Social advertisements based on actions on an external system

• US 8,812,360 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2011
• Issued: 08/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kendall, Timothy A., Cohler, Matthew R., Zuckerberg, Mark E., Juan, Yun-Fang, Jin, Robert Kang-Xing, Rosenstein, Justin M., Bosworth, Andrew G., Wong, Yishan, D'Angelo, Adam, Palihapitiya, Chamath M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sittner, Matthew T
• Application Number:
  US13/338,190
• Publication Number:
  US 20120095836A1
• Time in Patent Office: 966 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/14.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A social networking system generates socially-relevant ads for a user based on actions taken by other users to whom the user is connected. These may be actions taken on, and determined by, an external system, information about which actions can be received by the social networking system and used for matching to an advertisement request. The social networking system may determine a social context for advertising to a user based on the action and may generate an advertisement for the matched ad request that includes an informational message communicating the social context (i.e., an ad with the information message appended to it, a news story for the informational message, etc.). The ad may be targeted to the user based on user affinity for the ad, based on an object interacted with or an action taken by the user'"'"'s connections on or external to the social networking system, among other criteria.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a social networking computer system, a plurality of advertisement requests from one or more advertisers to advertise using a social networking system, each advertising request comprising;

at least one action on an object selectable by the one or more advertisers from a plurality of actions on an object, the plurality of actions on an object provided to the one or more advertisers by the social networking computer system;

receiving, by the social networking computer system, a bid amount from the one or more advertisers for one or more of the advertisement requests related to an amount of compensation to the social networking system based on presentation of an advertisement;

maintaining, by the social networking computer system, a profile for a plurality of users of the social networking system, each profile identifying a connection to each of a plurality of other users of the social networking system, the plurality of users comprising a viewing user;

receiving, by the social networking computer system, information related to actions performed on an external system by one or more users of the social networking system;

determining, by the social networking computer system, one or more candidate advertisement requests for the viewing user based on;

whether the viewing user is connected to another user in the social networking system who has performed an action specified in the candidate advertisement requests, and

the information related to the actions performed on the external system;

selecting, by the social networking computer system, a candidate advertisement request for the viewing user, the candidate advertisement request including an advertiser-selected action that was determined by the social networking computer system to have been performed by another user connected to the viewing user;

generating, by the social networking computer system, a social advertisement for the viewing user comprising an informational message that communicates the advertiser-selected action specified in the selected candidate advertisement request; and

providing, by the social networking computer system, the generated advertisement for display to the viewing user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the action selectable from the plurality of actions is an action taken on the external system, and wherein the action is determined by the external system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the action specified in the selected candidate advertisement request specifies a second user made a purchase of an item with a credit card, and wherein the social advertisement generated comprises an informational message that communicates the purchase.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the action specified in the selected candidate advertisement request relates to a current location of a second user, and wherein the social advertisement generated comprises an informational message that communicates the current location of the second user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the action specified in the selected candidate advertisement request is a second user accessing program material on a television system, and wherein the social advertisement generated comprises an informational message that communicates the program material accessed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the action selectable from the plurality of actions on the object relates to a type of object, and wherein the social advertisement generated is targeted to the viewing user based on the type of object.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the object or the type of object is on or external to the social networking system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein an advertisement request identifies a type of action by a second user, and wherein the social advertisement generated is targeted to the viewing user based on the type of action.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the action or the type of action is on or external to the social networking system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the social advertisement generated is targeted to the viewing user based on an affinity of the viewing user for an object on which the action specified in the selected candidate advertisement was performed or for the action specified in the selected candidate advertisement request.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the affinity of the viewing user for the object on which the action specified in the selected candidate advertisement was performed or for the action specified in the selected candidate advertisement request is determined by estimating the probability that the viewing user will interact with the advertisement based on the object on which the action specified in the selected candidate advertisement was performed or the action specified in the selected candidate advertisement request.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the information related to actions performed on the external system by one or more users of the social networking system identifies the external system and describes the type of action taken by the one or more users.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising logging information related to actions taken by the users of the social networking system who have a connection to the viewing user, wherein the logged actions include actions taken by users on the social networking system or actions taken by users on the external system that are communicated to the social networking system.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the social advertisement comprises including the informational message with advertising content.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the social advertisement comprises generating a news story for the informational message.

16. A computer-implemented system comprising:

a processor;

a web server configured to present advertisements using a social networking system;

a profile store of the social networking system containing a profile for each of a plurality of users of the social networking system, each profile identifying a connection to each of a plurality of other users of the social networking system, the plurality of users comprising a viewing user;

an action logger of the social networking system capable of receiving, from an external system, information related to actions taken by one or more users of the social networking system;

an advertisement request database of the social networking system for storing a plurality of advertisement requests form one or more advertisers to advertise using the social networking system, each advertising request comprising;

at least one action on an object selectable by the one or more advertisers from a plurality of actions on an object, the plurality of actions provided to an advertiser by the social networking system;

the advertisement request database also for storing a bid amount for one or more of the advertising requests related to an amount of compensation to the social networking system based on presentation of an advertisement; and

an advertising server of the social networking system capable of receiving advertisement requests to advertise using the social networking system, the advertising server configured to provide an advertisement for the viewing user to the web server, the advertisement obtained by;

determining, by the social networking system, one or more candidate advertisement requests for the viewing user based on whether the viewing user is connected to another user in the social networking system who has performed at least one of the selected one or more actions;

selecting, by the social networking system, a candidate advertisement request for the viewing user, the candidate advertisement request including an advertiser-selected action that was determined by the social networking computer system to have been performed by another user connected to the viewing user;

generating, by the social networking system, a social advertisement for the viewing user comprising an informational message that communicates the action selected one or more actions specified in the selected candidate advertisement request.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the action selectable from the plurality of actions is an action taken on the external system, and wherein the action is determined by the external system.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein action specified in the selected candidate advertisement request specifies at least one of:

a second user made a purchase of an item with a credit card, a current location of the second user, and program material accessed on a television system by the user.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the advertising server is configured to generate the social advertisement that is targeted to the viewing user based on a type of object identified in the selected advertisement request, wherein the object or the type of object is on or external to the social networking system.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the advertising server is configured to generate the social advertisement that is targeted to the viewing user based on the action specified in the selected candidate advertisement request an action or a type of action identified in the advertisement request, wherein the action or the type of action is on or external to the social networking system.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein an advertisement request identifies a type of object to use in connection with an advertisement, and wherein the advertising server is capable of generating a social advertisement that is targeted to the viewing user based on the type of object.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein an advertisement request identifies a type of action, and wherein the advertising server is capable of generating a social advertisement that is targeted to the viewing user based on the type of action.

23. The system of claim 16, wherein the advertising server is capable of generating a social advertisement that is targeted to the viewing user based on an affinity of the viewing user for an object or an action included in an advertising request associated with the social advertisement.

24. The system of claim 16, further comprising an action log for storing a plurality of entries, each entry describing an action taken by a user of the social networking system or the external system.

25. The system of claim 16, wherein the advertising server is configured for generating the social advertisement by including the informational message with advertising content.

26. The system of claim 16, wherein advertising server is configured for generating the social advertisement by generating a news story for the informational message.

27. A computer-implemented system comprising:

a processor of a social networking system;

means for receiving a plurality of an advertisement requests from one or more advertisers to advertise using a social networking system, each advertising request comprising;

at least one action on an object selectable by the one or more advertisers from a plurality of actions on an object, the plurality of actions provided to an advertiser by the social networking system;

means for receiving a bid amount by the social networking system from the one more or advertisers for one or more of the advertisement requests related to an amount of compensation to the social networking system based on presentation of the advertisement;

means for receiving, by the social networking system, information related to actions performed on an external system by one or more users of the social networking system;

means for determining, by the social networking system, one or more candidate advertisement requests for the viewing user based on whether the viewing user is connected to another user in the social networking system who, as determined by the social networking system, has performed the action specified in the candidate advertisement requests, the determining based on the information related to the actions performed on the external system;

means for selecting, by the social networking system, a candidate advertisement request for the other user;

means for generating, by the social networking system, a social advertisement for the other user communicating information associated with the action specified in the selected candidate advertisement request; and

means for presenting, by the social networking system, the social advertisement to the other user of the social networking system.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the means for generating the social advertisement comprises means for targeting the advertisement request to users of the social networking system based on an object type or an action type identified in the advertisement request.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the means for presenting the social advertisement comprises means for selecting a candidate advertisement based on an affinity between the candidate advertisement and the other user to whom the social advertisement is to be presented.