Client-side modification of search results based on social network data

• US 10,296,547 B2
• Filed: 03/04/2016
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Richter, Michael Judd, Kelly, Matthew William, Haugen, Austin, Flores, E. Nair
• Primary Examiner(s): Hwa, Shyue Jiunn
• Application Number:
  US15/061,075
• Publication Number:
  US 20160188736A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,173 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering

Abstract

In particular embodiments, a method by a social-networking system comprises receiving, from a client device, a search query from a first user of an online social network, determining, by the social-networking system, one or more network resources that match the search query, accessing a data store of social-graph information to determine one or more second users of the online social network having an association with the first user that have interacted with any of the matching network resources within a particular period of time, ranking the network resources based on a degree of relevance associated with each of the network resources with respect to the search query, and sending, to the client device in response to the search query, one or more search results corresponding to one or more of the matching network resources.

Claims

1. A method by a social-networking system of an online social network comprising:

receiving, from a client device, a search query from a first user of the online social network;

determining, by the social-networking system, one or more network resources that match the search query, the network resources comprising one or more content items;

accessing, by the social-networking system after determining the one or more matching network resources, a data store of social-graph information to determine one or more second users of the online social network having an association with the first user that have interacted with by accessing any of the matching network resources within a particular period of time prior to the first user'"'"'s search query;

ranking, by the social-networking system, the network resources based on a degree of relevance associated with each of the network resources with respect to the search query; and

sending, by the social-networking system to the client device in response to the search query, one or more search results corresponding to one or more of the matching network resources,

wherein the search results are presented for display in ranked order, and

wherein one or more of the search results is visually modified based on the determination that one or more of the second users have interacted with the network resource corresponding to the search result by accessing the respective network resource within the particular period of time prior to the first user'"'"'s search query, wherein visually modifying each search result comprises displaying user profile information retrieved from user profiles of one or more of the second users that have accessed the network resource corresponding to the search result.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein visually modifying the search results comprises visually distinguishing the network resources by displaying an overlay panel next to at least one of the matching network resources that indicates that the matching network resource of the search results has been accessed by the second users of the online social network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the network resources that the second users have interacted with within the particular period of time are further visually distinguished by one or more of color, size, highlighting, font, or other visual indication.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the search results are displayed via a search-results interface on the client device of the first user.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the search-results interface further comprises a title and a summary of each of the matching network resources retrieved from metadata associated with each of the matching network resources.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the search-results interface is a web interface displayed on the client device of the first user.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the overlay panel displays one or more social-network data elements retrieved from a user profile of each of the second users.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the ranking of the network resources based on the degree of relevance associated with each of the network resources with respect to the search query comprises ranking the network resources according to a social relevance ranking determined based on at least in part on one or more second-user social graph actions associated with each of the network resources.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second-user social graph actions comprises one or more edges generated based on one or more check-ins, comments, “

like”

indications, read indications, recommendations, reviews, or any combination thereof, by one or more of the second users on one or more of the network resources.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the ranking of the network resources based on the degree of relevance associated with each of the network resources with respect to the search query comprises ranking the network resources according to a degree of affinity between the first user and the one or more second users that is determined based on a relationship between the first user and each of the second users.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the ranking of the network resources based on the degree of relevance associated with each of the network resources with respect to the search query comprises ranking the network resources according to a popularity ranking determined based at least in part on one or more of the matching network resources that the second users have interacted with within the particular period of time.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein, for one or more of the matching network resources that the second users have interacted with within the particular period of time, the popularity ranking is based at least in part on a number of times one or more edges have been generated, which is based at least in part on the interactions between nodes respectively associated with the second users and nodes respectively associated with the matching network resources.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the edge comprises one or more of a number of times viewed, a number of times liked, or a number of times the search results were posted to a social-networking system.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the search query from the first user is received via a social plug-in associated with a web browser application on the client device, and wherein the ranked network resources are sent to the client device of the first user via the social plug-in.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more second users of the online social network having an association with the first user of the online social network that have interacted with any of the matching network resources within a particular period of time is determined based on click-stream data corresponding to each of the matching network resources stored in the data store associated with the online social network,

wherein the click-stream data includes a number of times a second user of the online social network has accessed a particular network resource.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the click-stream data is collected by a social plug-in associated with a web browser application of one or more client devices of each of the second users.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the click-stream data comprises an edge generated between a node associated with a second user and a node associated with the particular network resource based on the second user accessing the particular network resource.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to accessing the data store of social-graph information from the online social network, accessing a set of user preferences of the first user associated with the search query.

19. A social-networking system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors being operable when executing the instructions to;

receive, from a client device, a search query from a first user of an online social network;

determine, by the social-networking system, one or more network resources that match the search query, the network resources comprising one or more content items;

access, by the social-networking system after determining the one or more matching network resources, a data store of social-graph information to determine one or more second users of the online social network having an association with the first user that have interacted with by accessing any of the matching network resources within a particular period of time prior to the first user'"'"'s search query;

rank, by the social-networking system, the network resources based on a degree of relevance associated with each of the network resources with respect to the search query; and

send, by the social-networking system to the client device in response to the search query, one or more search results corresponding to one or more of the matching network resources,

wherein the search results are presented for display in ranked order, and

wherein one or more of the search results is visually modified based on the determination that one or more of the second users have interacted with the network resource corresponding to the search result by accessing the respective network resource within the particular period of time prior to the first user'"'"'s search query, wherein visually modifying each search result comprises displaying user profile information retrieved from user profiles of one or more of the second users that have accessed the network resource corresponding to the search result.

20. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media of a social-networking system embodying software that is operable when executed to:

receive, from a client device, a search query from a first user of an online social network;

determine, by the social-networking system, one or more network resources that match the search query, the network resources comprising one or more content items;

access, by the social-networking system after determining the one or more matching network resources, a data store of social-graph information to determine one or more second users of the online social network having an association with the first user that have interacted with by accessing any of the matching network resources within a particular period of time prior to the first user'"'"'s search query;

rank, by the social-networking system, the network resources based on a degree of relevance associated with each of the network resources with respect to the search query; and

send, by the social-networking system to the client device in response to the search query, one or more search results corresponding to one or more of the matching network resources,

wherein the search results are presented for display in ranked order, and

wherein one or more of the search results is visually modified based on the determination that one or more of the second users have interacted with the network resource corresponding to the search result by accessing the respective network resource within the particular period of time prior to the first user'"'"'s search query, wherein visually modifying each search result comprises displaying user profile information retrieved from user profiles of one or more of the second users that have accessed the network resource corresponding to the search result.