Context-based selection of calls-to-action associated with search results

• US 9,934,284 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2015
• Issued: 04/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Johnson, Michael Dudley, Patterson, Ryan, Tseng, Erick
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheema, Azam
• Application Number:
  US14/715,364
• Publication Number:
  US 20150248416A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,051 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a search query for content items of the online social network, identifying content items of the online social network that match the search query, and sending, in response to the search query, search results corresponding to the identified content items, where each search result is presented with one or more call-to-action elements applicable to the content item, and where the call-to-action elements are presented in ranked order based on a suitability of the call-to-action element to the content item.

Claims

1. A method comprising, by one or more computing devices of an online social network:

receiving, at the one or more computing devices via a search tool provided at a client device of a first user of the online social network, a search query for content items of the online social network;

identifying, by the one or more computing devices, one or more content items of the online social network, respectively, that match the search query, wherein the one or more identified content items correspond one or more nodes of a social graph, respectively;

sending, from the one or more computing devices to the client device for presentation to the first user in response to the search query, one or more search results corresponding to one or more of the identified content items, respectively, each search result being presented with one or more call-to-action elements applicable to the content item, each call-to-action element being a user-interface element that prompts an action from the first user to initiate a particular function or process related to the content item via the online social network, the call-to-action elements being presented in ranked order based on a suitability of the call-to-action element to the content item;

receiving, at the one or more computing devices from the client device of the first user, a selection of a call-to-action element presented with a particular search result corresponding to a particular content item; and

executing, by the one or more computing devices, the function or process related to the particular content item on the online social network prompted by the selected call-to-action element, wherein the function or process related to the particular content item comprises generating an edge connected to the node corresponding to the particular content item.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing the social graph, wherein the social graph comprises a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes, wherein the first user corresponds to a first node of the plurality of nodes, and wherein the one or more identified content items correspond to one or more second nodes, respectively, of the plurality of nodes.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the call-to-action elements being presented in ranked order further based on at least one relationship in the social graph between the first node corresponding to the first user and the second nodes corresponding to the content item of the search result.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein at least one edge in the social graph is based at least in part on the first user'"'"'s past behavior with respect to an identified content item corresponding to one of the second nodes of the social graph.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, for each identified content item, a plurality of call-to-action elements applicable to the content item; and

ranking, for each identified content item, the call-to-action elements applicable to the content item based a suitability of the call-to-action element to the content item.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the call-to-action elements are presented to the user in proximity to their corresponding search results.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein, for each search results, at least one of the call-to-action elements is presented as a top-ranked call-to-action element.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein, for each search result, at least one of the call-to-action elements prompts an action that is convenient for the user to perform with respect to the content item corresponding to the search result.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein, for each search result, at least one of the call-to-action elements corresponds to an action that the online social network encourages the user to perform with respect to the content item corresponding to the search result.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the call-to-action elements corresponds to an action that is likely to be performed by the user with respect to the content item corresponding to the search result.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the call-to-action elements being presented in ranked order further based on one or more of:

the nature and context of the search query, social or demographical information of the first user, a behavior profile of the first user, a time and location associated with the first user when the search query is received, or one or more business objectives of the online social network.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the search query comprises one or more characters inputted by the first user, the one or more characters being received as the first user inputs the one or more characters at the client device into a user interface of the online social network.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

ranking each of the identified content items based on a historical behavior of the user in selecting one or more prior search results.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

boosting one or more ranks of one or more of the identified content items based on a business objective of the social-networking system.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more search results are sent for presentation to the first user as the first user inputs one or more characters of the search query at the client device into a user interface of the online social network, the presentation of the search results to the first user enabling the first user to select one or more of the search results to interact with.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the search query is a user-generated character string comprising the one or more characters inputted by the first user, the user-generated character string being received from the client device of the first user, and wherein the user-generated character string is entered by the first user in a query field and rendered at the client device as each character of the character string is entered by the first user.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising auto-populating, at the client device, a query field with the search results.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the search results are presented as real-time suggestions responsive to one or more characters thus far inputted by the first user at the client device into a user interface of the online social network.

19. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed by one or more computing devices of an online social network to:

receive, at the one or more computing devices via a search tool provided at a client device of a first user of the online social network, a search query for content items of the online social network;

identify, by the one or more computing devices, one or more content items of the online social network, respectively, that match the search query, wherein the one or more identified content items correspond one or more nodes of a social graph, respectively;

send, from the one or more computing devices to the client device for presentation to the first user in response to the search query, one or more search results corresponding to one or more of the identified content items, respectively, each search result being presented with one or more call-to-action elements applicable to the content item, each call-to-action element being a user-interface element that prompts an action from the first user to initiate a particular function or process related to the content item via the online social network, the call-to-action elements being presented in ranked order based on a suitability of the call-to-action element to the content item;

receive, at the one or more computing devices from the client device of the first user, a selection of a call-to-action element presented with a particular search result corresponding to a particular content item; and

execute, by the one or more computing devices, the function or process related to the particular content item on the online social network prompted by the selected call-to-action element, wherein the function or process related to the particular content item comprises generating an edge connected to the node corresponding to the particular content item.

20. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors operable when executing the instructions to;

receive, at one or more computing devices of an online social network via a search tool provided at a client device of a first user of the online social network, a search query for content items of the online social network;

identify, by the one or more computing devices, one or more content items of the online social network, respectively, that match the search query, wherein the one or more identified content items correspond one or more nodes of a social graph, respectively;

send, from the one or more computing devices to the client device ef for presentation to the first user in response to the search query, one or more search results corresponding to one or more of the identified content items, respectively, each search result being presented with one or more call-to-action elements applicable to the content item, each call-to-action element being a user-interface element that prompts an action from the first user to initiate a particular function or process related to the content item via the online social network, the call-to-action elements being presented in ranked order based on a suitability of the call-to-action element to the content item;

receive, at the one or more computing devices from the client device of the first user, a selection of a call-to-action element presented with a particular search result corresponding to a particular content item; and

execute, by the one or more computing devices, the function or process related to the particular content item on the online social network prompted by the selected call-to-action element, wherein the function or process related to the particular content item comprises generating an edge connected to the node corresponding to the particular content item.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the ranked order of the one or more call-to-action elements applicable to a content item is further based on at least one relationship between the first user and the content item.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the search query comprises a character string inputted by the first user.