Trusted participants of social network providing answers to questions through on-line conversations
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system comprising:
- one or more computers; and
a computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more computers having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;
receiving a search query from a computing device;
determining that a quantity of search results that are responsive to the search query does not exceed a predefined threshold;
based on determining that the quantity of search results does not exceed the predefined threshold, providing a graphical user interface that includes a plurality of the search results and a control;
determining that a user of the computing device has selected the control and, in response thereto, submitting a question to trusted participants of an online conversation, wherein the trusted participants include the user, one or more advertisers, and one or more social network friends of the user;
obtaining a reply to the question from one of the trusted participants; and
providing the reply to the other trusted participants.
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Abstract
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for facilitating online conversation. In one aspect, a method includes determining that a user has submitted a question to be viewed by trusted participants of an online conversation, wherein the trusted participants include the user, one or more advertisers and one or more social network friends of the user, obtaining a reply to the question from one of the trusted participants, and providing the reply to the trusted participants.
75 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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one or more computers; and a computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more computers having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising; receiving a search query from a computing device; determining that a quantity of search results that are responsive to the search query does not exceed a predefined threshold; based on determining that the quantity of search results does not exceed the predefined threshold, providing a graphical user interface that includes a plurality of the search results and a control; determining that a user of the computing device has selected the control and, in response thereto, submitting a question to trusted participants of an online conversation, wherein the trusted participants include the user, one or more advertisers, and one or more social network friends of the user; obtaining a reply to the question from one of the trusted participants; and providing the reply to the other trusted participants. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method comprising:
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receiving a search query from a computing device; determining that a quantity of search results that are responsive to the search query does not exceed a predefined threshold; based on determining that the quantity of search results does not exceed the predefined threshold, providing a graphical user interface that includes a plurality of the search results and a control; determining, by one or more computers, that a user of the computing device has selected the control and, in response thereto, submitting a question to trusted participants of an online conversation, wherein the trusted participants include the user, one or more advertisers, and one or more social network friends of the user; obtaining a reply to the question from one of the trusted participants; and providing the reply to the other trusted participants.
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15. A computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:
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receiving a search query from a computing device; determining that a quantity of search results that are responsive to the search query does not exceed a predefined threshold; based on determining that the quantity of search results does not exceed the predefined threshold, providing a graphical user interface that includes a plurality of the search results and a control; determining that a user of the computing device has selected the control and, in response thereto, submitting a question to trusted participants of an online conversation, wherein the trusted participants include the user, one or more advertisers, and one or more social network friends of the user; obtaining a reply to the question from one of the trusted participants; and providing the reply to the other trusted participants.
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Specification