Displaying social networking system entity information via a timeline interface

• US 9,377,933 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2012
• Issued: 06/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: DiPersia, Blaise A., Kanter, Jeffrey Andrew, Heddleston, Russell Eric, Ferguson, David, Carriero, Thomas Giovanni
• Primary Examiner(s): Bhatia, Ajay
• Assistant Examiner(s): NICHOLS, JENNIFER ELIZABETH-JO
• Application Number:
  US13/625,849
• Publication Number:
  US 20140089816A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,373 Days
• Field of Search: 715/745, 715/753, 705/319
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/447 Temporal browsing, e.g. timeline
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/01 Customer relationship services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

A social networking system displays information about a user via a timeline included in a profile page. Narrative data about a user stored in a social networking system, including data about the user and social network activities related to the user is accessed. Timeline units summarizing information about the user are generated from the narrative data. When a viewing user requests a profile page, timeline units are displayed based information related to the viewing user and interactions with the profile page by other users connected to the viewing user. Users that administer the profile page are presented with additional information when viewing the profile page, allowing the administering users to modify appearance of the timeline or to identify actions for an administering user to take to increase interaction with the profile page.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, a request for a profile page of a subject entity from a client device associated with a viewing user of a social networking system, where the viewing user is also a page administrator of the profile page;

selecting a plurality of items of narrative data stored in the social networking system, each item of narrative data associated with the subject entity;

generating a plurality of social network stories based on the selected plurality of items of narrative data;

selecting a plurality of the generated social network stories;

generating the profile page for the subject entity, the profile page including a timeline interface comprising a plurality of chronologically-ordered timeline units, the timeline units displaying each of the selected plurality of generated social network stories, the timeline interface having a first side and a second side, each of the plurality of timeline units having a pin shortcut and a highlight shortcut viewable only by the page administrator;

receiving, from the page administrator, a selection of an action to perform on a selected timeline unit, the selection being activation of a shortcut selected from the group consisting of the pin shortcut and the highlight shortcut on the timeline unit;

responsive to receiving activation of the pin shortcut, modifying the profile page to maintain the selected timeline unit at a specified location on the timeline interface within the profile page;

responsive to receiving activation of the highlight shortcut, modifying the profile page to visually distinguish the selected timeline unit from other timeline units, the selected timeline unit being visually distinguished by occupying the first and second sides of the timeline interface while those of the plurality of timeline units not selected are limited in size to occupy one of the first and second sides of the timeline interface, wherein the selected timeline unit is maintained in chronological order among the plurality of timeline units;

receiving, from a second viewing user different from the page administrator, a request for the profile page of the subject entity; and

sending the modified profile page to a client device associated with the second viewing user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a plurality of items of narrative data comprises:

determining affinities between the viewing user and each item of narrative data; and

selecting the plurality of items of narrative data based on the affinities.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified location within the timeline interface is a location before a timeline unit associated with an earliest time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a timeline unit includes one or more of:

content associated with the subject entity, statistics related to interaction with content associated with the subject entity, statistics related to user engagement with content associated with the subject entity, and an action shortcut for an administrative action related to a timeline unit.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

removing an identified timeline unit from the timeline interface, responsive to a request from the page administrator.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified location within the timeline interface is a top portion of the timeline interface.

7. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions for performing steps comprising:

receiving, a request for a profile page of a subject entity from a client device associated with a viewing user of a social networking system, where the viewing user is also a page administrator of the profile page;

selecting a plurality of items of narrative data stored in the social networking system, each item of narrative data associated with the subject entity;

generating a plurality of social network stories based on the selected plurality of items of narrative data;

selecting a plurality of the generated social network stories;

generating the profile page for the subject entity, the profile page including a timeline interface comprising a plurality of chronologically-ordered timeline units, the timeline units displaying each of the selected plurality of generated social network stories, the timeline interface having a first side and a second side, each of the plurality of timeline units having a pin shortcut and a highlight shortcut viewable only by the page administrator;

receiving, from the page administrator, a selection of an action to perform on a selected timeline unit, the selection being activation of a shortcut selected from the group consisting of the pin shortcut and the highlight shortcut on the timeline unit;

responsive to receiving activation of the pin shortcut, modifying the profile page to maintain the selected timeline unit at a specified location on the timeline interface within the profile page;

responsive to receiving activation of the highlight shortcut, modifying the profile page to visually distinguish the selected timeline unit from other timeline units, the selected timeline unit being visually distinguished by occupying the first and second sides of the timeline interface while those of the plurality of timeline units not selected are limited in size to occupy one of the first and second sides of the timeline interface, wherein the selected timeline unit is maintained in chronological order among the plurality of timeline units;

receiving, from a second viewing user different from the page administrator, a request for the profile page of the subject entity; and

sending the modified profile page to a client device associated with the second viewing user.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein selecting a plurality of items of narrative data comprises:

determining affinities between the viewing user and each item of narrative data; and

selecting the plurality of items of narrative data based on the affinities.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the specified location within the timeline interface is a location before a timeline unit associated with an earliest time.

10. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein a timeline unit includes one or more of:

content associated with the subject entity, statistics related to interaction with content associated with the subject entity, statistics related to user engagement with content associated with the subject entity, and an action shortcut for an administrative action related to a timeline unit.

11. The computer program product of claim 7, the instructions further comprising:

removing an identified timeline unit from the timeline interface, responsive to a request from the page administrator.

12. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the specified location within the timeline interface is a top portion of the timeline interface.