Multimedia aggregation in an online social network

• US 9,600,453 B2
• Filed: 03/08/2010
• Issued: 03/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tiu, William K. Jr., Roberto, Jeffrey J.
• Primary Examiner(s): WON, MICHAEL YOUNG
• Application Number:
  US12/719,793
• Publication Number:
  US 20100162375A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,570 Days
• Field of Search: 715/201, 715/203, 715/204, 715/234, 715/235, 715/236, 709/203, 709/217
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications

Abstract

Multimedia content is featured on user pages of an online social network using embed codes that are generated using a configuration file associated with the source ID for the multimedia content and a content ID for the multimedia content. The configuration file, the source ID and the content ID are stored locally by the online social network so that any changes to the embed codes can be made by changing the configuration file associated with the source and regenerating the embed codes. By managing multimedia content in this manner, greater control can be exercised by the online social network over the multimedia content that are featured on its user pages.

Claims

1. A method comprising, by one or more computing systems:

accessing a social graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes, each of one or more of the nodes being associated with one of a plurality of users of an online social network, each connection between two nodes representing a relationship between the two nodes and establishing a single degree of separation between the two nodes;

generating a web page comprising user profile information associated with a first user of the plurality of users and a link for multimedia content hosted by a third-party source that is external to the online social network, wherein the first user is associated with a first node of the plurality of nodes;

the link being generated from an embed code for the multimedia content using a source ID associated with the third-party source that identifies a configuration file specifying the format of the embed code and having a variable field into which a content ID is inserted; and

sending the web page for display to one or more second users of the plurality of users, the one or more second users being associated with one or more second nodes of the plurality of node, respectively, wherein each of the second nodes is within one degree of separation of the first node, and wherein the multimedia content is retrieved using the link and displayed when the web page is rendered.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia content comprises a blog wherein the blog is maintained at the third-party source, and the content of the blog is supplied from the third-party source to the web page.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the content of the blog is supplied from the third-party source to the web page using an RSS feed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia content comprises at least one photo supplied from the third-party source.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia content is supplied from the third-party source, and wherein each item of multimedia content supplied by the third-party source is embedded with an associated source ID and content ID.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the multimedia content supplied by the third-party source is received through an application programming interface (API) published by the online social network.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising authenticating a user identification and password of the multimedia content, and wherein the source ID and content ID associated with the multimedia content are locally stored after authenticating.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the multimedia content supplied by the third-party source is associated with a user identification and password.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia content is provided by the third-party source and selected for display based on the popularity of the multimedia content with other users of the online social network who are related to the first user by one degree of separation.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating an embedded code for the multimedia content from the third-party source, wherein the embedded code specifies a URL of the third-party source.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia content comprises at least one video supplied from the external source.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating the embed code for the multimedia content.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein generating the web page comprises using the embed code to generate the link for retrieving the multimedia content.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein, when the web page is rendered, the multimedia content is directly streamed from the third-party source.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the web page is a profile page of the online social network, the profile page being associated with the first user.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the web page is a landing page of the online social network.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a request from one or more of the second users to view the web page.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising authenticating each of the second users to access the web page.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, from the third-party source, information relating to an activation of a posting control element by the first user, wherein activation of the posting control element associates the multimedia content with a user identification corresponding to a user account of the first user on the online social network.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the third-party source is communicably connected with the online social network.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more computing systems are servers associated with the online social network.

22. A system comprising one or more processors, the processors operable when executing instructions to:

access a social graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes, each of one or more of the nodes being associated with one of a plurality of users of an online social network, each connection between two nodes representing a relationship between the two nodes and establishing a single degree of separation between the two nodes;

generate a web page comprising user profile information associated with a first user of the plurality of users and a link for multimedia content hosted by a third-party source that is external to the online social network, wherein the first user is associated with a first node of the plurality of nodes, the link being generated from an embed code for the multimedia content using a source ID associated with the third-party source that identifies a configuration file specifying the format of the embed code and having a variable field into which a content ID is inserted; and

send the web page for display to one or more second users of the plurality of users, the one or more second users being associated with one or more second nodes of the plurality of node, respectively, wherein each of the second nodes is within one degree of separation of the first node, and wherein the multimedia content is retrieved using the link and displayed when the web page is rendered.