the context identifying a relationship between the topic of interest and a subset of the plurality of content items stored in the database of the online computerized social networking system, the subset of the plurality of content items being maintained by a group of the plurality of members separately from content items that are generally-accessible by the plurality of members.

17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 16, further comprising selecting the context from a plurality of contexts based on a relevance of the context to the member in comparison to a relevance of an additional context of the plurality of contexts to the member.

18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 17, wherein the selecting the context from the plurality of contexts is further based on information specified by the member in a profile of the member.

19. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 17, wherein the selecting the context from the plurality of contexts is further based on tracking of behavior of a plurality of connections of the member with respect to the social networking system.

20. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 17, wherein the selecting of the context from the plurality of contexts is further based on a plurality of interactions of connections of the member with respect to the topic.