Sponsored stories unit creation from organic activity stream

• US 9,742,822 B2
• Filed: 07/06/2015
• Issued: 08/22/2017
• 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: Zigoris, Philip Anastasios, Mathur, Nipun, Jin, Robert Kang-Xing, Boland, Brian Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Eskandarnia, Arvin
• Assistant Examiner(s): DUONG, THAO DUC
• Application Number:
  US14/792,528
• Publication Number:
  US 20150312292A1
• Time in Patent Office: 778 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses and systems directed to sponsored story generation from an organic activity stream in a social networking site. A user wishing to promote an entry from an organic activity stream may, using a sponsor user interface, specify the types of stories to promote to a portion of the home page displayed to a member of a social network.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving sponsor specifications designating a set of story characteristics as criteria for promoting a story displayed to users of an online social networking system as a sponsored story, wherein a story describes an action on an object, the story characteristics comprising a targeted object and targeted one or more action types for an action taken on an object by any user of the online social networking system;

accessing a database of permissions for the object;

determining if the object permissions permit sponsored stories to be generated from actions on the object;

in response to a positive determination;

generating, by a processor, a set of modified story characteristics based on the permissions;

monitoring, by the processor, an organic activity stream of stories displayed to users in the online social networking system for one or more stories describing an action on an object by any user matching the targeted object and targeted one or more action types; and

upon finding a match, promoting the one or more matching stories describing the action on the object by the user to be displayed as one or more sponsored stories to one or more users in the online social networking system in conjunction with the organic activity stream.

2. The method of claim 1, generating the set of modified story characteristics comprising:

for each of the one or more actions in the story characteristics;

determining if the object permissions permit sponsored stories based on the action;

in response to a positive determination, including the action in the modified story characteristics; and

in response to a negative determination, excluding the action from the modified story characteristics.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of story characteristics further comprises one or more object instances.

4. The method of claim 3, generating the set of modified story characteristics comprising:

for each of the one or more object instances;

determining if the object permissions permit sponsored stories for the object instance;

in response to a positive determination, including the instance in the modified story characteristics;

for each of the one or more actions in the story characteristics;

determining if the object permissions permit sponsored stories based on the action;

in response to a positive determination, including the action/instance pair in the modified story characteristics; and

in response to a negative determination, excluding the action/instance pair from the modified story characteristics;

in response to a negative determination, excluding the instance from the modified story characteristics.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

periodically re-generating the set of modified story characteristics.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring the entry for changes in status, and updating the sponsored story to reflect any changes in the entry'"'"'s status.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein a change in status comprises deletion of the entry, and the sponsored story is deleted to reflect the change.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein a change in status comprises altering the visibility of the entry, and the sponsored story visibility is altered to match the visibility of the entry.

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

receiving sponsor specifications designating a set of story characteristics as criteria for promoting a story displayed to users of an online social networking system as a sponsored story, wherein a story describes an action on an object, the story characteristics comprising a targeted object and one or more targeted action types for an action taken on the object by any user of the online social networking system;

monitoring, by a processor, an organic activity stream of stories displayed to users in the online social networking system for one or more stories describing an action on an object by [ [a]] any user matching the targeted object and targeted one or more action types; and

upon finding a match, accessing a database of permissions for the object;

determining if the object permissions permit sponsored stories to be generated from actions on the object; and

promoting the one or more stories describing an action on an object by the user to be displayed as one or more sponsored stories to one or more users in the online social networking system in conjunction with the organic activity stream.

10. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising instructions operable, when executed by one or more computing systems, to:

receive sponsor specifications designating a set of story characteristics as criteria for promoting a story displayed to users of an online social networking system as a sponsored story, wherein a story describes an action on an object, the story characteristics comprising a targeted object and one or more targeted action types for an action taken on the object by any user of the online social networking system;

access a database of permissions for the object;

determine if the object permissions permit sponsored stories to be generated from actions on the object;

in response to a positive determination;

generate, by a processor, a set of modified story characteristics based on the permissions;

monitor, by the processor, an organic activity stream of stories displayed to users in the online social networking system for one or more stories describing an action on an object by any user matching the targeted object and one or more targeted action types; and

upon finding a match, promote the one or more stories describing an action on an object by the user to be displayed as one or more sponsored stories to one or more users in the online social networking system in conjunction with the organic activity stream.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, generating the set of modified story characteristics comprising:

for each of the one or more actions in the story characteristics;

determining if the object permissions permit sponsored stories based on the action;

in response to a positive determination, including the action in the modified story characteristics; and

in response to a negative determination, excluding the action from the modified story characteristics.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the set of story characteristics further comprises one or more object instances.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, generating the set of modified story characteristics comprising:

for each of the one or more object instances;

determining if the object permissions permit sponsored stories for the object instance;

in response to a positive determination, including the instance in the modified story characteristics;

for each of the one or more actions in the story characteristics;

determining if the object permissions permit sponsored stories based on the action;

in response to a positive determination, including the action/instance pair in the modified story characteristics; and

in response to a negative determination, excluding the action/instance pair from the modified story characteristics;

in response to a negative determination, excluding the instance from the modified story characteristics.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, the instructions further operable, when executed, to:

periodically re-generate the set of modified story characteristics.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, the instructions further operable, when executed, to:

monitor the entry for changes in status, and updating the sponsored story to reflect any changes in the entry'"'"'s status.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein a change in status comprises deletion of the entry, and the sponsored story is deleted to reflect the change.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein a change in status comprises altering the visibility of the entry, and the sponsored story visibility is altered to match the visibility of the entry.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the object types and instances may be user-defined.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the action types may be user-defined.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the organic activity stream includes actions performed on external systems.