Engagement interface advertising in a social network

• US 9,582,807 B2
• Filed: 02/20/2009
• Issued: 02/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Morgenstern, Jared, Jin, Robert Kang Xing, Bowers, Neville, Gao, Nan
• Primary Examiner(s): LI, SUN M
• Application Number:
  US12/390,362
• Publication Number:
  US 20100217645A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,930 Days
• Field of Search: 715/733, 715/753, 705/1, 705/14.49, 705/14.73
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0245 Surveys
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A social network advertises to its members with engagement interfaces. An engagement interface comprises a call to action and a link to perform the action within the social network from within the engagement interface. Responsive to a user selection of the link to perform the action, the engagement interface modifies one or more objects within the social network associated with the call to action according to the selection of the link to perform the action. The engagement interface may be refreshed on the user'"'"'s screen to indicate to the user that the action has been performed. An engagement interface may also be presented to a user from the social network or from an external system apart from the social network.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

generating and storing a plurality of engagement interfaces targeting a plurality of users of a social networking system, each engagement interface comprising a call to action and a link to perform the action in the social networking system, the action modifying an object in the social networking system, the plurality of engagement interfaces generated and stored prior to providing the engagement interfaces to users of the social networking system;

receiving targeting criteria for one or more of the engagement interfaces;

responsive to a request for content from a user of the social networking system, selecting an engagement interface from the plurality of engagement interfaces for the user based at least in part on whether the user meets the targeting criteria for the selected engagement interface;

sending the requested content in a webpage comprising the selected engagement interface for display to the user;

receiving a request by a user to perform the action within the social network system from within the selected engagement interface via the user'"'"'s selection of the link in the selected engagement interface, wherein the action modifies the object associated with the selected engagement interface;

performing, by a computer processor, the action in the social networking system according to the user request made from within the selected engagement interface; and

providing an indication for display to the user within the selected engagement interface indicating that the action has been performed, without redirecting the user away from the webpage.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising recording, in an action log, the action performed within the selected engagement interface as an action performed within the social networking system by the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the object modified by the action is an event object, and the action is adding an event to the user'"'"'s calendar.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the object modified by the action is the selected engagement interface, and the action is playing media content associated with the selected engagement interface.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the object modified by the action is the selected engagement interface, and the action is posting the selected engagement interface as a gift on a friend'"'"'s profile.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the object modified by the action is the selected engagement interface, the action rating the selected engagement interface.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the object modified by the action is a user profile object, the action adjusting the user'"'"'s affinity score for an interest associated with the selected engagement interface.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the object modified by the action is a user profile object, the action denoting the user as a fan of a sponsored page.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the object modified by the action is a page object, the action denoting the user as a fan of a sponsored page associated with the page object.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the object modified by the action is a user profile object, the action denoting a user'"'"'s desire to perform a physical act.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the object modified by the action is a wish list object, the action denoting a user'"'"'s desire to perform a physical act associated with the wish list object.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the object modified by the action is a poll answer object, the action answering a poll question associated with the poll answer object.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the object modified by the action is an application object, the action joining a cause associated with the application object.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the object modified by the action is the selected engagement interface, the action commenting on the selected engagement interface.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the object modified by the action is an application object, the action playing a game associated with the application object.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the object modified by the action is an application object, the action uploading a media file to be associated with the application object.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the object modified by the action is an application object, the action sending gift currency to a friend via the application object.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected engagement interface is a social ad.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is requested from an external system in communication with the social networking system.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the content comprising the selected engagement interface is sent to the user from an external website that is outside the social networking system.

21. A system comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

an engagement interface generator module executed by the processor on an ad server configured to generate a plurality of engagement interfaces, each engagement interface comprising a call to action and a link to perform the action in the social networking system, the action modifying an object in the social networking system, the plurality of engagement interfaces generated prior to providing the engagement interfaces to users of the social networking system; and

a database for receiving targeting criteria for one or more of the engagement interfaces;

a web server communicatively coupled to the ad server, responsive to a request for content from a user of the social networking system, configured to;

select an engagement interface from the plurality of engagement interfaces for the user based at least in part on whether the user meets the targeting criteria for the selected engagement interface;

send the requested content in a webpage comprising the selected engagement interface from the server for display to the user;

receive a request by a user to perform the action within the social network system from within the selected engagement interface, via the user'"'"'s selection of the link in the selected engagement interface, wherein the action modifies the object associated with the selected engagement interface;

perform the action in the social networking system according to the user request made from within the selected engagement interface; and

provide an indication for display to the user within the selected engagement interface indicating that the action has been performed, without redirecting the user away from the webpage.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the web server is further configured to:

refresh the selected engagement interface on the content to indicate that the action has been performed.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the web server is an external system outside of the social networking system.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the web server is further configured to communicate to the social networking system a user selection of the link on an engagement interface to perform an action within the social networking system.

25. A computer program product having a non-transitory computer readable medium having a computer program embodied therein, the computer program causing a processor to perform steps comprising:

generating a plurality of engagement interfaces targeting a plurality of users of a social networking system, each engagement interface comprising a call to action and a link to perform an action in the social networking system, wherein the action modifies an object in the social networking system associated with the engagement interface, the plurality of engagement interfaces generated prior to providing the engagement interfaces to users of the social networking system;

receiving targeting criteria for one or more of the engagement interfaces;

selecting, responsive to a request for content from a user of the social networking system, an engagement interface from the plurality of engagement interfaces for the user based at least in part on whether the user meets the targeting criteria for the selected engagement interface;

sending the requested content in a webpage comprising the selected engagement interface,

receiving a request by a user to perform the action within the social network system from within the selected engagement interface via the user'"'"'s selection of the link in the selected engagement interface,

performing the action in the social networking system according to the user request made from within the selected engagement interface, and

providing an indication for display to the user within the selected engagement interface indicating that the action has been performed, without redirecting the user away from the webpage.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the computer program further causes the processor to:

refresh the selected engagement interface on the content to indicate that the action has been performed.

27. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the engagement interface display module is an external system outside of the social networking system.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the computer program further causes the processor to communicate to the social networking system a user selection of the link on an engagement interface to perform the action within the social networking system.