PERSISTENT FEEDER COMPONENT FOR DISPLAYING FEED ITEMS RECEIVED FROM INFORMATION FEEDS OF ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS

• US 20140195930A1
• Filed: 02/25/2013
• Published: 07/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Rajagopal, Vinodh, Ashok, Srinivas
• Granted Patent: US 9,495,079 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/753
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24568 Data stream processing; Continuous queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Disclosed are methods, apparatus, systems, and computer readable storage media for providing a persistent feeder component in a user interface to display in near real-time feed items when received in information feeds of online social networks. The feed items can come from feeds of multiple online social networks to be displayed in a single feeder component, and the feeder component may be configured to display proximate to each feed item a graphical indicator identifying the information feed of the feed item. The feeder component can be displayed in one of multiple display formats. The feeder component may also be configured to track activity on an online social network and display a notification when activity on the online social network has met one or more milestones determined by the user.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for providing a persistent feeder component in a user interface to display in near real-time feed items when received in information feeds of online social networks, the method comprising:

receiving, from a computing device associated with a first user of a first online social network, a request for feed items of one or more of the information feeds, the information feeds including a first information feed associated with the first online social network and a second information feed associated with a second online social network;

identifying one or more of the feed items as having one or more attributes satisfying one or more parameters; and

transmitting data to the computing device to display in the feeder component in the user interface the identified one or more feed items, the feeder component being configured to persist in the user interface when the user interface changes from a first state in which a first page is displayed to a second state in which a second page is displayed.

2. The method of claim 1, the feeder component configured to display no more than a designated number of feed items.

3. The method of claim 1, the feeder component configured to automatically remove feed items after the feed items are displayed in the feeder component for a designated time.

4. The method of claim 1, the feeder component configured to display proximate to each identified feed item a graphical indicator identifying the information feed of the respective identified feed item.

5. The method of claim 1, the feed items having respective timestamps, the feeder component configured to display the identified one or more feed items in order of the respective timestamp.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein first login credentials and second login credentials are stored in association with the first user, the first login credentials providing access to the first online social network, the second login credentials providing access to the second online social network, the method further comprising:

retrieving feed items from the first information feed; and

retrieving feed items from the second information feed using the second login credentials.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the second login credentials comprise one or more access tokens from the second online social network, wherein the one or more access tokens are received in response to valid authentication information being provided to the second online social network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first page includes a first component configured to display the first information feed or the second information feed, and the second page includes a second component configured to display an information feed different from the information feed displayed at the first component.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, using an application programming interface (API), whether one or more milestones have been met by activity on the second online social network, the API configured to provide activity information corresponding to the activity on the second online social network; and

transmitting data to the computing device to display a notification in the feeder component when the activity information provided by the API indicates that the one or more milestones has been met by the activity on the second online social network.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more milestones are determined by the first user.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more milestones are determined by an administrator or a second user of the first online social network.

12. The method of claim 9, the milestones of the second online social network including one or more of:

a number of followers, a number of likes, a number of shares, a number of comments, a number of views, and a number of re-tweets.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the feed items include one or more of:

a post, a comment, an indication of personal preference, a status update, a user-submitted hyperlink, and an uploaded file.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters identify one or more of:

a user, a number of users, a role, a title, a group, a record, a field of a record, a record update, a feed, a conversation thread, a feed item, a threshold number of feed items, and a message.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters identify one or more of:

a keyword, a topic, a phrase, a symbol, an expression, a language, a threshold number of characters, a threshold number of words, a tag, a document, an image file, a video file, an audio file, a type of document, a type of file, a time stamp, and a timeframe.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein user input data determines the one or more parameters.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the first online social network defines default data of the one or more parameters.

18. The method of claim 17, the first user having a user privileges level, wherein the default data is selected according to the user privileges level.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein an administrator of the first online social network determines the one or more parameters.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an instruction to the computing device to display in the feeder component a prompt for user input data in response to an identified feed item;

receiving from the computing device the user input data; and

transmitting the user input data to the online social network associated with the identified feed item.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the user input data includes one or more of:

a post, a comment, a like, a dislike, a share, a status update, a user-submitted hyperlink, an image file, a video file, and an audio file.

22. The method of claim 20, the user input data including a positive indication of personal preference, the method further comprising:

adding one or more attributes of the identified feed item to the one or more parameters.

23. The method of claim 20, the user input data including a negative indication of personal preference, the method further comprising:

removing one or more attributes of the identified feed item from the one or more parameters.

24. The method of claim 20, the user input data requesting removal of the identified feed item from the feeder component, the method further comprising:

removing the identified feed item from the feeder component.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the feeder component is displayed in a format being one of:

an in-page textbox, a minimized indicator, and a window separate from the pages.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the feeder component is superimposed over a portion of a displayed page.

27. The method of claim 1, the feeder component configured to change color responsive to the data being received at the computing device.

28. The method of claim 1, the feeder component configured to have a display format, the method further comprising:

providing an instruction to the computing device to display in the feeder component a prompt for user input data;

receiving an instruction to change the display format of the feeder component; and

changing the display format of the feeder component according to the instruction.

29. The method of claim 1, the feeder component configured to have an enabled state and a disabled state, the method further comprising:

receiving an instruction to change the state of the feeder component between the enabled and disabled states; and

changing the state of the feeder component according to the instruction.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the disabled state causes the feeder component to be hidden or reduced in size in the user interface.

31. One or more computing devices for providing a persistent feeder component in a user interface to display in near real-time feed items when received in information feeds of online social networks, the one or more computing devices comprising:

one or more processors operable to execute one or more instructions to;

receive, from a computing device associated with a first user of a first online social network, a request for feed items of one or more of the information feeds, the information feeds including a first information feed associated with the first online social network and a second information feed associated with a second online social network;

identify one or more of the feed items as having one or more attributes satisfying one or more parameters; and

transmit data to the computing device to display in the feeder component in the user interface the identified one or more feed items, the feeder component being configured to persist in the user interface when the user interface changes from a first state in which a first page is displayed to a second state in which a second page is displayed.

32. A non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a server to perform a method for providing a persistent feeder component in a user interface to display in near real-time feed items when received in information feeds of online social networks, the method comprising:

receiving, from a computing device associated with a first user of a first online social network, a request for feed items of one or more of the information feeds, the information feeds including a first information feed associated with the first online social network and a second information feed associated with a second online social network;

identifying one or more of the feed items as having one or more attributes satisfying one or more parameters; and

transmitting data to the computing device to display in the feeder component in the user interface the identified one or more feed items, the feeder component being configured to persist in the user interface when the user interface changes from a first state in which a first page is displayed to a second state in which a second page is displayed.