Implementing menu pages in a social networking system

• US 9,495,714 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2012
• Issued: 11/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bush, Matthew, Heddleston, Russell, Pantano, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Chow, Doon
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dasgupta, Shourjo
• Application Number:
  US13/691,468
• Publication Number:
  US 20140157145A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,446 Days
• Field of Search: 715/745, 715/753
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A social networking system can generate or utilize a social menu in a social network page. The social menu can be generated based on a crowd-sourced user interaction, an external database of business offerings, an administrator interface of the social network page, or any combination thereof. A user interaction of one user account with a menu item of a social menu can be presented to another user account. A user account can select the menu item by querying the social networking system for creating a reference link to the menu item.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

defining, via an administrator interface accessible to an administrator user account of a social network page of a social networking computer system, a menu in the social network page, an item type for at least a menu item in the menu, and a custom action type associated with the menu for enabling a custom interaction between a user and the menu item, wherein the social network page is associated with a non-user entity, and wherein the menu and the social network page are separately represented as social object nodes in a social graph of the social networking computer system;

wherein the menu is a content structure for organizing a listing of one or more menu items that are offered by the non-user entity and are associated with the social network page in the social graph;

storing, via a web server, a user interaction as a social graph edge of the custom action type between a menu item node representative of a first menu item in the menu and a user node representative of a user account in the social graph;

determining a relevancy score between the first menu item and the user account based on the social graph; and

selecting the first menu item for presentation to the user account based on the relevancy score,

wherein the social network page is a first social network page, wherein generating the menu includes sharing the menu with a second social network page that also offers the menu items, and wherein the menu is shared such that social graph edges representative of user interactions with the menu item node, via the first social network page and the second social network page, are tracked in the social graph to preserve social context specific to the menu and shared among the first social network page and the second social network page.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the menu includes:

importing a database including a business offering list of the non-user entity;

determining a correspondence between the non-user entity and the social network page; and

generating the menu from the business offering list.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying an accessibility of the first menu item by receiving a restriction requirement of who may access the first menu item through an administrator interface for an administrator account for the social network page.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying the menu by merging a second menu item with the first menu item.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the menu requires uploading a multimedia file as a profile picture of the first menu item.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a mark-as-spam indication on the first menu item from the user account; and

tallying the mark-as-spam indication to determine whether to remove the first menu item from the menu.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the relevancy score includes determining whether the user account has interacted with a second menu item of an item type shared by the first menu item.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the menu includes activating the menu from hibernation, wherein the hibernation prevented the menu from being accessed in the social networking computer system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the relevancy score includes increasing the relevancy score when the social network page is a paid sponsor.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the menu includes:

receiving an item interaction with the first menu item; and

adding the first menu item to the menu based on the item interaction.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a crowd-based user interaction with the social network page from a user account; and

querying the user account to specify the custom action type to associate with the first menu item.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

removing the first menu item as spam based on a number of positive user interactions with the first menu item over a pre-defined time period.

13. A method, comprising:

receiving a typed query from a first user account through a web server;

determining a social network page in a social networking computer system relevant for the first user account based on an account profile of the first user account, wherein the social network page is associated with a non-user entity and wherein the social network page is configured and managed by an administrator account of the non-user entity;

determining a menu item of a menu of the social network page from the typed query to facilitate a user selection from the menu of the social network page, wherein the menu is a content structure for organizing a listing of one or more menu items that are representative of specific items offered by the non-user entity and are associated with the social network page in a social graph of the social networking computer system, wherein a custom action type associated with the menu is defined by the administrator account to thereby enable a custom interaction between a user and at least one of the menu items, and wherein the menu and the social network page are separately represented as different social object nodes in the social graph;

receiving the user selection of the menu item through the web server; and

storing a user interaction as a social graph edge of the custom action type between a menu item node representative of the menu item and a user node representative of a second user account in the social graph of the social networking computer system,

wherein the social network page is a first social network page, wherein generating the menu includes sharing the menu with a second social network page that also offers the menu items, and wherein the menu is shared such that social graph edges representative of user interactions with the menu item node, via the first social network page and the second social network page, are tracked in the social graph to preserve social context specific to the menu and shared among the first social network page and the second social network page.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the menu item is a secret menu item that is not presented on the social network page.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein receiving the user selection includes receiving the user selection of a specific variant of the menu item.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

calculating a confidence score of the menu item based on a recorded interaction history with the menu item in the social networking computer system; and

sorting the menu item to facilitate the user selection from the menu based on the confidence score of the menu item.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

providing menu item analytics on an administrator account interface including a recorded interaction history of the menu item in the social networking computer system.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

generating a similar-item sub-menu on the social network page for the first user account based on the menu item.

19. A social networking computer system, comprising:

a processor;

a non-transitory memory;

a menu composer module configured to;

define, via an administrator interface accessible to an administrator user account of a social network page of a social networking computer system, a menu in the social network page, wherein the social network page is associated with a non-user entity, and wherein the menu and the social network page are separately represented as social object nodes in a social graph of the social networking computer system; and

wherein the menu is a content structure for organizing a listing of one or more menu items that are offered by the non-user entity and are associated with the social network page in the social graph, and wherein the menu composer module is configured to define a custom action type associated with the menu for enabling a custom interaction between a user and at least one of the menu items;

an action logger configured to store, via a web server, a user interaction as a social graph edge of the custom action type between a menu item node representative of a first menu item in the menu and a user node representative of a user account in the social graph; and

a menu interaction module configured to;

determine a relevancy score between the first menu item and the user account based on the user interaction; and

select the first menu item for presentation to the user account based on the relevancy score;

wherein the action logger, the menu composer module, and the menu interaction module are implemented as instructions stored in the non-transitory memory and wherein the instructions are executable by the processor,

wherein the social network page is a first social network page, wherein generating the menu includes sharing the menu with a second social network page that also offers the menu items, and wherein the menu is shared such that social graph edges representative of user interactions with the menu item node, via the first social network page and the second social network page, are tracked in the social graph to preserve social context specific to the menu and shared among the first social network page and the second social network page.