Systems, apparatus and methods for selecting updates to associated records to publish on an information feed

• US 9,443,224 B2
• Filed: 06/08/2011
• Issued: 09/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Dunn, Zachary J., Olsen, Joseph M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sciacca, Scott M
• Application Number:
  US13/155,656
• Publication Number:
  US 20120223951A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,924 Days
• Field of Search: 709/218, 709/219, 707/736, 707/749, 707/752
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

Disclosed are systems, apparatus, methods, and computer readable media for selecting updates to associated records to publish on an information feed in an on-demand database service environment. In one implementation, a selection input is received. The selection input may indicate a first one of a plurality of user account contexts associated with a user account in a feed system. The first one of the plurality of user account contexts may be associated with a set of feed items stored in the feed system. Based on the selection input indicating the first one of a plurality of user account contexts, one or more candidate feed items for presentation in an information feed may be determined. The information feed may be capable of being displayed on a display device.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more servers associated with a database system and accessible by a user device, the one or more servers configurable to cause;

providing access through the database system to a plurality of user account contexts of an enterprise social networking system implemented using the database system, each user account context controlling a respective selection of a subset of a plurality of enterprise social network entities subscribed to by a user associated with the user account context and controlling a respective selection of a subset of a plurality of feed items of one or more enterprise social network feeds, the feed items identifiable by data objects stored in the database system, the feed items comprising a feed tracked update comprising text data describing an event, the feed tracked update generated by the database system in response to the occurrence of the event, the event comprising a user update to a record stored in the database system;

identifying, using the database system, at least a portion of the user account contexts as being associated with a first user of the enterprise social networking system;

identifying a first one and a second one of a plurality of work-related roles of the first user with respect to operations of an enterprise serviced by the enterprise social networking system;

selecting, using the database system, a first identified user account context as corresponding to the identified first work-related role and a second identified user account context as corresponding to the identified second work-related role;

selecting, as controlled by the selected first user account context and using the database system, a first subset of the feed items as having one or more first characteristics matching one or more first attributes of the identified first work-related role;

selecting, as controlled by the selected second user account context and using the database system, a second subset of the feed items as having one or more second characteristics matching one or more second attributes of the identified second work-related role, the second subset of feed items being different from the first subset of feed items; and

including the first subset of feed items in a first enterprise social network feed and the second subset of feed items in a second enterprise social network feed, the first enterprise social network feed configured to include only the first subset of feed items and the second enterprise social network feed configured to include only the second subset of feed items, the first and second enterprise social network feeds being accessible by the first user using the user device, the first and second enterprise social network feeds capable of being displayed on the user device.

2. The system recited in claim 1, wherein each user account context is associated with a respective one or more selection criteria for selecting feed items to display in a feed.

3. The system recited in claim 2, wherein selecting the first subset of the feed items comprises:

comparing feed items with a first selection criterion associated with the first user account context.

4. The system recited in claim 3, wherein the first selection criterion specifies one or more records stored in a database of the database system.

5. The system recited in claim 3, wherein the first selection criterion specifies one or more users.

6. The system recited in claim 1, the one or more servers further configurable to cause:

identifying prioritization information associated with the first user account context, the prioritization information providing a relative importance ranking for feed items in the first subset.

7. The system recited in claim 6, the one or more servers further configurable to cause:

determining an ordering of the feed items in the first subset based on the identified prioritization information.

8. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the first user account context has associated update permission information, the update permission information identifying one or more users permitted to access feed items created in association with the first user account context.

9. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the first user account context has associated therewith update prohibition information, the update prohibition information identifying one or more users prohibited from accessing feed items created in association with the first user account context.

10. The system recited in claim 1, wherein access to the enterprise social networking system is provided via an on-demand computing services environment, and wherein the enterprise social networking system is specific to an organization.

11. A computing system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, the instructions configured to cause the computing system to;

provide a user device with access through a database system to a plurality of user account contexts of an enterprise social networking system implemented using the database system, each user account context controlling a respective selection of a subset of a plurality of enterprise social network entities subscribed to by a user associated with the user account context and controlling a respective selection of a subset of a plurality of feed items of one or more enterprise social network feeds, the feed items identifiable by data objects stored in the database system, the feed items comprising a feed tracked update comprising text data describing an event, the feed tracked update generated by the database system in response to the occurrence of the event, the event comprising a user update to a record stored in the database system;

identify, using the database system, at least a portion of the user account contexts as being associated with a first user of the enterprise social networking system;

identify a first one and a second one of a plurality of work-related roles of the first user with respect to operations of an enterprise serviced by the enterprise social networking system;

select, using the database system, a first identified user account context as corresponding to the identified first work-related role and a second identified user account context as corresponding to the identified second work-related role;

select, as controlled by the selected first user account context and using the database system, a first subset of the feed items as having one or more first characteristics matching one or more first attributes of the identified first work-related role;

select, as controlled by the selected second user account context and using the database system, a second subset of the feed items as having one or more second characteristics matching one or more second attributes of the identified second work-related role, the second subset of feed items being different from the first subset of feed items; and

include the first subset of feed items in a first enterprise social network feed and the second subset of feed items in a second enterprise social network feed, the first enterprise social network feed configured to include only the first subset of feed items and the second enterprise social network feed configured to include only the second subset of feed items, the first and second enterprise social network feeds being accessible by the first user using the user device, the first and second enterprise social network feeds capable of being displayed on the user device.

12. The computing system recited in claim 11, wherein each user account context is associated with a respective one or more selection criteria for selecting feed items to display in a feed.

13. The computing system recited in claim 12, wherein selecting the first subset of the feed items comprises:

comparing feed items with a first selection criterion associated with the first user account context.

14. The computing system recited in claim 13, wherein the first selection criterion specifies one or more records stored in a database of the database system.

15. The computing system recited in claim 13, wherein the first selection criterion specifies one or more users.

16. The computing system recited in claim 11, the instructions further configured to cause the computing system to:

identify prioritization information associated with the first user account context, the prioritization information providing a relative importance ranking for feed items in the first subset.

17. The computing system recited in claim 16, the instructions further configured to cause the computing system to:

determine an ordering of the feed items in the first subset based on the identified prioritization information.

18. The computing system recited in claim 11, wherein the first user account context has associated update permission information, the update permission information identifying one or more users permitted to access feed items created in association with the first user account context.

19. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions capable of being executed by one or more processors, the instructions configurable to cause:

providing a user device with access through a database system to a plurality of user account contexts of an enterprise social networking system implemented using the database system, each user account context controlling a respective selection of a subset of a plurality of enterprise social network entities subscribed to by a user associated with the user account context and controlling a respective selection of a subset of a plurality of feed items of one or more enterprise social network feeds, the feed items identifiable by data objects stored in the database system, the feed items comprising a feed tracked update comprising text data describing an event, the feed tracked update generated by the database system in response to the occurrence of the event, the event comprising a user update to a record stored in the database system;

identifying, using the database system, at least a portion of the user account contexts as being associated with a first user of the enterprise social networking system;

identifying a first one and a second one of a plurality of work-related roles of the first user with respect to operations of an enterprise serviced by the enterprise social networking system;

selecting, using the database system, a first identified user account context as corresponding to the identified first work-related role and a second identified user account context as corresponding to the identified second work-related role;

selecting, as controlled by the selected first user account context and using the database system, a first subset of the feed items as having one or more characteristics matching one or more first attributes of the identified first work-related role;

selecting, as controlled by the selected second user account context and using the database system, a second subset of the feed items as having one or more second characteristics matching one or more second attributes of the identified second work-related role, the second subset of feed items being different from the first subset of feed items; and

including the first subset of feed items in a first enterprise social network feed and the second subset of feed items in a second enterprise social network feed, the first enterprise social network feed configured to include only the first subset of feed items and the second enterprise social network feed configured to include only the second subset of feed items, the first and second enterprise social network feeds being accessible by the first user using the user device, the first and second enterprise social network feeds capable of being displayed on the user device.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media recited in claim 19, wherein each user account context is associated with a respective one or more selection criteria for selecting feed items to display in a feed.

21. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media recited in claim 20, wherein selecting the first subset of the feed items comprises:

comparing feed items with a first selection criterion associated with the first user account context.

22. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media recited in claim 21, wherein the first selection criterion specifies one or more records stored in a database of the database system.

23. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media recited in claim 21, wherein the first selection criterion specifies one or more users.

24. A method comprising:

providing a user device with access through a database system implemented using a server system to a plurality of user account contexts of an enterprise social networking system implemented using the database system, each user account context controlling a respective selection of a subset of a plurality of enterprise social network entities subscribed to by a user associated with the user account context and controlling a respective selection of a subset of a plurality of feed items of one or more enterprise social network feeds, the feed items identifiable by data objects stored in the database system, the feed items comprising a feed tracked update comprising text data describing an event, the feed tracked update generated by the database system in response to the occurrence of the event, the event comprising a user update to a record stored in the database system;

identifying, using the database system, at least a portion of the user account contexts as being associated with a first user of the enterprise social networking system;

identifying a first one and a second one of a plurality of work-related roles of the first user with respect to operations of an enterprise serviced by the enterprise social networking system;

selecting, using the database system, a first identified user account context as corresponding to the identified first work-related role and a second identified user account context as corresponding to the identified second work-related role;

selecting, as controlled by the selected first user account context and using the database system, a first subset of the feed items as having one or more first characteristics matching one or more first attributes of the identified first work-related role;

selecting, as controlled by the selected second user account context and using the database system, a second subset of the feed items as having one or more second characteristics matching one or more second attributes of the identified second work-related role, the second subset of feed items being different from the first subset of feed items; and

including the first subset of feed items in a first enterprise social network feed and the second subset of feed items in a second enterprise social network feed, the first enterprise social network feed configured to include only the first subset of feed items and the second enterprise social network feed configured to include only the second subset of feed items, the first and second enterprise social network feeds being accessible by the first user using the user device, the first and second enterprise social network feeds capable of being displayed on the user device.