Incentivizing user generated content creation

• US 9,697,546 B1
• Filed: 03/30/2016
• Issued: 07/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Buisman, Hylke Niekele, Sanz, Gerard
• Primary Examiner(s): Stevens, Robert
• Application Number:
  US15/084,608
• Time in Patent Office: 461 Days
• Field of Search: 707724
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

Systems, methods, and machine-readable media for incentivizing user generated content creation are provided. One or more points of interest for including in a notification to a user may be identified based on a location of a client device associated with the user and/or user interest signals. The identified points of interest may be scored by comparing the user interest signals, and a most relevant point of interest may be identified from the scored points of interest. A notification type may be determined based on the most relevant point of interest and the corresponding user interest signal, and used to provide to the user a notification including the most relevant point of interest and the user interest signal. A subsequent notification asking the user to generate content for the most relevant point of interest may be sent, in a case it is determined that the user acts on the provided notification.

Claims

1. A method for requesting user-generated content, the method comprising:

identifying, with at least one processor, one or more points of interest for inclusion in a notification to a user based at least on user interest signals that associate the points of interest with the user;

scoring, with the at least one processor, each of the identified one or more points of interest based at least on the user interest signals of the identified one or more points of interest used to identify the one or more points of interest;

selecting, with the at least one processor, a point of interest based at least on the scoring of the identified one or more points of interest;

generating, with the at least one processor, a notification including the selected point of interest and based at least on the user interest signal;

providing, with the at least one processor, the generated notification to the user;

determining, with the at least one processor, whether the user acts on the provided notification; and

sending, with the at least one processor, a subsequent notification asking the user to generate content for the selected point of interest, in a case the user acts on the provided notification.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein scoring each of the identified one or more points of interest is performed based on a plurality of parameters comprising:

an event associated with the identified one or more points of interest,

being close to a place that the user provided a good review for,

being close to a place that a contact of the user provided a good review for,

a distance between current location of the user with the identified one or more points of interest, and

need for additional user generated content for the identified one or more points of interest, the need determined based on lack of specific information for the identified one or more points of interest.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein selecting the point of interest comprises:

scoring each of the identified one or more points of interest based on a need for a user to generate content; and

selecting a point of interest with a greatest need for a user to generate content.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein a score associated with one or more points of interest comprises a weighted sum of the plurality of parameters, and wherein selecting a point of interest comprises selecting the point of interest associated with the highest score.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining a need for a notification to the user based on the score associated with a point of interest exceeding a threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a notification type that corresponds to the selected point of interest and the user interest signal associated with the selected point of interest, the notification type comprising an email notification, a short message service (SMS) notification, an audio notification, or a knowledge card notification, and

generating the notification according to the notification type.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the user acts on the provided notification comprises determining whether the user performs at least one of visiting the selected point of interest, spending time in the selected point of interest, opening the notification, copying portions of content of the notification, or performing a search related to the notification.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein asking the user to generate content for the most selected point of interest comprises prompting the user to interact with the selected point of interest, and wherein interacting with the selected point of interest comprises performing at least one of:

recommending, uploading a picture of, using social media to check in or comment on the selected point of interest, or respond to a comment or check in by a contact of the user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

user interest signals comprise;

an indication of an interaction with the point of interest by a contact associated with the user,

an indication of a user'"'"'s proximity to the point of interest, and

an association with a user'"'"'s online interest history, and

wherein an interaction with the point of interest by the contact associated with the user comprises at least one of;

uploading a photo of the point of interest,

checking in the point of interest,

reviewing the point of interest, or

rating the point of interest based on a user'"'"'s experience with the point of interest.

10. A system for incentivizing creation of user-generated content, the system comprising:

memory to store instructions; and

at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to;

identify one or more points of interest for inclusion in a notification to a user based at least on metadata associated with the user;

score each of the identified one or more points of interest based on user interest signals;

select a point of interest based at least on the score of the identified one or more points of interest;

generate a notification including the selected point of interest and based at least on the user interest signal;

provide the generated notification to the user; and

send a subsequent notification asking the user to generate content for the selected point of interest, in a case the user acts on the provided notification.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the metadata associated with the user comprises a location of a client device associated with the user and user interest signals that associate the points of interest with the user, and

the user interest signals comprise the user interest signals of the identified one or more points of interest used to identify the one or more points of interest.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to ask the user to generate content for the selected point of interest by prompting the user to interact with the selected point of interest, and wherein interacting with the selected point of interest comprises performing at least one of:

recommending, uploading a picture of, using social media to check in and/or comment on the selected point of interest, or respond to a comment or check in by a contact of the user.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to score each of the identified one or more points of interest by associating a score to each of the identified one or more points of interest based on a plurality of parameters comprising:

an event associated with the identified one or more points of interest,

being close to a place that the user provided a good review for,

being close to a place that a contact of the user provided a good review for,

a distance between current location of the user with the identified one or more points of interest, and

need for additional user generated content for the identified one or more points of interest, the need being determined based on lack of specific information for the identified one or more points of interest.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to select the point of interest from the scored one or more points of interest by using the score associated with the scored one or more points of interest, wherein the score associated with the scored one or more points of interest comprises a weighted sum of the plurality of parameters, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute instructions comprising selecting the point of interest associated with the highest score.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to determine a need for a notification to the user based on the score associated with a point of interest exceeding a threshold.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute instructions to determine a notification type that corresponds to the selected point of interest and the user interest signal associated with the selected point of interest, the notification type comprising an email notification, a short message service (SMS) notification, an audio notification, or a Now knowledge card notification,

the processor is further configured to generate the notification according to the notification type.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to determine whether the user acts on the provided notification by determining whether the user performs at least one of visiting the selected point of interest, spending time in the selected point of interest, opening the notification, copying portions of content of the notification, or performing a search related to the notification.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein:

user interest signals comprise;

an indication of an interaction with the point of interest by a contact associated with the user,

an indication of a user'"'"'s proximity to the point of interest, and

an association with a user'"'"'s online interest history, and wherein;

an interaction with the point of interest by the contact associated with the user comprises at least one of;

uploading a photo of the point of interest,

checking in the point of interest,

reviewing the point of interest, or

rating the point of interest based on a user'"'"'s experience with the point of interest.

19. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

identifying one or more points of interest for inclusion in a notification to a user based at least on user interest signals that associate the points of interest with the user;

scoring each of the identified one or more points of interest based at least on the user interest signals of the identified one or more points of interest used to identify the one or more points of interest;

selecting a point of interest based at least on the scoring of the identified one or more points of interest;

generating a notification including the selected point of interest and based at least on the user interest signal;

providing the generated notification to the user;

determining whether the user acts on the provided notification; and

sending a subsequent notification asking the user to generate content for the selected point of interest, in a case the user acts on the provided notification.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein scoring each of the identified one or more points of interest is performed based on a plurality of parameters comprising:

an event associated with the identified one or more points of interest,

being close to a place that the user provided a good review for,

being close to a place that a contact of the user provided a good review for,

a distance between current location of the user with the identified one or more points of interest, and

need for additional user generated content for the identified one or more points of interest, the need determined based on lack of specific information for the identified one or more points of interest.