Ranking search results by social relevancy

• US 9,268,865 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2010
• Issued: 02/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tseng, Erick
• Primary Examiner(s): Badawi, Sherief
• Assistant Examiner(s): Raab, Christopher J
• Application Number:
  US12/890,317
• Publication Number:
  US 20120078916A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,978 Days
• Field of Search: 707/724, 707/734, 707/732
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes accessing a search request including a user identifier corresponding to a first user and location data; identifying places in proximity to the location corresponding to the location data; accessing a social graph to compose based on the user identifier of the first user a set of second users associated with the first user in the social graph; accessing rating data for one or more of the places; identifying one or more of the second users associated with one or more elements of the rating data for one or more of the places; weighting the rating data based on affiliation coefficients of the second users associated with elements of the rating data for the places; and ranking the places based on a distance of each place from the location and the rating data as weighted.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

by one or more computing devices, accessing a search request comprising a user identifier corresponding to a first user and location data corresponding to a location of the first user;

by one or more computing devices, identifying one or more places in proximity to the location corresponding to the location data, wherein the identifying comprises calculating a proximity coefficient for each of the places based on a distance between each of the places and the location;

by one or more computing devices, accessing a social graph to identify, based on the user identifier of the first user, a set of second users associated with the first user in the social graph, wherein;

the first user has an affiliation coefficient with each of the second users;

the affiliation coefficient is based at least in part on a determined affinity between the first user and the second user; and

the determined affinity is based at least in part on activities of the first user with respect to content items represented as nodes in the social graph and activities of the second user with respect to the content items indicating an affinity between them;

by one or more computing devices, accessing rating data for one or more of the places, the rating data for each of the places comprising one or more rating values;

by one or more computing devices, identifying one or more of the second users associated with one or more rating values of the rating data for one or more of the places;

by one or more computing devices, for each of the places, calculating a weighted average rating value comprising;

the proximity coefficient for the place; and

an average value for the rating data based on adjusting each of the rating values of the rating data by the affiliation coefficient of the second user associated with the rating value;

by one or more computing devices, ranking the places based on their respective weighted average rating values; and

by one or more computing devices, sending a list of the places as ranked for presentation to the first user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the search request further comprises a character string; and

identifying places in proximity to the location comprises comparing with the character string names of places within a threshold distance from the location.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein comparing a name of a place with the character string comprises attempting to partially or completely match the name to the character string.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the character string is an empty string.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first and second users are users of a social-networking system;

the social-networking system comprises a graph that comprises a plurality of nodes and edges connecting the nodes;

at least one node in the graph corresponding to the first user;

for each of the second users, at least one node in the graph corresponds to the second user; and

at least one of the nodes corresponding to the first user and at least one of the nodes corresponding to a second user are connected to each other by an edge.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a social-networking system comprises the computing devices.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more rating values of the rating data not associated with one or more of the second users are each assigned a default affiliation coefficient in the weighting.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more places is represented as a hub node in the social graph.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the determined affinity is based on activities of the first user with respect to the one or more places represented as a hub node in the social graph, and activities of the second user with respect to the one or more places indicating an affinity between the first user and the second user.

10. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors being operable when executing the instructions to;

access a search request comprising a user identifier corresponding to a first user and location data corresponding to a location of the first user;

identify one or more places in proximity to the location corresponding to the location data, wherein the identifying comprises calculating a proximity coefficient for each of the places based on a distance between each of the places and the location;

access a social graph to identify, based on the user identifier of the first user, a set of second users associated with the first user in the social graph, wherein;

the first user has an affiliation coefficient with each of the second users;

the affiliation coefficient is based at least in part on a determined affinity between the first user and the second user; and

the determined affinity is based at least in part on activities of the first user with respect to content items represented as nodes in the social graph and activities of the second user with respect to the content items indicating an affinity between them;

access rating data for one or more of the places, the rating data for each of the places comprising one or more rating values;

identify one or more of the second users associated with one or more rating values of the rating data for one or more of the places;

for each of the places, calculate a weighted average rating value comprising;

the proximity coefficient for the place; and

an average value for the rating data based on adjusting each of the rating values of the rating data by the affiliation coefficient of the second user associated with the rating value;

rank the places based on their respective weighted average rating values; and

send a list of the places as ranked for presentation to the first user.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the search request further comprises a character string; and

identifying places in proximity to the location comprises comparing with the character string names of places within a threshold distance from the location.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein comparing a name of a place with the character string comprises attempting to partially or completely match the name to the character string.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the character string is an empty string.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the first and second users are users of a social-networking system;

the social-networking system comprises a graph that comprises a plurality of nodes and edges connecting the nodes;

at least one node in the graph corresponds to the first user;

for each of the second users, at least one node in the graph corresponds to the second user; and

at least one of the nodes corresponding to the first user and at least one of the nodes corresponding to a second user are connected to each other by an edge.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein a social-networking system comprises the computing devices.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein one or more rating values of the rating data not associated with one or more of the second users are each assigned a default affiliation coefficient in the weighting.

17. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software operable when executed to:

access a search request comprising a user identifier corresponding to a first user and location data corresponding to a location of the first user;

identify one or more places in proximity to the location corresponding to the location data, wherein the identifying comprises calculating a proximity coefficient for each of the places based on a distance between each of the places and the location;

access a social graph to identify, based on the user identifier of the first user, a set of second users associated with the first user in the social graph, wherein;

the first user has an affiliation coefficient with each of the second users;

the affiliation coefficient is based at least in part on a determined affinity between the first user and the second user; and

the determined affinity is based at least in part on activities of the first user with respect to content items represented as nodes in the social graph and activities of the second user with respect to the content items indicating an affinity between them;

access rating data for one or more of the places, the rating data for each of the places comprising one or more rating values;

identify one or more of the second users associated with one or more rating values of the rating data for one or more of the places;

for each of the places, calculate a weighted average rating value comprising;

the proximity coefficient for the place; and

an average value for the rating data based on adjusting each of the rating values of the rating data by the affiliation coefficient of the second user associated with the rating value;

rank the places based on their respective weighted average rating values; and

send a list of the places as ranked for presentation to the first user.

18. The media of claim 17, wherein:

the search request further comprises a character string; and

identifying places in proximity to the location comprises comparing with the character string names of places within a threshold distance from the location.

19. The media of claim 18, wherein comparing a name of a place with the character string comprises attempting to partially or completely match the name to the character string.

20. The media of claim 18, wherein the character string is an empty string.

21. The media of claim 17, wherein:

the first and second users are users of a social-networking system;

the social-networking system comprises a graph that comprises a plurality of nodes and edges connecting the nodes;

at least one node in the graph corresponds to the first user;

for each of the second users at least one node in the graph corresponds to the second user; and

at least one of the nodes corresponding to the first user and at least one of the nodes corresponding to a second user are connected to each other by an edge.