US20160179307A1 - Structured information about nodes on a social networking system - Google Patents

Abstract

Structured information about nodes may be generated and shared using sub-nodes. A node in a social networking system may be associated with sub-nodes that are definable by the node owner, such as menu items for a restaurant or songs in playlists for an artist. Users of the system may interact with the sub-nodes, and the interactions may be presented back on the page to a user, aggregated according to the user's connections in the social networking system (e.g., which songs your friends listened to the most by the artist, which menu items were consumed the most). Users may associate other sub-nodes to the node, such as identifying other menu items served by a restaurant, and the node owner may confirm these associations. Location awareness functionalities may be used to inform a user of highly recommended sub-nodes nearby as indicated by other users of the social networking system.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
• This application is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/450,269, filed Apr. 18, 2012, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND
• This invention relates generally to social networking, and in particular to structured information about nodes on a social networking system.
• In recent years, social networking systems have made it easier for users to share their interests and preferences in real-world concepts, such as their favorite movies, musicians, celebrities, soft drinks, hobbies, sports teams, and activities. Users may use multiple social networking systems to identify their favorite restaurants, meals, and entertainment venues, for example. A user may need to navigate several different domains external to a particular social networking system to research a particular restaurant, meal, entertainment venue, movie, musician, and the like. The information available about a concept, such as a restaurant and meals served by the restaurant, may be supplied by other people unconnected to the user. Information supplied by other users connected to the user on a social networking system may not be highlighted on the various domains external to the social networking system.
• Users of social networking systems have shared their interests and engaged with other users of the social networking systems by expressing their interests in these concepts on web pages on different domains external to the social networking system. The amount of information gathered from users is staggering—information describing interests in sports, music, movies, food, restaurants, and the like. Social networking systems have recorded this information to personalize the user experience, but social networking systems have lacked tools to enable users to effectively and efficiently identify shared interests in sports, music, movies, food, restaurants and the like in real-time. For example, a user of a social networking system in search of the top restaurants nearby that serve “dry-fried chicken wings” may search for those keywords on several external systems, relying on strangers' reviews, even if several friends of the user have recommended a particular restaurant. If that user finds a new restaurant that recently opened that serves amazing chicken wings, that user cannot effectively share that recommendation to other users on the social networking system.
• Specifically, social networking systems have not provided tools to enable users to provide structured information about concepts and receive aggregated information about shared interests with other connected users. Enabling users to provide structured information about concepts on a social networking system provides a better understanding of the concepts on the social networking system. As more information is provided on the social networking system, users become more engaged because of the enhanced user experience. However, existing systems have not provided efficient mechanisms of receiving, aggregating, and sharing this valuable structured information.
SUMMARY
• Structured information about nodes may be generated and shared using sub-nodes. A node in a social networking system, such as a page, a user, or an entity, may be associated with sub-nodes that are definable by the owner of the node, such as menu items for a restaurant or albums of songs for an artist. Users of the system may interact with the sub-nodes, and the interactions may be presented back on the page to a user, aggregated according to the user's connections in the social networking system (e.g., which songs your friends listened to the most by the artist, which menu items were consumed the most). Users may generate associations between other sub-nodes and the node, such as identifying other menu items served by a restaurant, and the owner of the node may confirm these associations. Location awareness capabilities may be used by a social networking system to inform a user of highly recommended sub-nodes nearby as indicated by other users of the social networking system. For example, a user that is currently located near a restaurant that serves highly recommended chicken wings may be informed of the restaurant through a user device connected to the social networking system.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• FIG. 1 is high level block diagram illustrating a process of gathering and providing structured information about a node to users of a social networking system, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 2 is a network diagram of a system for gathering and providing structured information about a node to users of a social networking system, showing a block diagram of the social networking system, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 3 is high level block diagram illustrating a sub-node generating module that includes various modules for providing structured information about nodes in a social networking system, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process of gathering structured information about nodes in a social networking system, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a process of providing structured information about nodes in a social networking system, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 6 is an example user interface for providing structured information about nodes in a social networking system, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
• The figures depict various embodiments of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTIONOverview
• A social networking system offers its users the ability to communicate and interact with other users of the social networking system. Users join the social networking system and add connections to a number of other users to whom they desire to be connected. Users of social networking system can provide information describing them which is stored as user profiles. For example, users can provide their age, gender, geographical location, education history, employment history and the like. The information provided by users may be used by the social networking system to direct information to the user. For example, the social networking system may recommend social groups, events, and potential friends to a user. A social networking system may also enable users to explicitly express interest in a concept, such as celebrities, hobbies, sports teams, books, music, and the like. These interests may be used in a myriad of ways, including targeting advertisements and personalizing the user experience on the social networking system by showing relevant stories about other users of the social networking system based on shared interests.
• A social graph includes nodes connected by edges that are stored on a social networking system. Nodes include users and objects of the social networking system, such as web pages embodying concepts and entities, and edges connect the nodes. Edges represent a particular interaction between two nodes, such as when a user expresses an interest in a new restaurant. The social graph may record interactions between users of the social networking system as well as interactions between users and objects of the social networking system by storing information in the nodes and edges that represent these interactions. Custom graph objects and graph actions may be defined by third-party developers as well as administrators of the social networking system to define attributes of the graph objects and graph actions. For example, a graph object for a restaurant may have several defined attributes, such as hours, location, recommendations, and various menus of food served at the restaurant. Enabling third-party developers to define custom object types and custom action types is further described in a related application, “Structured Objects and Actions on a Social Networking System,” U.S. application Ser. No. 13/239,340 filed on Sep. 21, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference. Providing a social music product on a social networking system using custom graph objects and graph actions is further described in a related application, “Integrating Structured Objects and Actions Generated on External Systems into a Social Networking System,” U.S. application Ser. No. 13/239,344 filed on Sep. 21, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
• Third-party developers may enable users of the social networking system to express interest in web pages hosted on websites external to the social networking system. These web pages may be represented as page objects in the social networking system as a result of embedding a widget, a social plug-in, programmable logic or code snippet into the web pages, such as an iFrame. Any concept that can be embodied in a web page may become a node in the social graph on the social networking system in this manner. As a result, users may interact with many objects external to the social networking system that are relevant to a keyword or keyword phrase, such as “San Tung Chinese Restaurant.” Each of the interactions with an object may be recorded by the social networking system as an edge.
• Sub-nodes may be generated for different types of nodes in a social networking system, such as pages, users, and entities. Generating sub-nodes for page objects in a social networking system may be performed through various methods. For example, a third-party external system may have listings of sub-nodes that are associated with the page object, such as menu items that a particular restaurant serves, the cast, directors, and producers of a movie, and albums and songs that have been recorded by an artist. Through an interface with the social networking system, sub-nodes may be generated for respective page objects representing the restaurant, movie, and artist to include the menu items served by the restaurant, cast, directors, and producers of the movie, and albums and songs recorded by the artist. Other third-party external systems may also have user-generated content, such as reviews of the restaurant, movie, and/or artist. The social networking system may import this user-generated content as generated sub-nodes of the respective page objects representing the particular restaurant, movie, and artist. Moreover, a sub-node for burritos, for example, may be used for all restaurants serving burritos, enabling users of a social networking system to compare user reviews of the burritos, including pictures and textual descriptions, of burritos nearby.
• In one embodiment, users may generate sub-nodes for a page object by providing an indication that an unassociated sub-node should be associated with the page object. For example, a user may check-in to a restaurant using a mobile device having location awareness and be prompted with a question asking what the user ate at the restaurant. If the menu item inputted by the user is not found as a sub-node already associated with the page object for the restaurant, the sub-node may be associated with the restaurant upon approval by the page owner. This enables users of the social networking system to provide structured information about the page for the restaurant. In another embodiment, the type of node may indicate what types of sub-node objects may be associated with the page. For example, it may be assumed that a Mexican restaurant serves burritos while a Chinese restaurant serves fried rice based on template menus for each restaurant type created by administrators of the social networking system. Machine learning and heuristics analysis may also be used in generating and associating sub-node objects to page objects, as described herein.
• FIG. 1 illustrates a high level block diagram of a process of gathering and providing structured information about a node to users of a social networking system, in one embodiment. Thesocial networking system100 generates associations112 between apage object102 and sub-node objects104 after it is determined that the sub-node objects104 should be associated with thepage object102. For example, a page owner of thepage object102 may initially determine that asub-node object104ashould be associated with thepage object102 by providing a list of sub-node objects to thesocial networking system100. Such scenarios include a page owner of a restaurant page that submits a list of menu items that correspond to the sub-node objects, a page owner of a music artist page that submits a list or database of albums and song titles recorded by the artist corresponding to sub-node objects, and a page owner of a movie page that submits a list of credits detailing the actors, writers, producers, and directors of the movie corresponding to sub-node objects. In one embodiment, the page owner may identify sub-node objects104 through a user interface with thesocial networking system100. In another embodiment, the page owner may generate new sub-node objects104 through a user interface or through an API function call to generate new sub-node objects104 for sub-node objects that do not match existing sub-node objects104 in thesocial networking system100. Although a page object is illustrated inFIG. 1, other types of nodes may also be associated with sub-nodes, such as custom lists of favorite sub-nodes that are associated with users of asocial networking system100, top selling sub-nodes associated with an entity, such as top selling running shoes offered on various e-commerce web sites being associated with a concept for running represented by a concept page on thesocial networking system100, and top consumed sub-nodes each month associated with users, such as food items.
• FIG. 1 and the other figures use like reference numerals to identify like elements. A letter after a reference numeral, such as “104a,” indicates that the text refers specifically to the element having that particular reference numeral. A reference numeral in the text without a following letter, such as “104,” refers to any or all of the elements in the figures bearing that reference numeral (e.g. “104” in the text refers to reference numerals “104a,” “104b,” and/or “104c” in the figures). Only three sub-node objects104 are shown inFIG. 1 in order to simplify and clarify the description.
• User profile objects106 that represent users of thesocial networking system100 may be associated with sub-node objects104 based onactions110 performed on the sub-node objects104 by the users. Each user of thesocial networking system100 is associated with a specific user profile object106. User profile objects106 include declarative information about the user that was explicitly shared by the user and expressed in an action on objects in thesocial networking system100. A viewing user108 in thesocial networking system100 may view asub-node object104bthat is associated with user profile objects106 based on performedactions110 by user associated with the user profile objects106.
• Sub-node objects104 may be associated withpage objects102 using a variety of methods, including using a third-party database or external system provides a listing of sub-nodes to thesocial networking system100 to be associated with thepage object102. In one embodiment, application programming interface function calls may be provided to transfer the information about sub-nodes from the third-party database to thesocial networking system100. If sub-node objects104 are not found for the sub-nodes, based on the name of the sub-nodes, then new sub-node objects104 may be generated. For example, asub-node object104afor nachos may be associated to apage object102 for a Mexican restaurant whose page owner submitted that menu item to thesocial networking system100. However, a newsub-node object104bfor flan may be generated because thesub-node object104bfor flan had not yet been created in thesocial networking system100 and was not found when the page owner submitted the menu item to thesocial networking system100. In another embodiment, a page owner of a page for a music artist may specify links to catalogues of music to identify links to music tracks by a music artist so that the links to the music tracks are captured as sub-node objects104 associated with thepage object102 for the music artist. In this way, regardless of the music service used by users to listen to music by the artist, user interactions with music by the artist will be captured as interactions with the sub-node objects104 associated with thepage object102.
• Another method of generating sub-node objects104 to be associated with apage object102 includes identifying attributes of page objects102 that match existing sub-node objects104, such as actors, directors, writers, and producers for a movie represented by apage object102. In such a case, sub-node objects104 matching actors, directors, writers, and producers of apage object102 are searched for in thesocial networking system100 and subsequently associated with thepage object102 for the movie. If matching sub-nodes104 are not found for actors, directors, writers, and/or producers, then new sub-node objects104 are generated and subsequently associated with thepage object102. As another example, attributes of a particular meal served at a gourmet restaurant, such as free-range chicken, or restricted diet terms such as vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free, may be searched as sub-objects104 to be associated with thepage object102 for the gourmet restaurant. Inexact matching, including fuzzy matching that accounts for misspellings, and feedback from users and administrators of pages on thesocial networking system100 may also be used in matching sub-node objects104 to attributes of page objects102.
• In this way, users of asocial networking system100 may search for the best burrito in San Francisco, Calif. by searching for all restaurants that serve burritos and reading reviews of burritos eaten by the users' connections on thesocial networking system100, viewing pictures of burritos, and analyzing other user generated content, such as ratings and recommendations. Thesocial networking system100 may aggregate this information around the sub-node object104 for “burrito” and rank restaurants represented bypage objects102 based on consumption by users, in one embodiment. Similarly, the top song of a particular artist that has been listened to by connections of a viewing user108 on thesocial networking system100 may be aggregated by the sub-node objects104 for the songs. As shown inFIG. 1, the viewing user108 may be provided with asub-node object104bthat has been identified as a top song listened to by an artist represented by thepage object102 based on custom graph listen actions, or performedactions110, by the viewing user's connections, represented by user profile objects106. Also, if the same song, such as “I Will Always Love You,” was performed by different artists, including Whitney Houston, Dolly Parton, Jennifer Hudson, and the Glee Cast, the custom graph objects, or song objects for “I Will Always Love You” as recorded by the different artists, may be associated with a sub-node object104 for the song and associated with the page objects102 for the different artists. In one embodiment, the custom graph objects for the song objects for “I Will Always Love You” as recorded by the different artists may be ranked by consumption by users of the social networking system when listed on a page for the sub-node object104 for the song.
• Apage object102 may also be associated with acontent object114, such as a picture, a status update, a comment, a link, a review, a recommendation, or any other objects on thesocial networking system100, based on a viewing user108 generating thecontent object114 in association with asub-node object104athat already has a generatedassociation112awith thepage object102. For example, a viewing user108 of thesocial networking system100 may be prompted to take a picture of a food item that they purchased at a restaurant. Because the restaurant is represented by apage object102 and the food item, such as a burrito, is represented by thesub-node object104athat has been associated with thepage object102, the picture of the burrito may be stored as acontent object114 in association with thesub-node object104a. The page owner of thepage object102 for the restaurant may, in one embodiment, enable pictures of sub-node objects104 that have associations112 with thepage object102 to be displayed on the page. Thus, thecontent object114 may be displayed on the page for the restaurant, along with other pictures of burritos, for example. In one embodiment, the display of content objects of a particularsub-node object104amay be displayed in a pile format, such that multiple pictures are displayed.
• In one embodiment, asub-node object104cmay be associated with apage object102 based on user input from a viewing user108 in regards to thepage object102. For example, if the viewing user108 checks-in at a restaurant represented by thepage object102, thesocial networking system100 may prompt the viewing user108 for the menu item that the user consumed at the restaurant. If the user input is not found as a sub-node object that has been previously associated with thepage object102, such as “turkey quesadilla” at a Mexican restaurant, a newsub-node object104cnamed “turkey quesadilla” may be generated and associated with thepage object102 temporarily. The page owner for thepage object102 may approve the generatedassociation112cthrough a user interface for managing thepage object102 in thesocial networking system100. As a result, users of thesocial networking system100 may help proved structured information about nodes in thesocial networking system100, such as page objects102. This “crowd sourcing” of providing structured information for page objects102 in asocial networking system100 by users is not limited to restaurants, but also includes songs that have been incorrectly mapped to an artist, attributing correct movie quotes to movies, and providing recommendations for products, among other use cases.
System Architecture
• FIG. 2 is a high level block diagram illustrating a system environment suitable for gathering and providing structured information about nodes in a social networking system, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The system environment comprises one ormore user devices202, thesocial networking system100, anetwork204, andexternal websites216. In alternative configurations, different and/or additional modules can be included in the system.
• Theuser devices202 comprise one or more computing devices that can receive user input and can transmit and receive data via thenetwork204. In one embodiment, theuser device202 is a conventional computer system executing, for example, a Microsoft Windows-compatible operating system (OS), Apple OS X, and/or a Linux distribution. In another embodiment, theuser device202 can be a device having computer functionality, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), mobile telephone, smart-phone, etc. Theuser device202 is configured to communicate vianetwork204. Theuser device202 can execute an application, for example, a browser application that allows a user of theuser device202 to interact with thesocial networking system100. In another embodiment, theuser device202 interacts with thesocial networking system100 through an application programming interface (API) that runs on the native operating system of theuser device202, such as iOS 4 and ANDROID.
• In one embodiment, thenetwork204 uses standard communications technologies and/or protocols. Thus, thenetwork204 can include links using technologies such as Ethernet, 802.11, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX),3G,4G, CDMA, digital subscriber line (DSL), etc. Similarly, the networking protocols used on thenetwork204 can include multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), the transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), the hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), the simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), and the file transfer protocol (FTP). The data exchanged over thenetwork204 can be represented using technologies and/or formats including the hypertext markup language (HTML) and the extensible markup language (XML). In addition, all or some of links can be encrypted using conventional encryption technologies such as secure sockets layer (SSL), transport layer security (TLS), and Internet Protocol security (IPsec).
• FIG. 2 contains a block diagram of thesocial networking system100. Thesocial networking system100 includes a user profile store206, aweb server208, apage store210, acontent store212, anedge store214, asub-node store218, asub-node query module220, asub-node generating module222, apage ranking module224, asub-node presentation module226, and apage management module228. In other embodiments, thesocial networking system100 may include additional, fewer, or different modules for various applications. Conventional components such as network interfaces, security functions, load balancers, failover servers, management and network operations consoles, and the like are not shown so as to not obscure the details of the system.
• Theweb server208 links thesocial networking system100 via thenetwork204 to one ormore user devices202; theweb server208 serves web pages, as well as other web-related content, such as Java, Flash, XML, and so forth. Theweb server208 may provide the functionality of receiving and routing messages between thesocial networking system100 and theuser devices202, for example, instant messages, queued messages (e.g., email), text and SMS (short message service) messages, or messages sent using any other suitable messaging technique. The user can send a request to theweb server208 to upload information, for example, images or videos that are stored in thecontent store212. Additionally, theweb server208 may provide API functionality to send data directly to native user device operating systems, such as iOS, ANDROID, webOS, and RIM.
• Apage management module228 manages structured information received for page objects102 in asocial networking system100. For example, a page owner may submit a list of sub-node objects104 to be associated with apage object102 through thepage management module228. Thepage management module228 may also receive user input associated with a sub-node object104 to be associated with apage object102. Asub-node query module220 uses the user input to search asub-node store218 that includes previously generated sub-node objects104. If a sub-node object104 is found by thesub-node query module220, thepage management module228 associates the resulting sub-node object104 with the correspondingpage object102. Page objects102 are stored in thepage store210. In one embodiment, sub-node objects104 may be stored as content objects in thecontent store212. Sub-node objects104 may represent objects hosted onexternal websites216, such as song objects, album objects, movie objects, and actor objects, as well as objects hosted on thesocial networking system100, such as user profile objects of users that are part of a softball team represented by apage object102 in thesocial networking system100.
• Apage management module228 may also respond to requests for generating sub-node objects104 for page objects102 in thesocial networking system100. In one embodiment, thepage management module228 may communicate a request to generate one or more sub-node objects104 to asub-node generating module222 that was received through an application programming interface (API) call. For example, a third-party developer may utilize API calls to generate sub-node objects104 to be associated with aparticular page object102 using a listing or database of structured information, such as a discography of music performed by an artist, a menu of food items for a restaurant, and a casting credit listing of a television series. In another embodiment, thepage management module228 may communicate a request to generate one or more sub-node objects104 to asub-node generating module222 that was received through a user interface on thesocial networking system100 by a page owner. In a further embodiment, thesocial networking system100 may receive user input from a viewing user108 indicating that asub-node object104cthat has not been associated with apage object102 should be associated with thepage object102. In that case, thepage management module228 may require the page owner of thepage object102 to approve theassociation112cbetween the sub-node object104 and thepage object102. In yet another embodiment, thesocial networking system100 may receive user input from a viewing user108 indicating that a newsub-node object104cshould be generated and associated with apage object102. As a result, thepage management module228 may communicate the request to generate the sub-node object104 to thesub-node generating module222 and generate anassociation112cwith thepage object102 upon approval from the page owner of thepage object102. In a further embodiment, no approval is needed to temporarily associate a sub-node to a page object. In other embodiments, based on a user's reputation score on thesocial networking system100, the association may be automatically approved. Once the association is approved, the association with the sub-node is stored in the page object in thesocial networking system100.
• User account information and other related information for a user are stored in the user profile store206. The user profile information stored in user profile store206 describes the users of thesocial networking system100, including biographic, demographic, and other types of descriptive information, such as work experience, educational history, gender, hobbies or preferences, location, and the like. The user profile may also store other information provided by the user, for example, images or videos. In certain embodiments, images of users may be tagged with identification information of users of thesocial networking system100 displayed in an image. The user profile store206 also maintains references to the actions stored in an action log and performed on objects in thecontent store212.
• Theedge store214 stores the information describing connections between users and other objects on thesocial networking system100. Some edges may be defined by users, allowing users to specify their relationships with other users. For example, users may generate edges with other users that parallel the users' real-life relationships, such as friends, co-workers, partners, and so forth. Other edges are generated when users interact with objects in thesocial networking system100, such as expressing interest in a page on the social networking system, sharing a link with other users of the social networking system, and commenting on posts made by other users of the social networking system. Theedge store214 stores edge objects that include information about the edge, such as affinity scores for objects, interests, and other users.
• Asub-node generating module222 generates a new sub-node object upon receiving an indication that a sub-node has not been found by thesub-node query module220. Apage ranking module224 may rank page objects102 associated with a sub-node object104 to determine the top pages for a particular sub-node object104, in one embodiment. For example, Mexican restaurants represented bypage objects102 may all serve burritos and be associated with a sub-node object104 for “burrito.” Based on user interactions with the sub-node, such as users indicating through a user interface in thesocial networking system100 that they consumed a burrito at a particular Mexican restaurant, photos uploaded by users depicting burritos, ratings of a burrito at each restaurant, user-generated reviews of burritos, and aggregate information about burritos consumed at Mexican restaurants in a location, page objects102 for Mexican restaurants may be ranked by the sub-node104 for burritos. In this way, a viewing user108 may be provided with apage object102 associated with the highest-ranked burritos, as ranked by thepage ranking module224. In one embodiment, thepage ranking module224 may be used to provide the best page object by sub-node filtered by a viewing user's location. In another embodiment, thepage ranking module224 may be used provide the best page object by sub-node filtered by the viewing user's connections on thesocial networking system100.
• Asub-node presentation module226 may operate in conjunction with other modules of thesocial networking system100 to provide users with information about sub-node objects104 stored in thesub-node store218. For example, a viewing user108 may viewing apage object102 for a Mexican restaurant called “Los Coyotes.” Thepage object102 may provide a complete listing of the menu items served, including burritos, quesadillas, and nachos. However, thesub-node presentation module226 may provide a listing of the “top” menu items served by “Los Coyotes” as indicated by consumption metrics provided by thesocial networking system100. For example, Los Coyotes may also serve “came asada fries” and may be the only Mexican restaurant within 5 miles of San Francisco that serves them. As a result, many users may provide an indication to thesocial networking system100 that they have consumed came asada fries and thesub-node presentation module226 may provide an indication that came asada fries is a top menu item at Los Coyotes. As another example, a music artist represented by apage object102 in thesocial networking system100 may have a complete discography of tracks listed on the page in thesocial networking system100. In addition, “top” songs may be provided by thesub-node presentation module226 on the page for the music artist based on custom graph actions performed by users of thesocial networking system100. For example, the song “I Wanna Go” by Britney Spears may be the most listened to song by users of thesocial networking system100 that have indicated an interest in the music artist. As a result, that song, a sub-node object104 of thepage object102 representing Britney Spears, may be listed as a “Top Song” and provided by thesub-node presentation module226. In one embodiment, thesub-node presentation module226 may provide the top sub-nodes filtered by a viewing user's connections, such that interactions with sub-nodes by users connected to a viewing user are the user interactions used to determine the top sub-nodes associated with apage object102. Thus, the viewing user is provided with the top sub-nodes interacted with by other users of thesocial networking system100 connected to the viewing user. Similarly, other filters may be used by thesub-node presentation module226 to provide top sub-nodes filtered by location, affinity for other objects in thesocial networking system100, and most recent user interactions in other embodiments.
Generating Sub-Nodes on a Social Networking System
• FIG. 3 illustrates a high level block diagram of thesub-node generating module222 in further detail, in one embodiment. Thesub-node generating module222 includes an externaldata gathering module300, adata mapping module302, apage interface module304, aheuristics analysis module306, and amachine learning module308. These modules may perform in conjunction with each other or independently to provide structured information about nodes in asocial networking system100.
• An externaldata gathering module300 interfaces withexternal websites216 to process information about sub-node objects104 of thesocial networking system100. This information may include content on a third-party website and other data licensed from third-party providers. For example, a page owner of apage object102 for a restaurant may already have menu items listed on anexternal website216. The externaldata gathering module300 may be used to gather such menu information for thepage object102 to generate sub-nodes. In addition, third-party external systems, such as restaurant review websites, may license information about restaurants to thesocial networking system100 to provide user-generated content to thesocial networking system100 about the restaurant through the externaldata gathering module300. As another example, music streaming websites may enable a page owner of apage object102 representing a music artist on thesocial networking system100 to provide a link to a music catalogue of the artist's tracks on the music streaming websites. The externaldata gathering module300 may import the music catalogue of the artist's tracks to generate a sub-node object104 for each of the tracks and associate the generated sub-node objects104 to thepage object102 for the artist. In one embodiment, the externaldata gathering module300 may process the information retrieved fromexternal web sites216 in a batch process asynchronously from thesub-node generating module222. Multiple music catalogues for an artist's tracks may be gathered by the externaldata gathering module300 and de-duplicated based on the same song objects having the same attributes.
• Adata mapping module302 ensures that data gathered from external systems have been mapped to the correct page object in the social networking system. For example, apage object102 may exist for a dog named “Biggie Smalls,” a name that also refers to a rapper. Thesocial networking system100 may use thedata mapping module302 to ensure that songs by the rap artist “Biggie Smalls” is not mapped to apage object102 for the dog with the same name. In one embodiment, thedata mapping module302 uses node types of the page objects to determine whether the external data should be mapped to the page. For example, a page object in the social networking system may have a node type of “musician/band,” as opposed to “entertainer.”
• Thedata mapping module302 may map external data based on analyzing attributes of the page objects to identify matching external data. Page objects may be associated with a graph object type that has been defined to have multiple attributes, or object properties. For example, a movie object type may be defined to have properties such as a director object type, a producer object type, a lead actor type, and the like. Matching external data to objects in a social networking system is further discussed in a related application, “Enabling Preference Portability for Users of a Social Networking System,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/294,998 filed on Nov. 11, 2011, hereby incorporated by reference. In this way, multiple streaming music services may be linked to the same sub-node object104 for a song that is listed on the artist's page on thesocial networking system100. In one embodiment, a viewing user may select a particular streaming music service when multiple streaming music services are associated with the same sub-node object104.
• Thepage interface module304 may be used by page owners of page objects to generate sub-node objects and associate them to page objects. In one embodiment, a page owner may use a user interface with thesocial networking system100 to manually input information about sub-nodes related to a page object, such as menu items for a restaurant, songs played by an artist, and movies directed by a director. Thepage interface module304 gathers the user input by the page owner to generate sub-nodes in thesocial networking system100. In another embodiment, the page owner may use application programming interface (API) calls to communicate information about sub-nodes. Thepage interface module304 gathers the information about sub-nodes for generating sub-nodes in thesocial networking system100. In another embodiment, a page owner may use the user interface provided by thepage interface module304 to upload an electronic file listing sub-nodes to be associated with the page, such as menu items for a restaurant stored in an Excel spreadsheet or comma separated value file.
• Aheuristics analysis module306 operates independently and asynchronously from the other modules in thesub-node generating module222. Theheuristics analysis module306 performs various steps to gather information from thesocial networking system100. For example, an action log includes actions that users perform on the social networking system. Theheuristics analysis module306 may be used to analyze the level of communications activity for pages on the social networking system to determine whether those communications included certain keywords, such as “burrito,” that may indicate which types of restaurants serve that item. This may help to suggest new sub-nodes to other page objects that represent Mexican restaurants that may serve the menu item but had not yet associated the menu item with the restaurant's page object.
• Another use of theheuristics analysis module306 includes gathering and analyzing different types of information about sub-node objects that have been generated. For example, users of asocial networking system100 may upload pictures of food items that they are especially excited about eating, such as a pasta dish from a gourmet Italian restaurant. Theheuristics analysis module306 may identify sub-node objects that are associated with the most pictures uploaded by thesocial networking system100 to identify the top food items to eat in a certain location. This information may be used by other modules in thesocial networking system100 to enhance the user experience, such as providing a notification to a viewing user of thesocial networking system100 that a nearby restaurant, based on the viewing user's geographic location as indicated by location awareness technology embedded in the viewing user's user device, such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS), serves a highly ranked pasta dish, based on the number of pictures uploaded by users, restaurant reviews retrieved from external systems, and consumption data by users that are connected to the viewing user.
• Amachine learning module308 may be used in thesub-node generating module222 to refine data mapping of external data and other information gathered about sub-node and page objects in thesocial networking system100. In one embodiment, asocial networking system100 uses a machine learning algorithm to analyze user feedback received from the user feedback module to train the data mapping model for mapping sub-node objects to page objects based on external data. For example, a user of thesocial networking system100 may identify that a song by the rapper Biggie Smalls was incorrectly mapped to a page object for a page for the entertainer “Biggie Smalls,” a pet dog with the same name. This user feedback may be used by themachine learning module308 to retrain the data mapping model. Another use of themachine learning module308 may include recognizing patterns in consumption data of sub-node objects in thesocial networking system100, such as certain dishes and meals consumed more than others by demographics, including age, race, gender, location, education, work experience, interests, and so on.
• FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart diagram depicting a process of gathering structured information about nodes in a social networking system, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. An indication that a user is viewing a page object is received402 by thesocial networking system100. This indication may be received402 based on the user viewing the page on thesocial networking system100 associated with the page object, checking into a place associated with the page object through a mobile device, checking into an event associated with the page object, and tagging a content item to be associated with the page object, for example.
• After the indication that the user is viewing the page object is received402, the user is provided404 an interface to capture information for identifying a sub-node for the page object. The interface may include prompts for asking what the user consumed while viewing the page object, such as consuming a food item at a restaurant, watching a video clip of a television show, listening to a song at a music concert, and rooting for particular player on a sports team. In each of these examples, the item being consumed corresponds to information for identifying a sub-node for the page object. In one embodiment, the interface provided404 to the user includes a text input dialog box. In another embodiment, the interface provided404 to the user includes a graphical user interface that includes selectable thumbnail pictures of sub-node objects already associated with the page object.
• In a further embodiment, the interface provided404 to the user comprises an application programming interface (API) that enables a page owner, such as a restaurant owner, music artist, or sports team manager, to upload a listing of sub-node objects received through an external system, such as a food ordering system, a music library database, or a sports team management system. In yet another embodiment, the interface provided404 to the user comprises a user interface that enables a page owner to upload a file, such as an Excel spreadsheet, a database file, or a comma separated value file, to thesocial networking system100 that provides a listing of sub-nodes to be associated with the page. For example, a page owner of a restaurant page may upload a file that includes the menu being served at the restaurant. Each of the menu items in the file may be searched for in the social networking system based on keywords in the listing to identify a sub-node matching the menu item.
• After the interface is provided404 to the user to capture information for identifying a sub-node for the page object, user input is received406 from the interface. As mentioned above, user input such as a selection of a link for a sub-node may be received406 from the interface, text input matching the name of a sub-node may be received406 from the interface, as well as a selection of a thumbnail picture of a sub-node may be received406 from the interface, in various embodiments. In another embodiment in which the interface comprises an API, the user input may include an API call that is received406 by the interface. The API call may include identifying information of a sub-node object, such as a sub-node object identifier or the name of the sub-node. In yet another embodiment, the user input that is received406 may include a file that is uploaded by the user, such as an Excel spreadsheet or comma separated value file.
• Once the user input is received406 from the interface, the social networking system determines408 if the user input matches an existing sub-node associated with the page object. For example, text input received406 from the interface is searched in the sub-node store for sub-nodes that match the text input. If a matching sub-node object is found, thesocial networking system100 may determine if that sub-node object has already been associated with the page object. As another example, a selected link received406 as user input from the interface may be associated with a sub-node object that may or may not be associated with the page object. In a further embodiment in which a listing of sub-nodes is received406 as user input, through an uploaded file or in an API call, the matching step408 repeats with each user inputted item in the listing to determine if a matching sub-node object is found. If the user input matches an existing sub-node that has already been associated with the page object, then the interaction with the sub-node object and the user is recorded412 in an edge object associated with the user.
• If the user input does not match an existing sub-node associated with the page object, then an association is generated410 between a sub-node object matching the user input in association and the page object. In one embodiment, if a sub-node object matching the user input was not found in thesocial networking system100, such as a “tofu taco” food item at a Mexican restaurant, a new sub-node object would be generated for the received user input and an association with the sub-node object for the “tofu taco” would be generated410 with the page object for the Mexican restaurant. In another embodiment, the association generated410 between a newly created sub-node object and the page object may be subject to review and approval by a page owner of the page object. In this way, fraudulent sub-nodes may not be generated and/or associated with a page object without the permission of the page owner. After the new association between the page object and the sub-node object matching the user input is generated410, then the interaction with the sub-node and the user is recorded412 in an edge object associated with the user.
Providing Sub-Nodes to Users of a Social Networking System
• FIG. 5 is a flowchart diagram depicting a process of providing structured information about nodes in a social networking system, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. A request for a page object is received502 from a user device. For example, a web browser on a user's personal computer may be loading a web page hosted on anexternal website216 outside thesocial networking system100. The web page may include an embedded code snippet, widget, or social plug-in that requests the page object for a music artist, such as Britney Spears, from thesocial networking system100. The web page being loaded, such as a fan web site about Britney Spears, may use the social plug-in to retrieve information from the page object on the social networking system about the music artist, such as sub-node objects associated with the page object. For example, links to music streaming services may be stored as song objects that are associated with sub-node objects. As a result, users of the external fan website may execute a custom graph action of “playing” song objects listed on the artist page for Britney Spears through the social plug-in embedded on the external fan website. In another embodiment, a viewing user of thesocial networking system100 may wish to browse the artist page for Britney Spears on thesocial networking system100. As a result, thesocial networking system100 may receive502 the request for a page object from a user device associated with the viewing user.
• Responsive the request received502 by thesocial networking system100, a page object associated with the page object in the request and a plurality of sub-node objects associated with the page object is retrieved504. Continuing the example above, the page object associated with the artist, Britney Spears, is retrieved along with sub-node objects associated with the artist page. Such sub-node objects may include albums each having multiple tracks, or songs by the artist, Britney Spears. In this way, the external fan website may enable users to play music by Britney Spears using the social plug-in. In another embodiment in which a request for the page object for the page for Britney Spears is received502 from a social plug-in, the page object and associated plurality of sub-node objects would be retrieved504 responsive to the request.
• After the page object and associated sub-node objects are retrieved504, the plurality of sub-node objects associated with the page object are ranked506 based on socially relevant information. A ranking model may be used to rank506 the sub-nodes associated with the page object based on socially relevant information. Socially relevant information may include affinity scores for interests, objects, and other users. The ranking model may incorporate socially relevant information as weighted factors in the ranking model. In one embodiment, a ranking model may be defined by administrators of thesocial networking system100 with predetermined weights. Machine learning and heuristics analysis may be used to refine the weights over time, training on user feedback and measuring engagement with page objects and sub-node objects.
• Continuing the previous example, a viewing user associated with the user device that sent the request for the page object about Britney Spears may have expressed an interest in Britney Spears as well as certain songs by Britney Spears, such as “Baby One More Time” and “Womanizer.” As a result, these songs, represented by sub-node objects, may be ranked higher than other songs. In another embodiment, the viewing user may not have expressed an interest in Britney Spears, but other users of thesocial networking system100 connected to the viewing user may have expressed an interest in Britney Spears as well as her other songs, such as “Oops, I Did it Again” and “Crazy.” As a result, those songs may be ranked higher than the other songs by Britney Spears due to the interests expressed by other users connected to the viewing user. The page object and the ranked plurality of sub-node objects associated with the page object may then be provided508 to the user device, in one embodiment.
• In a further embodiment, actions performed by the viewing user and other users connected to the viewing user on the social networking system may be related to sub-node objects, such as songs and albums, associated with the page object for Britney Spears. Custom graph actions such as “purchase,” “listen,” and “share” may be performed on sub-node objects for songs and/or albums. For example, a viewing user may operate a third party external application that plays streaming music onto the viewing user's desktop computer. Using this external application, the viewing user may listen to various songs by Britney Spears, and this user activity may be communicated to the social networking system as multiple custom graph actions of “listening” performed on custom graph objects for the songs being streamed on the external application. In another embodiment, the viewing user may purchase various songs by Britney Spears through a music store hosted on an external website, such as Amazon.com, or through an external application, such as iTunes, and this user activity may be communicated to the social networking system as multiple custom graph actions of “purchasing” performed on custom graph objects for the songs. In a further embodiment, the viewing user may share various songs by Britney Spears through an external application for sharing music, such as Spotify, through an external website for sharing music, such as Turntable.fm, or through the social networking system, and this user activity may be communicated to the social networking system as multiple custom graph actions of “sharing” performed on custom graph objects for the songs.
• In one embodiment, the custom graph objects may be associated with sub-node objects. In another embodiment, sub-node objects may comprise the custom graph objects. As a result, thesocial networking system100 may use the user activity information about custom graph actions performed on custom graph objects to rank506 sub-nodes associated with a page object. This enables thesocial networking system100 to provide the songs most listened to by the viewing user, songs most listened to by other users connected to the viewing user, top songs listened to by user demographics, location, genre, and any combination of user attributes as well as sub-node attributes. In this way, socially relevant information may include custom graph actions performed on custom graph objects that are associated with the sub-node objects and/or the page object.
• In another embodiment in which a widget, or social plug-in, requested the page object and associated plurality of sub-node objects, the viewing user's preferences and actions in the social networking system, along with the preferences and actions of other users connected to the viewing user, may be used in ranking506 the plurality of sub-node objects associated with the page object for display within the widget or social plug-in. Thus, if the viewing user had previously listened to a song by Britney Spears on thesocial networking system100 that is represented by a sub-node object associated with the page object, then the viewing user, upon opening the fan page for Britney Spears on theexternal website216 that has embedded the widget, or social plug-in, may be presented with the song she previously listened to first because that song had been ranked506 higher than other songs by Britney Spears. The fan website for Britney Spears that has embedded the widget may provide508 the page object and the ranked plurality of sub-node objects associated with the page object within the widget for display to the user device responsive to the request. Similarly, the widget may, in another embodiment, request socially relevant information about users connected to the viewing user interacting with sub-node objects associated with the page object for Britney Spears. This information may be used in ranking the sub-node objects interacted with by the other users (e.g., songs by Britney Spears listened to frequently by other users for which the viewing user has a high affinity) associated with the page object for Britney Spears for display to the viewing user.
• In a further embodiment, the page object and the ranked plurality of sub-node objects associated with the page object may be provided508 in response to the request to the user device. The ranked plurality of sub-node objects may be provided within a page on thesocial networking system100 associated with the page object, in one embodiment. The ranked plurality of sub-node objects may also be provided in a separate interface associated with the page object, in another embodiment. In yet another embodiment, a listing of sub-node objects associated with the page object may be provided in conjunction with the ranked sub-node objects provided508 within the page on the social networking system for the page object.
• In other embodiments, sub-node objects may be viewed individually or in groups by a viewing user of thesocial networking system100. Thesocial networking system100 may provide an interface for users to view individual sub-nodes, such as food items, songs, albums, sporting games, and the like. For example, a viewing user may view typical Mexican food items, such as tacos, burritos, and quesadillas, as well as restaurants represented by pages that serve these items. Highly ranked pages associated with the sub-nodes may be provided in the interface. In yet another embodiment, a location aware mobile application of thesocial networking system100 may suggest highly ranked food items within walking distance of the mobile user device based on actions performed by users of thesocial networking system100 as well as the proximity of the mobile user device to the restaurants having the highly ranked food items.
• FIG. 6 illustrates an example user interface for providing structured information about nodes in a social networking system, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Thesocial networking system100 may provide anartist page600 on thesocial networking system100 that includes adiscography module602 that includes all albums and tracks associated with the albums recorded by the artist. Here, theartist page600 is for Frank Ocean, and thediscography module602 includes two albums released by Frank Ocean, Novacane and Nostalgia, Ultra.
• Theartist page600 also includes a separatetop songs module604 that provides the viewing user with a number of top songs that include the artist, Frank Ocean, based on a ranking model that incorporates socially relevant information, as mentioned above. Thefirst track606 listed in thetop songs module604 is “Tik Tok—Fred Falke Club Remix” by Frank Ocean & Jay-Z.User interaction activity608 for thefirst track606 indicate that several users have “listened to this,” indicating that other users, connected to the viewing user, have listened to thefirst track606 either through thesocial networking system100 or through an external music service or system. Theuser interaction activity608 for thefirst track606 also indicates four comments and two expressions of interest in thefirst track606. In another embodiment, thetop songs module604 may include the top songs across thesocial networking system100. In yet another embodiment, thetop songs module604 may rank songs listened to by other users connected to the viewing user in thesocial networking system100. In a further embodiment, a filter selection user interface may be provided by thetop songs module604 to select various filters to use in ranking the top songs, such as top songs among close friends, among all users, by location, by network, by group, by age, gender, interest, mutual interest in an artist, and so on.
• Theartist page600 may enable a viewing user of thesocial networking system100 to view tracks by album recorded by the artist and listen to the tracks through thesocial networking system100. For example, thesecond album610 listed in thediscography module602 includes several tracks recorded by Frank Ocean, such as atrack612 named “Blue Fish.” The viewing user may performsocial interactions614 with thetrack612 by expressing interest in thetrack612 by “liking” the track and sharing the track. The viewing user may also listen to thetrack612 by selecting a linkedbutton616 to start playing the track. In one embodiment, thetrack612 may start playing through thesocial networking system100. A music service may automatically stream thetrack612 through thesocial networking system100 after the viewing user clicks on the linkedbutton616. In another embodiment, where multiple music services and/or music catalogues have been linked to theartist page600, thesocial networking system100 may select the best music service for the viewing user based on the viewing user's preferences.
• In another embodiment, an external music service, such as Spotify, Rdio, and Earbits, may be launched after a viewing user clicks on the linkedbutton616 for thetrack612, such that thetrack612 begins playing in the external music service. As thetrack612 is streaming through thesocial networking system100, anindication620 may appear on thediscography module602 that the album is currently being listened to by the viewing user. Clicking on album icons, such as anicon618 for another song title “Waiting For The Moon To Rise” by Frank Ocean, may similarly start the playing of the track through thesocial networking system100 or through an external music service.
• In other embodiments, thesocial networking system100 may partner with external websites, such as Yelp.com, to exchange information about what a user may have consumed while at a restaurant, for example. The external website may be connected with thesocial networking system100 so that reviewers on the external website may view photos uploaded by users of thesocial networking system100 of the food items they consumed at the restaurant. As another example, an external website representing a concert ticket seller for multiple artists may partner with thesocial networking system100 to share information that users have agreed to share, such as photos and videos of past concerts by artists. In yet another example, an external website selling consumer products, such as shoes, phones, and cameras, may partner with thesocial networking system100 to include photos of users wearing shoes, using the phones, or photos taken by the cameras that were purchased. Based on the structured information provided by sub-nodes, external websites may have access to user-generated content that was previously not accessible. Through the collection of structured data, thesocial networking system100 may enable users to provide the structured data in the form of sub-nodes to be associated with page objects as well as social information, such as going out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant and splitting dry-fried chicken wings with two of your friends. A page for the Chinese restaurant may, over time, know that you and your friends enjoy dry-fried chicken wings based on the aggregated sub-node interactions. Pictures of the dry-fried chicken wings may be shared, based on the user's privacy settings, with external websites so that users of the external websites may know where to get the best dry-fried chicken wings. This information about the user and his friends' love of dry-fried chicken wings, represented as a sub-node, may be sold by the Chinese restaurant to advertisers through thesocial networking system100, in one embodiment. In another embodiment, thesocial networking system100 may aggregate this information around the sub-node for the chicken wings and provide advertisers an option of targeting to the user and his friends based on the aggregated information around the sub-node.
• In one embodiment, thesocial networking system100 may provide a suggestion of a sub-node to a viewing user, based on the location of the sub-node in relation to the viewing user, such as an upcoming concert, a new menu item being served at a favorite restaurant, a drink special at a bar or club frequently visited by the viewing user, a highly recommended dish by other users connected to the viewing user at a nearby restaurant, and so on. Other recommendations may also be provided, such as top songs listened to by other users of the social networking system connected to the viewing user, top videos watched, top games played, and top applications used in the past week, for example. In another embodiment, users of thesocial networking system100 may generate custom lists of sub-nodes in thesocial networking system100. For example, a user may generate a playlist of favorite songs by various artists that may be played on one or more music streaming services through thesocial networking system100. The generated playlist may be stored as a content object in thesocial networking system100 and may be commented on, “liked,” and/or shared by other users of thesocial networking system100. As another example, a user may generate a list of favorite foods from particular restaurants, such as chicken wings from a particular Chinese restaurant, a California burrito served at a Mexican restaurant, and Szechuan chicken found at a grocery store in Palo Alto, Calif. These user-generated lists may be stored as sub-node objects to be associated with the user of thesocial networking system100, in one embodiment. In this way, structured information, in the form of sub-nodes about nodes, such as pages, users, and entities, may be received, gathered, and shared in thesocial networking system100.
SUMMARY
• The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purpose of illustration; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Persons skilled in the relevant art can appreciate that many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure.
• Some portions of this description describe the embodiments of the invention in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are commonly used by those skilled in the data processing arts to convey the substance of their work effectively to others skilled in the art. These operations, while described functionally, computationally, or logically, are understood to be implemented by computer programs or equivalent electrical circuits, microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient at times, to refer to these arrangements of operations as modules, without loss of generality. The described operations and their associated modules may be embodied in software, firmware, hardware, or any combinations thereof.
• Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may be performed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules, alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, a software module is implemented with a computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code, which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or all of the steps, operations, or processes described.
• Embodiments of the invention may also relate to an apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, and/or it may comprise a general-purpose computing device selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, which may be coupled to a computer system bus. Furthermore, any computing systems referred to in the specification may include a single processor or may be architectures employing multiple processor designs for increased computing capability.
• Embodiments of the invention may also relate to a product that is produced by a computing process described herein. Such a product may comprise information resulting from a computing process, where the information is stored on a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium and may include any embodiment of a computer program product or other data combination described herein.
• Finally, the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on an application based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments of the invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

Claims (20)

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:

maintaining a plurality of sub-nodes on a social networking system, where a subset of the plurality of sub-nodes are associated with a page on the social networking system;

receiving a request for information about the page from a viewing user of the social networking system, where the information about the page includes the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes associated with the page;

retrieving, by a processor, social information about the viewing user related to the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes from the social networking system;

determining a first ranking of the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes based on retrieved social information; and

providing the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes for display to the viewing user based on the first ranking, where the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes are provided for display according to the first ranking in association with the page responsive to the request by the viewing user.

2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein providing the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes for display to the viewing user based on the ranking further comprises:

providing the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes for display to the viewing user based on the ranking within a widget embedded on an external website.

3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising:

providing the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes within the page for display a plurality of users of the social networking system.

4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein receiving a request for information about the page from a viewing user of the social networking system further comprises:

receiving a webpage request from a browser operating on a user device connected to the social networking system, where the user device is associated with the viewing user and where the webpage request includes a request for the page.

5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein receiving a request for information about the page from a viewing user of the social networking system further comprises:

receiving an application programming interface (API) call from an application operating on a user device connected to the social networking system, where the user device is associated with the viewing user and where the API call includes a request for the page.

6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein retrieving social information about the viewing user related to the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes from the social networking system further comprises:

retrieving one or more user interactions with the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes performed by one or more other users connected to the viewing user; and

aggregating the retrieved one or more user interactions for each sub-node of the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes.

7. The method ofclaim 6, wherein determining a first ranking of the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes based on retrieved social information further comprises:

determining the first ranking of the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes based on the aggregated user interactions for each sub-node of the subset.

8. The method ofclaim 1, wherein retrieving social information about the viewing user related to the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes from the social networking system further comprises:

retrieving one or more user interactions with the page performed by one or more other users connected to the viewing user.

9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein retrieving social information about the viewing user related to the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes from the social networking system further comprises:

retrieving one or more affinity scores for the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes for one or more other users connected to the viewing user.

10. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising:

retrieving one or more external information items related to the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes from one or more external systems outside of the social networking system;

determining one or more review scores based on the retrieved one or more external information items related to the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes, where a review score is determined for each of the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes;

determining a second ranking of the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes based the determined one or more review scores; and

providing the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes for display to the viewing user based on the second ranking, where the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes are provided for display according to the second ranking in association with the page responsive to the request by the viewing user.

11. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured to be executed by a server system, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

maintaining a plurality of sub-nodes on a social networking system, where a subset of the plurality of sub-nodes are associated with a page on the social networking system;

receiving a request for information about the page from a viewing user of the social networking system, where the information about the page includes the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes associated with the page;

retrieving, by a processor, social information about the viewing user related to the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes from the social networking system;

determining a first ranking of the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes based on retrieved social information; and

providing the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes for display to the viewing user based on the first ranking, where the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes are provided for display according to the first ranking in association with the page responsive to the request by the viewing user.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium ofclaim 11, wherein providing the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes for display to the viewing user based on the ranking further comprises:

providing the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes for display to the viewing user based on the ranking within a widget embedded on an external website.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium ofclaim 11, further comprising:

providing the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes within the page for display a plurality of users of the social networking system.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium ofclaim 11, wherein receiving a request for information about the page from a viewing user of the social networking system further comprises:

receiving a webpage request from a browser operating on a user device connected to the social networking system, where the user device is associated with the viewing user and where the webpage request includes a request for the page.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium ofclaim 11, wherein receiving a request for information about the page from a viewing user of the social networking system further comprises:

receiving an application programming interface (API) call from an application operating on a user device connected to the social networking system, where the user device is associated with the viewing user and where the API call includes a request for the page.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium ofclaim 11, wherein retrieving social information about the viewing user related to the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes from the social networking system further comprises:

retrieving one or more user interactions with the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes performed by one or more other users connected to the viewing user; and

aggregating the retrieved one or more user interactions for each sub-node of the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium ofclaim 16, wherein determining a first ranking of the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes based on retrieved social information further comprises:

determining the first ranking of the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes based on the aggregated user interactions for each sub-node of the subset.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium ofclaim 11, wherein retrieving social information about the viewing user related to the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes from the social networking system further comprises:

retrieving one or more user interactions with the page performed by one or more other users connected to the viewing user.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium ofclaim 11, wherein retrieving social information about the viewing user related to the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes from the social networking system further comprises:

retrieving one or more affinity scores for the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes for one or more other users connected to the viewing user.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium ofclaim 11, further comprising:

retrieving one or more external information items related to the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes from one or more external systems outside of the social networking system;

determining one or more review scores based on the retrieved one or more external information items related to the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes, where a review score is determined for each of the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes;

determining a second ranking of the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes based the determined one or more review scores; and

providing the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes for display to the viewing user based on the second ranking, where the subset of the plurality of sub-nodes are provided for display according to the second ranking in association with the page responsive to the request by the viewing user.

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