Social search endorsements

• US 9,477,720 B1
• Filed: 09/15/2012
• Issued: 10/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Gyongyi, Zoltan I., Kulick, Matthew E., Lopyrev, Mikhail, Subramanian, Viswanath
• Primary Examiner(s): Yen, Syling
• Application Number:
  US13/620,796
• Time in Patent Office: 1,501 Days
• Field of Search: 707/706, 707/713, 707/722, 707/736, 707/737, 707/741, 707/752, 707754-758, 707999003-999006
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

This specification describes technologies relating to searching. In general, aspects of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods that include the actions of receiving, at a computing device, a search query from a user, receiving, at the computing device, search results responsive to the search query, the search results each associated with digital content stored in one or more computer-readable storage media, determining that a first search result of the search results is associated with a first endorsement generated by a first user, determining that the first user is a member of a social graph of the user, and transmitting instructions to display the search results to the user, the instructions including instructions to display a first endorsement annotation associated with the first search result.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, a search query from a first user, the first user associated with a computer-implemented social graph that includes a plurality of members socially connected to the first user through the computer-implemented social graph;

receiving, at the computing device, search results responsive to the search query, the search results each associated with a respective electronic document stored in one or more computer-readable storage media;

determining that a particular electronic document is associated with a plurality of endorsements;

identifying a subset of members of the plurality of members socially connected to the first user through the computer-implemented social graph, each member of the subset of members respectively associated with an endorsement of the plurality of endorsements;

identifying an affinity of each member of the subset of the members with respect to the particular electronic document;

selecting a subset of the plurality of endorsements based on the affinity of each member of the subset of the members with respect to the particular electronic document; and

transmitting instructions to display the search results to the first user, the instructions comprising instructions to display one or more endorsement annotations associated with the subset of the plurality of endorsements proximate to the search result associated with the particular electronic document, the one or more endorsement annotations each including a text snippet describing the endorsement associated with the endorsement annotation, the text snippet including i) an identification of the respective member of the subset of members, ii) text indicating a service used by the respective member of the subset of members to generate the endorsement, and iii) a web-based link associated with the endorsement to direct the first user to the content of the endorsement within the service, wherein the text indicating the service used by the respective member of the subset of members to generate the endorsement is distinct from the web-based link.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the endorsement annotations each further comprise a thumbnail image of the respective other user.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, a selection of a link associated with the identification of one of the other users; and

filtering the search results to include a subset of the search results based on the selected other user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the search results comprise web search results.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the search result of the search results is associated with an additional endorsement generated by an additional other user;

determining that the additional other user is not a member of the social graph of the first user; and

transmitting instructions to display the search results to the first user, the instructions comprising instructions to display the search result without an endorsement annotation that is associated with the additional endorsement.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic document includes a web document.

6. A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, a search query from a first user, the first user associated with a computer-implemented social graph that includes a plurality of members socially connected to the first user through the computer-implemented social graph;

receiving, at the computing device, search results responsive to the search query, the search results each associated with a respective electronic document stored in one or more computer-readable storage media;

determining that a particular electronic document is associated with a plurality of endorsements;

identifying a subset of members of the plurality of members socially connected to the first user through the computer-implemented social graph, each member of the subset of members respectively associated with an endorsement of the plurality of endorsements;

identifying an affinity of each member of the subset of the members with respect to the particular electronic document;

selecting a subset of the plurality of endorsements based on the affinity of each member of the subset of the members with respect to the particular electronic document; and

transmitting instructions to display the search results to the first user, the instructions comprising instructions to display one or more endorsement annotations associated with the subset of the plurality of endorsements proximate to the search result associated with the particular electronic document, the one or more endorsement annotations each including a text snippet describing the endorsement associated with the endorsement annotation, the text snippet including i) an identification of the respective member of the subset of members, ii) text indicating a service used by the respective member of the subset of members to generate the endorsement, and iii) a web-based link associated with the endorsement to direct the first user to the content of the endorsement within the service, wherein the text indicating the service used by the respective member of the subset of members to generate the endorsement is distinct from the web-based link.

7. The computer storage medium of claim 6, wherein the endorsement annotations each further comprise a thumbnail image of the second user.

8. The computer storage medium of claim 6, the operations further comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, a selection of a link associated with the identification of one of the other users; and

filtering the search results to include a subset of the search results based on the selected other user.

9. The computer storage medium of claim 6, wherein the search results comprise web search results.

10. The computer storage medium of claim 6, the operations further comprising:

determining that the search result of the search results is associated with an additional endorsement generated by an additional other user;

determining that the additional other user is not a member of the social graph of the first user; and

transmitting instructions to display the search results to the first user, the instructions comprising instructions to display the search result without an endorsement annotation that is associated with the additional endorsement.

11. A system, comprising:

one or more computers; and

a computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more computers having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

receiving, at a computing device, a search query from a first user, the first user associated with a computer-implemented social graph that includes a plurality of members socially connected to the first user through the computer-implemented social graph;

receiving, at the computing device, search results responsive to the search query, the search results each associated with a respective electronic document stored in one or more computer-readable storage media;

determining that a particular electronic document is associated with a plurality of endorsements;

identifying a subset of members of the plurality of members socially connected to the first user through the computer-implemented social graph, each member of the subset of members respectively associated with an endorsement of the plurality of endorsements;

identifying an affinity of each member of the subset of the members with respect to the particular electronic document;

selecting a subset of the plurality of endorsements based on the affinity of each member of the subset of the members with respect to the particular electronic document; and

transmitting instructions to display the search results to the first user, the instructions comprising instructions to display one or more endorsement annotations associated with the subset of the plurality of endorsements proximate to the search result associated with the particular electronic document, the one or more endorsement annotations each including a text snippet describing the endorsement associated with the endorsement annotation, the text snippet including i) an identification of the respective member of the subset of members, ii) text indicating a service used by the respective member of the subset of members to generate the endorsement, and iii) a web-based link associated with the endorsement to direct the first user to the content of the endorsement within the service, wherein the text indicating the service used by the respective member of the subset of members to generate the endorsement is distinct from the web-based link.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the endorsement annotations each further comprise a thumbnail image of the respective other user.

13. The system of claim 11, the operations further comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, a selection of a link associated with the identification of one of the other users; and

filtering the search results to include a subset of search results based on the selected other user.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the search results comprise web search results.

15. The system of claim 11, the operations further comprising:

determining that the search result of the search results is associated with an additional endorsement generated by an additional other user;

determining that the additional other user is not a member of the social graph of the first user; and

transmitting instructions to display the search results to the first user, the instructions comprising instructions to display the search result without an endorsement annotation that is associated with the additional endorsement.