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Inferring target clusters based on social connections

  • US 9,373,146 B2
  • Filed: 09/24/2012
  • Issued: 06/21/2016
  • Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2012
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:

  • receiving a selection of an attribute shared by a subset of users of an online social networking system;

    determining a seed cluster comprising the subset of users sharing the selected attribute;

    retrieving a primary connection of a seed user from the seed cluster, the primary connection connected to the seed user in the online social networking system;

    determining from stored information about the primary connection whether the retrieved primary connection exhibits the selected attribute;

    responsive to a determination that the retrieved primary connection does not exhibit the selected attribute, retrieving a plurality of secondary connections of the seed user in the online social networking system;

    determining that one or more of the plurality of secondary connections exhibit the selected attribute;

    responsive to a determination that a threshold number of the one or more secondary connections exhibit the selected attribute, inferring, by a processor, that the retrieved primary connection exhibits the selected attribute;

    updating the stored information to associate the selected attribute with the retrieved primary connection that was determined to not be exhibited by the primary connection; and

    storing information defining a targeting cluster of users as users of the online social networking system who share the selected attribute, where the targeting cluster comprises the seed cluster of users and the primary connection associated with the selected attribute.

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