Methods and systems for tracking shared content

• US 8,868,662 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2009
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: Silverpop Systems Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Curtin, Christopher M., Evans, Richard L., Dernavich, Jeffrey S., Voigt, Scott M.
• Primary Examiner(s): MADAMBA, GLENFORD J
• Application Number:
  US12/481,825
• Publication Number:
  US 20100318611A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,959 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/229, 707/10, 707/102
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Tracking content shared over a network is described. Content with a mailing identifier and a recipient identifier can be transmitted to a recipient. The mailing identifier and the content can be associated with the recipient identifier. A request from the recipient to provide an application with access to the content can be received. The request can include the mailing identifier and the recipient identifier. A web page can be generated. The web page can include the content and can be associated with a second recipient identifier and a link. The request and the second recipient identifier can be associated with the recipient identifier using a forward identifier. A request to access the web page by a recipient friend using the link and the application can be received. The request to access can be associated with the recipient identifier. Reports can be generated and outputted.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

transmitting a message comprising content to a recipient, the message having a mailing identifier, an email address for the recipient, and a recipient identifier, the mailing identifier being (i) separate from information in the message, the information comprising the content, one or more email addresses including the email address for the recipient, and transmission time and date, and (ii) independent of the recipient and the recipient identifier, wherein the recipient identifier represents the recipient and is separate from the email address for the recipient;

responsive to transmitting the message, associating the mailing identifier and at least part of the content to the recipient identifier on a computer-readable medium, the recipient identifier being associated with the recipient;

receiving a request from the recipient to share at least part of the content to a social networking application, the request comprising the recipient identifier that is associated with the recipient from which the request is received, the mailing identifier, and an identification of the social networking application;

in response to the request, associating the recipient identifier to a forward identifier on the computer-readable medium and generating a web page comprising at least part of the content, the web page comprising a second recipient identifier and being associated with a sharing link, the second recipient identifier being associated with the forward identifier on the computer-readable medium, wherein the at least part of the content is selected using the recipient identifier and the mailing identifier from the request, wherein the forward identifier indicates that the recipient shared the content and is separate from a second recipient email address;

associating the recipient identifier with the second recipient identifier through the forward identifier on the computer-readable medium;

transmitting at least the sharing link to the social networking application, the sharing link comprising the mailing identifier, the second recipient identifier, and a report identifier;

generating a report based on the recipient identifier being associated with the second recipient identifier through the forward identifier, wherein the report is associated with the report identifier and comprises a representation of the request from the recipient to share at least part of the content and a number of times that the recipient shared the content using the social networking application; and

outputting the report.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to access the web page by a recipient friend using the sharing link and the social networking application,

wherein the report identifies the request to access the web page by the recipient friend.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein associating the recipient identifier with the second recipient identifier through the forward identifier on the computer-readable medium comprises:

associating the forward identifier with the recipient identifier in a forward request table on the computer-readable medium; and

associating the forward identifier with the second recipient identifier in a forward recipients table on the computer-readable medium,

wherein the recipient identifier is associated with the second recipient identifier through the forward identifier.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving a request from the recipient friend to share at least part of the content to the social networking application;

generating a third recipient identifier; and

receiving a request to access the web page by a friend of the recipient friend using the sharing link and the social networking application;

using a second forward identifier to associate the third recipient identifier with the second recipient identifier on the computer-readable medium, the third recipient identifier being associated with the recipient identifier through the second forward identifier, second recipient identifier, and forward identifier,

wherein generating the report comprises generating the report using the recipient identifier associated with the third recipient identifier.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the report comprises:

a representation of the request from the recipient friend to share at least part of the content to the social networking application; and

a representation of the request to access the web page by the friend of the recipient friend using the sharing link and the social networking application.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating the message comprising content by accessing data associated with the recipient and using the data to select at least part of the content to formulate content personalized to the recipient,

wherein generating the web page comprising at least part of the content comprises replacing the content personalized to the recipient with non-personalized content.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the recipient identifier is associated with the email address for the recipient on the computer-readable medium, the mailing identifier and the forward identifier being associated with the email address for the recipient through the association of the recipient identifier with the email address for the recipient.

7. A system comprising:

a database comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium for storing;

a message comprising content associated with a mailing identifier;

a recipient identifier associated with the mailing identifier and at least part of the content;

a web page associated with a sharing link, the sharing link having a second recipient identifier, a mailing identifier and a report identifier;

the second recipient identifier associated with a forward identifier; and

the second recipient identifier associated with the recipient identifier through the forward identifier, the forward identifier being adapted to (i) indicate that a recipient associated with the recipient identifier shared the content (ii) be separate from a second recipient email address; and

a tracking server device comprising a processor for executing code to cause the tracking server to;

transmit the message comprising the email address for the recipient and the content associated with the mailing identifier to a recipient, wherein the mailing identifier is adapted for being (i) separate from information in the message, the information comprising the content, one or more email addresses including the email address for the recipient, and transmission time and date, and (ii) independent of the recipient and the recipient identifier, wherein the recipient identifier is adapted to be representative of the recipient and separate from the email address for the recipient;

receive a request from the recipient to share at least part of the content to an application, the request comprising the mailing identifier and the recipient identifier that is representative of the recipient from which the request is received;

generate the web page in response to the request, the web page comprising at least part of the content, wherein the tracking server is configured to select the at least part of the content using the recipient identifier and the mailing identifier from the request; and

transmit at least the sharing link to the application.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the tracking server is configured to:

generate a report based on the recipient identifier associated with the second recipient identifier through the forward identifier, wherein the report is associated with the report identifier and comprises a representation of the request from the recipient to share at least part of the content and a number of times that the recipient shared the content using a social networking application or by forwarding the content in an email message using an email application; and

output the report.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the tracking server is configured to receive a request to access the web page by a recipient friend using the sharing link and the application, wherein the report comprises a representation of the request to access the web page by the recipient friend.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the second recipient identifier associated with the recipient identifier through the forward identifier comprises:

the forward identifier associated with the recipient identifier in a forward request table on the computer-readable medium; and

the forward identifier associated with the second recipient identifier in a forward recipients table on the computer-readable medium.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the tracking server is configured to:

receive a request from the recipient friend to share at least part of the content to the application;

generate a third recipient identifier; and

receive a request to access the web page by a friend of the recipient friend using the sharing link and the application,

wherein the computer-readable medium comprises;

a third recipient identifier associated with the second recipient identifier using a second forward identifier; and

the third recipient identifier associated with the recipient identifier through the second forward identifier, second recipient identifier, and forward identifier.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the tracking server is configured to generate the message, the message comprising an embedded sharing link that is selectable by the recipient to formulate the request to share at least part of the content to the application, wherein the application is a social networking application.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the tracking server is configured to generate the message comprising content by accessing data associated with the recipient and using the data to select at least part of the content to formulate content personalized to the recipient,

wherein the tracking server is configured to generate the web page by replacing the content personalized to the recipient with non-personalized content.

20. The system of claim 7, wherein the sharing link is a uniform resource locator formed in part by the mailing identifier and the recipient identifier.

14. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the computer-program product comprising code executable by a processor, the code comprising:

code for transmitting to a recipient a message comprising content, the message having a mailing identifier, an email address for the recipient and a recipient identifier, wherein the mailing identifier is adapted for being (i) separate from information in the message, the information comprising the content, one or more email addresses including the email address for the recipient, and transmission time and date, and (ii) independent of the recipient and the recipient identifier, wherein the recipient identifier is adapted for representing the recipient and being separate from the email address for the recipient;

code for receiving a request from the recipient to share at least part of the content to an application, the request comprising the recipient identifier that is associated with the recipient from which the request is received and the mailing identifier;

code for generating a web page in response to the request, the web page being associated with a sharing link and comprising a second recipient identifier and at least part of the content by selecting the at least part of the content from a database using the recipient identifier and the mailing identifier from the request, the second recipient identifier being associated with a forward identifier in the database, the forward identifier being adapted for indicating that the recipient shared the content and for being separate from a second recipient email address;

code for transmitting at least the sharing link to the application, the sharing link comprising the second recipient identifier, the mailing identifier and a report identifier;

code for receiving a request to access the web page by a recipient friend using the link and the application;

code for associating the request to access the web page by the recipient friend to the recipient identifier in the database;

code for accessing the recipient identifier associated with the forward identifier from the database, the recipient identifier associated with the forward identifier representing the request from the recipient to share at least part of the content to the application;

code for generating a report based on the recipient identifier associated with the forward identifier, the request to access the web page by the recipient friend, and the second recipient identifier, wherein the report is associated with the report identifier and comprises a representation of the request from the recipient to share at least part of the content and the request to access the web page by the recipient friend and a number of times that the recipient shared the content using the social networking application; and

code for outputting the report.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein:

code for accessing the recipient identifier associated the forward identifier from the database comprises code for accessing the recipient identifier associated with the forward identifier in a forward request table in the database; and

code for accessing the second recipient identifier associated with the forward identifier from the database comprises code for accessing the second recipient identifier associated with the forward identifier in a forward recipients table in the database,

wherein the recipient identifier is associated with the second recipient identifier through the forward identifier.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising:

code for generating the message, the message comprising an embedded sharing link that is selectable by the recipient to formulate the request to share at least part of the content to the application, wherein the application is a social networking application.

17. The computer-program product of claim 14, further comprising:

code for generating the message comprising content by accessing data associated with the recipient and using the data to select at least part of the content to formulate content personalized to the recipient,

wherein code for generating the web page comprises code for replacing the content personalized to the recipient with non-personalized content.

18. The computer-program product of claim 14, further comprising:

code for identifying the recipient as an influencer based on the recipient identifier associated with the forward identifier and the second recipient identifier associated with the forward identifier.