RELATIONSHIP CONFIRMATION IN AN ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORK

• US 20110119335A1
• Filed: 12/28/2010
• Published: 05/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Galbreath, Nicholas, Lunt, Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 9,305,003 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/164 File meta data generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

An online social network is provided in which members of the online social network control who may view their personal information and who may communicate with them. The members control who may view their personal information by setting a visibility preference. A member may not view another member'"'"'s full personal profile if the measure of relatedness between the two is greater than the visibility preference of the other member. The members also control who may communicate with them by setting a contactability preference. A member may not communicate with another member if the measure of relatedness between the two is greater than the contactability preference of the other member.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by one or more computer systems, from a first user of a social network, a request, comprising a user identifier of a second user who is not a member of the social network, to invite the second user to join the social network;

generating, by the one or more computer systems, an invitation based on the request;

transmitting, by the one or more computer systems, the invitation to the second user;

responsive to the second user accepting the invitation to join the social network, prompting, by the one or more computer systems, the second user to confirm the relationship between the first user and the second user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to the second user confirming the relationship between the first and second users, updating, by the one or more computing systems, a database with the connection between the first and section user.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, by the one or more computing systems, an interface to the second user allowing the second user to enter preference settings specifying a degree of separation, relative to the second user, that other users of the social network must be within to access some or all of the information.

4. The method of claim 3, the preference settings comprising a visibility setting limiting who may view the second user'"'"'s full profile.

5. The method of claim 3, the preference settings comprising a contactability setting limiting who may send messages to the second user.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prompting, by the one or more computing systems, the second user to enter user identifiers associated with other existing users of the social network the second user wishes to establish a relationship with;

receiving, by the one or more computing systems, user identifiers entered by the second user;

transmitting, by the one or more computing systems, a prompt to each of the users associated with the received user identifiers to confirm the user'"'"'s relationship with the second user, and;

responsive to each of the users confirming the relationship, updating, by the one or more computing systems, the database with the connection between the second user and each user that confirmed the relationship prompt.

7. A system, comprising:

one or more servers operable to host an online social networking site and maintain a database of connections between all members of the online social network;

the servers configured to;

receive, from a first user of a social network, a request, comprising a user identifier of a second user who is not a member of the social network, to invite the second user to join the social network;

generate an invitation based on the request;

transmit the invitation to the second user;

responsive to the second user accepting the invitation to join the social network, prompt the second user to confirm the relationship between the first user and the second user.

8. The system of claim 7, the system further configured to:

responsive to the second user confirming the relationship between the first and second users, update, by the one or more servers, the database with the connection between the first and section user.

9. The system of claim 7 further configured to:

transmit, by the one or more servers, an interface to the second user allowing the second user to enter preference settings specifying a degree of separation, relative to the second user, that other users of the social network must be within to access some or all of the information.

10. The system of claim 9, the preference settings comprising a visibility setting limiting who may view the second user'"'"'s full profile.

11. The system of claim 9, the preference settings comprising a contactability setting limiting who may send messages to the second user.

12. The system of claim 7, further configured to:

prompt, by the one or more servers, the second user to enter user identifiers associated with other existing users of the social network the second user wishes to establish a relationship with;

receive, by the one or more servers, user identifiers entered by the second user;

transmit, by the one or more servers, a prompt to each of the users associated with the received user identifiers to confirm the user'"'"'s relationship with the second user, and;

responsive to each of the users confirming the relationship, update, by the one or more servers, the database with the connection between the second user and each user that confirmed the relationship prompt.

13. An apparatus, in communication with a plurality of servers hosting an online social network, the apparatus configured to:

maintain a database of connections between all members of the online social network;

responsive to a new user joining the social network, create a new entry for the new user in the database;

determine whether the new user joined the social network as a result of a request from an existing user;

if the new user joined the social network as a result of a request from an existing user, transmit a user identifier of the existing user to one of the plurality of servers instructing it to prompt the new user to confirm the relationship between the new user and the existing user.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, further configured to:

responsive to the new user confirming the relationship between the first and second users, update the database with the connection between the new user and the existing user.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 further configured to:

instruct the one or more servers to transmit an interface to the second user allowing the second user to enter preference settings specifying a degree of separation, relative to the second user, that other users of the social network must be within to access some or all of the information.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, the preference settings comprising a visibility setting limiting who may view the second user'"'"'s full profile.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, the preference settings comprising a contactability setting limiting who may send messages to the second user.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, further configured to:

instruct the one or more servers to prompt the second user to enter user identifiers associated with other existing users of the social network the second user wishes to establish a relationship with;

receive, via the one or more servers, user identifiers entered by the second user;

instruct the one or more servers to transmit a prompt to each of the users associated with the received user identifiers to confirm the user'"'"'s relationship with the second user, and;

responsive to each of the users confirming the relationship, update the database with the connection between the second user and each user that confirmed the relationship prompt.