Determining a trust level of a user in a social network environment

• US 8,949,948 B2
• Filed: 01/21/2014
• Issued: 02/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Callahan, Ezra, Agarwal, Aditya, Cheever, Charles Duplain, Putnam, Christopher W., Trahan, Bob
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, David
• Application Number:
  US14/160,292
• Publication Number:
  US 20140137201A1
• Time in Patent Office: 378 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/30 Profiles

Abstract

A system and method for determining a trust level for a non-approved user in a social network is described. The method includes monitoring requests for social network interactions between an approved user and the non-approved user and determining if each interaction requested is of a first type or a second type. The method further includes increasing a first trust value when the interaction requested is of the first type and increasing a second trust value when the interaction requested is of the second type. The method further includes determining the trust level based on the first trust value and the second trust value. The method further includes changing the status of the non-approved user to an approved user based on the trust level, the first trust value and/or the second trust value.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

maintaining, for each of a plurality of users of a social networking system, a trust level associated with the user representing a global trustworthiness of the user in the social networking system;

receiving a telephone number associated with a user of the plurality of users;

sending a message to a device associated with the telephone number;

receiving a response to the message;

responsive to receiving the response to the message, determining if the received telephone number has been used to verify another user of the social networking system; and

increasing, by a processor, the trust level associated with the user if the received telephone number has not been used to verify another user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the message comprises one or more of:

a text message, a voice message, a numeric message, and a video message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the received response to the message comprises one or more of:

a text message, a voice message, a numeric message, and a video message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the received response comprises a verification code included in the message.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the verification code comprises a CAPTCHA.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephone number is received over the Internet.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the response is received over the Internet.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is an image.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein increasing the trust level associated with the user results in changing a status of the user from a non-approved user associated with a lower trust level to an approved user associated with a higher trust level.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

decreasing the trust level associated with the user if the received telephone number has been used to verify another user.

11. A system comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising executable computer instructions configured to, when executed, perform steps comprising;

maintaining, for each of a plurality of users of a social networking system, a trust level associated with the user representing a global trustworthiness of the user in the social networking system;

receiving a telephone number associated with a user of the plurality of users;

sending a message to a device associated with the telephone number;

receiving a response to the message;

responsive to receiving the response to the message, determining if the received telephone number has been used to verify another user of the social networking system; and

increasing the trust level associated with the user if the received telephone number has not been used to verify another user; and

a processor configured to execute the computer instructions.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the message comprises one or more of:

a text message, a voice message, a numeric message, and a video message.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the received response to the message comprises one or more of:

a text message, a voice message, a numeric message, and a video message.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the received response comprises a verification code included in the message.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the verification code comprises a CAPTCHA.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the telephone number is received over the Internet.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the response is received over the Internet.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the message is an image.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein increasing the trust level associated with the user results in changing a status of the user from a non-approved user associated with a lower trust level to an approved user associated with a higher trust level.

20. The system of claim 11, the instructions configured to perform further steps comprising:

decreasing the trust level associated with the user if the received telephone number has been used to verify another user.