US20170099250A1 - Predicting and facilitating increased use of a messaging application - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for increasing messaging activity in a messaging system. Using the interactions of users with each other and/or with the messaging system, the disclosed systems and methods can predict how likely a pairing of two or more users are to engage in a highly active messaging thread. Based on this prediction, the disclosed methods and systems can, for example, more effectively organize contact lists and conduct promotional efforts associated with messaging features.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
• The present application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/236,751 filed Oct. 2, 2015. The aforementioned application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND
• 1. Technical Field
• The present application relates generally to systems and methods for electronic messaging. More specifically, one or more embodiments relate to systems and methods of increasing the messaging activity of users within a messaging application.
• 2. Background and Relevant Art
• Electronic messaging systems allow users to communicate with others via software applications on one or more types of devices (e.g., desktop devices and mobile devices). For example, some electronic messaging systems allow users of a social network to communicate with other users of the social network (e.g., via direct messaging). Such electronic messaging systems provide a way for users to communicate with a broad spectrum of other users, including family members, friends, coworkers, acquaintances, and even businesses.
• Conventional electronic messaging systems typically allow users to manage contacts within a software application for initiating and continuing previous communications with other users. For example, some conventional electronic messaging systems allow users to manage the contents and organization of their contact lists. To illustrate, some conventional electronic messaging systems allow users to organize contact lists in alphabetical order. While alphabetically organized contact lists allow users to predictably locate a specific contact within the contact lists, alphabetical contact lists do not easily allow users to find the contacts with which the users communicate the most.
• Some conventional electronic messaging systems also allow users to organize at least some contacts based on frequency and/or recency of communications. Specifically, contacts that a user communicates with the most or has communicated with most recently may be listed at the top of the contact list, while contacts that the user communicates with the least and/or contacts that the user hasn't communicated with for some time may be listed at the bottom of the contact list. Thus, some conventional electronic messaging systems provide a way for users to more easily find and select contacts with which the users have communicated in the past. Historic frequency and recency of communication, however, may not be the most likely predictor of whether the users are likely to engage in future frequent and meaningful conversations with the contacts within the messaging application.
• In addition to drawbacks associated with the management of contacts lists, conventional messaging systems also suffer from drawbacks with respect to notifications provided to users. For example, many conventional electronic messaging systems end up spamming users of a software application with many notifications that are not applicable to the users and that the users may find annoying. Users often end up turning off such notifications or simply ignoring the notifications if the notifications are not helpful to the users. Some users can even be turned away from continued use of the software application if the notifications become too annoying.
• Accordingly, there are a number of disadvantages with conventional electronic messaging systems and methods.
SUMMARY
• One or more embodiments described herein provide benefits and/or solve one or more of the foregoing or other problems in the art with systems and methods that increase messaging activity. In particular, one or more embodiments provide a messaging system for identifying users who are most likely to be highly active within a messaging application with each other. For example, the systems and methods can generate an activity score representing a likelihood that a first user and a second user will engage in a highly active messaging thread with each other. One or more embodiments can determine whether the activity score for the first and second user meets or exceeds a predetermined threshold. Thus, the systems and methods disclosed herein can use the activity of two related users to determine and/or influence the likelihood of messaging activity involving the two users.
• One or more embodiments of the systems and methods can also allow users to more easily find other users that are likely to engage with each other in highly active messaging threads. Specifically, one or more embodiments involve providing a contact list organized to display contacts based on how likely a user is to engage with the contacts in a highly active thread. For example, the systems and methods can organize a contact list for a user based on activity scores for the user and each contact in the contact list. Thus, one or more embodiments can more prominently display contacts with which a user is more likely to actively engage in communication, thereby increasing the likelihood of high messaging activity.
• Additionally, the systems and methods can increase the likelihood of high activity in the messaging system by promoting features of the messaging application. For example, one or more embodiments can promote features of the messaging application to one or more users relating to an association between users. In particular, one or more embodiments can selectively promote a feature of the messaging application to a user based on an activity score representing a likelihood that two users will engage in a highly active messaging thread. By selectively promoting features of the messaging application as they relate to users that are likely to engage in a highly active messaging thread, the systems and methods can improve the effectiveness of promotions of the messaging application.
• Additional features and advantages of the embodiments will be set forth in the description that follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or can be learned by the practice of such exemplary embodiments. The features and advantages of such embodiments can be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. These and other features will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or can be learned by the practice of such exemplary embodiments as set forth hereinafter.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• In order to describe the manner in which the above recited and other advantages and features of the disclosure can be obtained, a more particular description of the disclosure briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof that are illustrated in the appended drawings. It should be noted that the figures are not drawn to scale, and that elements of similar structure or function are generally represented by like reference numerals for illustrative purposes throughout the figures. In the following drawings, bracketed text and blocks with dashed borders (e.g., large dashes, small dashes, dot-dash, dots) are used herein to illustrate optional features or operations that add additional features to embodiments of the disclosure. Such notation, however, should not be taken to mean that these are the only options or optional operations, and/or that blocks with solid borders are not optional in certain embodiments of the disclosure. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the disclosure and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the disclosure will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:
• FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an electronic messaging system in accordance with one or more embodiments;
• FIG. 2 illustrates a detailed schematic diagram of the server device(s) ofFIG. 1 in accordance with one or more embodiments;
• FIG. 3 illustrates a user interface displaying a contact list in accordance with one or more embodiments;
• FIG. 4 illustrates a user interface displaying a messaging thread list in accordance with one or more embodiments;
• FIGS. 5A-5D illustrate user interfaces for promotional campaigns within a messaging application in accordance with one or more embodiments;
• FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of a series of acts in a method of predicting messaging activity between users in accordance with one or more embodiments;
• FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a series of acts in a method of promoting features of a messaging application in accordance with one or more embodiments;
• FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart of a series of acts in a method of organizing a contact list in accordance with one or more embodiments;
• FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of an example computing device in accordance with one or more embodiments;
• FIG. 10 illustrates an example network environment of a social-networking system in accordance with one or more embodiments; and
• FIG. 11 illustrates an example social graph for a social-networking system in accordance with one or more embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
• Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an electronic message system that increases messaging activity. In particular, one or more embodiments provide an electronic messaging system that allows two or more users to send and receive messages. The electronic messaging system can also predict whether users will engage in highly active communications based on behaviors of the users in connection with the electronic messaging system. For example, the electronic messaging system can identify interactions related to an association between two users to determine whether the two users are likely to engage in a highly active messaging thread with each other in the future. Identifying pairs of users who are most likely to engage in highly active messaging threads with each other can aid the electronic messaging system in increasing overall messaging activity in the system.
• According to one or more embodiments, the electronic messaging system allows users to interact with content associated with others within the electronic messaging system. For example, the electronic messaging system can provide a messaging application for users to exchange electronic messages with other users. To illustrate, the electronic messaging system can also allow users to interact with electronic messages within a messaging application or to perform various other interactions associated with content within the electronic messaging system. In some embodiments, the electronic messaging system further facilitates and/or monitors user interactions with other users and/or content by way of a social networking system.
• Furthermore, the electronic messaging system can use interactions by users to predict future activity between the users. For example, the electronic messaging system can analyze user interactions related to an association between two users to determine whether the two users are likely to engage in a highly active messaging thread. Specifically, the electronic messaging system can determine, from the user interactions, whether the users are likely to engage in messaging threads that span a certain amount of time and/or include a certain number of exchanged messages.
• One or more embodiments of the electronic messaging system can generate an activity score associated with a pair of users. Specifically, the electronic messaging system can generate the activity score using the interactions related to the association between the users. The activity score can represent a likelihood that the users will engage in a highly active message thread with each other. Thus, the electronic messaging system can quantify the likelihood that two users will actively participate in communications with each other, which allows the system to determine which users to target to increase messaging activity within the system. Because a small percentage of users frequently make up a large percentage of messaging activity in messaging systems, encouraging users to engage in more highly active messaging threads can increase the overall amount of messaging activity within the system.
• In one or more embodiments, the electronic messaging system can use the activity score for a pair of users to determine whether to perform one or more operations in connection with the users. In particular, the electronic messaging system can compare the activity score to a predetermined threshold. If the activity score meets or exceeds the threshold, the electronic messaging system can perform one or more operations with the purpose of increasing messaging activity between the users.
• According to one or more embodiments, the electronic messaging system can organize a contact list based on a likelihood of users to actively engage with each other. Specifically, the electronic messaging system can organize the contact list of a user to more prominently display users that are most likely engage with the user in a highly active messaging thread. For example, the electronic messaging system can display users that are most likely to engage in a highly active messaging thread with a user at the top of a contact list. In doing so, the electronic messaging system can generate activity scores related to associations between the user and each of a user's contacts in a contact list and rank the users based on the corresponding activity scores. Thus, the electronic messaging system can organize the contact list by displaying users associated with high activity scores in prominent positions in the contact list, and users associated with low activity scores in positions that are not as prominent or perhaps not shown in the contact list. Thus, the electronic messaging system can encourage the user to initiate messaging threads with users who are most likely to actively engage in communications with the user by visually organizing the users within a contact list.
• Additionally, or alternatively, one or more embodiments of the electronic messaging system can selectively promote features of the system based on the likelihood of high messaging activity. Specifically, the electronic messaging system can selectively promote features of a messaging application based on the activity levels of pairs of users of the messaging application. Promoting certain features of the messaging application based on the likelihood of high messaging activity may allow the electronic messaging system to more effectively and efficiently target users of the messaging application. Additionally, promoting features of the messaging application based on the activity scores may prevent users from receiving notifications that are unwanted and/or not useful to the users.
• In one or more embodiments, the electronic messaging system can promote features of a messaging application for a specific event. For example, the system can provide a notification to a first user to use the messaging application to send a message to a second user in connection with a specific event (e.g., a birthday or anniversary) associated with the second user. Selectively promoting features of the messaging application based on specific events can encourage communication between users related to information that is personal to the users, increasing the likelihood of messaging activity between the users.
• As used herein, the term “highly active messaging thread” refers to a messaging thread that the electronic messaging system has determined includes a threshold amount of activity. For example, a highly active messaging thread can be a messaging thread having a threshold number of messages exchanged within a particular time period. To illustrate, a highly active messaging thread can include threads that are active for at least four days out of seven and have fifty or more messages within the seven days. The electronic messaging system may use additional or alternative criteria for determining whether a messaging thread is highly active. In one or more embodiments, the electronic messaging system may use thresholds that are individual to a particular user based on their messaging activity.
• As used herein, the term “activity score” refers to a representation of a probability of future activity between at least two users of a messaging application. Specifically, an activity score can represent a likelihood that the two users will engage in a highly active messaging thread in the future. An activity score can include a numerical value based on prior interactions of a pairing of two or more users. The interactions can be between the two or more users (e.g., messages between the users) and/or independent of an association between the two or more users (e.g., web browsing histories of the users).
• As used herein, the term “interaction” refers to an action by a user to engage with content or other users. An interaction can be within a dedicated messaging application via an electronic messaging system of a social networking system or independent of the dedicated messaging application (e.g., interactions with a separate system or application). An interaction can include an action by a user in association with a message, notification, or other content item. For example, interactions can include, but are not limited to, the creation and sending of messages; clicks on messages, notifications, or content items; “likes” of messages or content items; comments; views; shares; and/or tagging messages or content items.
• As used herein, the term “message” refers to any form of electronic communication between two or more computing devices. Messages can include text, photos, stickers or other icons, videos, voice recordings, etc. In one or more embodiments, a message is an instant message communicated in real-time or near real-time. In alternative embodiments, however, a message can refer to any from of electronic communication, such as an SMS message, an email, or a social network post or comment.
• FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an electronic messaging system (or simply “messaging system”100). In general, themessaging system100 can allow users of themessaging system100 to exchange messages with each other via a messaging application in a social networking system (as described in more detail in relation toFIG. 2). Additionally, or alternatively, themessaging system100 may allow users to exchange messages with each other within another type of system with messaging capabilities.
• As shown, themessaging system100 includes a communication manager102, aninteractions analyzer104, ascore generator106, acontact manager108, acampaign manager110, and adata storage manager112. As described below with reference toFIG. 11, themessaging system100 can also optionally include and/or access asocial graph114 that includesnode information124 andedge information126. Each of the components of themessaging system100 can communicate with each other using any suitable communication technologies.
• It will be recognized that although the components are shown to be separate inFIG. 1, any of the components may be combined into fewer components, such as into a single facility or module, or divided into more components as may serve a particular embodiment. For example, a single component may perform operations associated with a plurality of components (e.g., the communications manager102, the interactions analyzer104, thescore generator106, thecontact manager108, thecampaign manager110, and/or the data storage manager112). Alternatively, any of the components inFIG. 1 may be divided into more than one additional components to perform the functions of the particular component. In one or more embodiments, themessaging system100 may include additional components not described or shown inFIG. 1.
• The components of themessaging system100 can include software, hardware, or both. For example, the components can include computer instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and executable by at least one processor of themessaging system100. When executed by the at least one processor, the computer-executable instructions can cause themessaging system100 to perform the methods and processes described herein. Alternatively, the components can include hardware, such as a special purpose processing device to perform a certain function or group of functions. Additionally or alternatively, the components can include a combination of computer-executable instructions and hardware.
• As mentioned above, themessaging system100 can include a communication manager102. The communication manager102 can facilitate communication with a plurality of client devices and any other devices in communication with themessaging system100. For example, the communication manager102 can communicate with one or more software applications at the client devices including one or more messaging applications or social networking applications running on each of the client devices. To illustrate, the communication manager102 can receive information from and send information to the messaging applications of the client devices.
• Additionally, the communication manager102 can process messages and interactions received from client devices for use by other components of themessaging system100. For example, the communication manager102 can receive or otherwise detect a message or interaction from a client device, identify the user associated with the client device, identify an intended recipient of the message or a subject of the interaction, and send data representative of the message or interaction to the client device associated with the intended recipient. One will appreciate that the communication manager102 can direct a message for a recipient to multiple client devices associated with the recipient (i.e., each device upon which the user has installed a version of the messaging application).
• Additionally, the communication manager102 can also re-format or otherwise modify the content or format of a message based on the messaging protocol used by a destination communication device or application. As such, in one or more embodiments themessaging system100 can allow participants using different communication platforms to exchange messages. For example, the communication manager102 can receive a message in a first protocol (SMS, IM, XMPP, APNS, etc.), re-format the message into a second protocol, and send the reformatted message to the intended recipient(s).
• Themessaging system100 can also include aninteractions analyzer104 to facilitate analysis of interactions via themessaging system100. Specifically, the interactions analyzer104 can identify interactions by users via themessaging system100 and analyze the interactions to determine one or more characteristics of the interactions. For example, the interactions analyzer104 can determine a type of interaction, an object or target of the interaction, and any users affected by or associated with the interaction or the object of the interaction. Thus, the interactions analyzer104 can determine who performed an interaction, as well whether the interaction relates to a particular association between the user performing the interaction and at least one other user. To illustrate, the interactions analyzer104 can determine that a user performs an interaction that relates, directly or indirectly, to another user, as will be explained in more detail below.
• In one or more embodiments, themessaging system100 includes ascore generator106 to facilitate scoring activity levels of users of themessaging system100. In particular, thescore generator106 can generate activity scores for users based on interactions by the users. For example, thescore generator106 can communicate with the interactions analyzer104 to identify interactions by the users for calculating an activity score. Thescore generator106 can use interactions related to an association between the users to generate an activity score that corresponds to the association between the users.
• In one or more embodiments, thescore generator106 generates an activity score for a pair of users to represent the likelihood that the pair of users will engage in a highly active messaging thread. For example, thescore generator106 can generate an activity score for each pair of users that includes a first user and a user from a contact list of the first user. Thus, thescore generator106 can determine a likelihood that the first user will interact with each of the users in the first user's contact list.
• In one or more embodiments, themessaging system100 includes acontact manager108 to facilitate management of users' contacts. For example, thecontact manager108 can organize users in a contact list to allow the user to more easily find and communicate with other users in a messaging application. In particular, thecontact manager108 can organize the users in the contact list based on the activity score corresponding to each of the users in the contact list. To illustrate, thecontact manager108 can organize the contact list based on how likely the user of the client device is to engage in highly active messaging with each user in the contact list, thereby increasing the probability of messaging between certain users. Thecontact manager108 can also organize the contact list based on additional or alternative criteria, including manually selected criteria by the user.
• At least some embodiments of themessaging system100 also include acampaign manager110 to facilitate management of promotional campaigns via themessaging system100. Specifically, thecampaign manager110 can use activity information, such as activity scores, to determine which users or pairs of users to target with certain promotional campaigns. To illustrate, thecampaign manager110 can selectively promote features of a messaging application in relation to an association of a pair of users based on the activity score of the pair of users. Selectively promoting features of the messaging application to users based on predicted future activity can allow themessaging system100 to promote communications between users and increase messaging activity via themessaging system100.
• Additionally, thecampaign manager110 can manage campaigns for use in targeting users. For example, thecampaign manager110 can communicate with thedata storage manager112 to obtain campaign information to provide to one or more users in a promotional campaign. To illustrate, after identifying a pair of users with a high activity score (i.e., a pair of users who are likely to engage in a highly active messaging thread), thecampaign manager110 can select a campaign that is likely to increase the messaging activity between the users.
• According to one or more embodiments, themessaging system100 can also include adata storage manager112 for storing information associated with themessaging system100. In particular, thedata storage manager112 can store information from one or more of the components of themessaging system100 for use by one or more of the components. For example, thedata storage manager112 can communicate with the components to store information that the components of themessaging system100 receive and/or generate. To illustrate, thedata storage manager112 can include, but is not limited to,interaction information116, a user database118, anactivity score database120, and acampaign database122. One or more embodiments of thedata storage manager112 may store additional data associated with themessaging system100.
• As mentioned, thedata storage manager112 can includeinteraction information116. In one or more embodiments, theinteraction information116 can include data associated with the interactions by users via themessaging system100. Specifically, theinteraction information116 can include information associated with users' interactions that allows themessaging system100 to estimate future activity between specified users. For example, theinteraction information116 can include, but is not limited to, the interactions by users, interaction types, content of interactions that include messages, targets/objects of the interaction, users affected by the interactions, associations of users related to the interactions.
• According to one or more embodiments, the user database118 can include information about users of themessaging system100 in themessaging system100. For example, the user database118 can include information that allows themessaging system100 to identify users and devices in communication with the social networking system. To illustrate, the user database118 can communicate with thesocial graph114, described below, to obtain user profiles, user identifiers, device identifiers, associations between users, relationships between users, and other information about the users that allows thescore generator106 to generate activity scores for pairs of users. In one or more embodiments, the user database118 may store information separate from thesocial graph114, for example, if themessaging system100 do not include asocial graph114.
• In at least some embodiments, theactivity score database120 can include activity scores for pairs of users in the social networking system. In particular, thescore generator106 can store activity scores in theactivity score database120 for use by thecontact manager108 orcampaign manager110. Theactivity score database120 can store identification information with the activity scores to allow thecontact manager108 and thecampaign manager110 to modify users' contact lists and selectively target pairs of users for promotional campaigns, respectively.
• For example, for a particular user of the social networking system, theactivity score database120 can store a table of activity scores corresponding to the particular users and corresponding paired users. Thus, when organizing the contact list for the particular user, the contact manger can access the table in theactivity score database120 to identify the activity scores corresponding to the users in the contact list. Similarly, thecampaign manager110 can access the table in theactivity score database120 to determine which pairs of users to target with a campaign.
• In one or more embodiments, thedata storage manager112 can also include acampaign database122 that includes campaign information. For example, thecampaign database122 can include promotional campaigns that promote the use of certain features of a messaging application. The campaign information can include messages, notifications, images, video, audio, or other content that allows themessaging system100 to promote features of the messaging application. Additionally, the campaign information can include data that informs thecampaign manager110 when to provide certain information to identified users.
• AlthoughFIG. 1 describes thedata storage manager112 as including certain information, thedata storage manager112 can include additional, or alternative information to allow themessaging system100 to manage users' contact lists and to promote features of the messaging application. Additionally, thedata storage manager112 may include any number of computing devices for storing data and communicating the data to the components of the social networking system. For example, thedata storage manager112 can include a distributed storage system with a plurality of storage devices, which may be accessible to the components of themessaging system100 over a local network or an Internet connection.
• FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating anenvironment200 in which themessaging system100 operates in accordance with one or more embodiments. An overview of theenvironment200 is described in relation toFIG. 2. Thereafter, a more detailed description of the components and processes of the messaging system are provided in relation to the remaining figures.
• As illustrated byFIG. 2, themessaging system100 can allowuser202a,user202b, and up to any number of additional users (not shown) to interact using a corresponding number ofclient devices204a,204b. As further illustrated inFIG. 2, the client devices can communicate with asocial networking system206, which includes themessaging system100, via anetwork208. AlthoughFIG. 1 illustrates a particular arrangement of theusers202a,202b, theclient devices204a,204b, thenetwork208, and thesocial networking system206, various additional arrangements are possible. For example, theclient devices204a,204bmay directly communicate with thesocial networking system206, bypassing thenetwork208. Additionally, theenvironment200 may include additional or alternative components not shown.
• AlthoughFIG. 2 illustrates theenvironment200 including themessaging system100 on asocial networking system206, themessaging system100 may be part of another device or system. For example, themessaging system100 can be on a separate server device than thesocial networking system206. Alternatively, themessaging system100 can be distributed across a plurality of server devices and/or client devices implementing thesocial networking system206 and/or other systems.
• As briefly mentioned above,FIG. 2 shows thatuser202aanduser202bcan useclient devices204aand204b, respectively, to communicate with one another via themessaging system100 on thesocial networking system206. For example,user202aanduser202bcan exchange electronic messages containing text, digital content (e.g., audio, images, video), location information, and other forms of data and information. For instance, theuser202a, usingclient device204a, can compose a message intended for theuser202b. After composing the message, theuser202acan cause the client device104ato send the message intended for theuser202bvia thenetwork108 to thesocial networking system206. Themessaging system100 on thesocial networking system206 can identify theuser202bas the intended recipient, and forward the message to theclient device204bassociated with theuser202b.
• In addition to allowing the users to exchange electronic communications, themessaging system100 can allow the users to interact with other content. In one or more embodiments, themessaging system100 allows users to interact with content to, from, or relating to other users. For instance themessaging system100 can allowuser202ato interact with content associated withuser202bwithin thesocial networking system206, as will be explained in more detail below. Likewise,user202bcan interact with content associated withuser202avia themessaging system100 on thesocial networking system206, as will be explained in more detail below. As will be explained in more detail below, themessaging system100 can communicate with each of the client devices104a,104bto provide content relating to an association between theusers202a,202b.
• While themessaging system100 can facilitate communications betweenusers202aand202b, themessaging system100 can also facilitate communications between more than two users, such as a group of users. For example, theuser202acan send a message touser202b, as well as to one or more additional users, such that all of the intended recipients receive the message. In one or more embodiments, the recipient users can interact with the message and/or other content related to the message from theuser202a. Furthermore, in one or more embodiments, the recipient users may also send messages to each other and/or to theuser202ain response to the received message.
• As described herein, themessaging system100 also facilitates interactions between users of thesocial networking system206 based on activity scores associated with the users. Specifically, themessaging system100 can identify interactions between theusers202a,202bbased on client device identifiers and/or account information associated with theusers202a,202bfrom applications running on theclient devices204a,204b. Themessaging system100 can use the interactions to determine activity scores and promote interactions betweenusers202aand202bof themessaging system100 with high activity scores. For example, themessaging system100 can communicate with theclient devices204a,204bto provide information to theusers202a,202bto promote interactions between theusers202a,202bbased on an activity score associated with theusers202a,202b.
• As mentioned above, and asFIG. 2 illustrates, theusers202aand202bcan interact with theclient devices204aand204b, respectively. Examples of client devices include computing devices such as mobile devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets), laptops, desktops, or any other type of computing device.FIG. 9 and the corresponding description provide additional information regarding computing devices. Moreover, and as mentioned above, the client devices can communicate with each other and with thesocial networking system206 through thenetwork208. In one or more embodiments, thenetwork208 includes the Internet or World Wide Web. Thenetwork208, however, can include one or more private and/or public networks that use various communication technologies and protocols, as further described below with reference toFIG. 10.
• As discussed, the systems and components described above with reference toFIGS. 1-2 can allow users of a messaging application to exchange messages via themessaging system100. As illustrated and described below with reference toFIGS. 3, 4, and 5A-5D, themessaging system100 can increase messaging activity by providing information to users within a messaging application based on activity scores related to associations between users. Specifically, themessaging system100 can provide information to users with the purpose of encouraging the users to engage in highly active messaging threads.
• As mentioned, increasing the number of users engaging in highly active threads can increase the overall messaging activity within themessaging system100. Increased overall messaging activity can result in improved communications between users. The increased activity can also improve the effectiveness and presence of advertisements and increase advertising revenue within themessaging system100 due to increased time spent using a messaging application.
• In one or more embodiments, as briefly described previously, a highly active messaging thread is a thread that involves a high amount of active participation from users in themessaging system100. For example, a highly active messaging thread can include a number of messages exchanged between two or more users that meets or exceeds a predetermined threshold. To illustrate, themessaging system100 can set the predetermined threshold of messages at fifty messages sent by one or more users in the thread. Alternatively, themessaging system100 can set the predetermined threshold at any number of messages as may serve a particular implementation. In one or more additional, or alternative, embodiments, themessaging system100 can use a plurality of different thresholds for determining whether a messaging thread has high activity, nearly high activity, low activity, or other ranges of activity.
• Additionally, a highly active messaging thread can include active participation for a certain amount of time. In particular, themessaging system100 can identify a highly active messaging thread if the messaging thread includes activity on a predetermined number of days within a predetermined amount of time. For example, themessaging system100 can set the predetermined number of days at four or more days within a thirty-day period. Activity can include messages exchanged between users within the messaging thread. In one or more alternative embodiments, themessaging system100 can set the baseline for active participation at different thresholds, and can include other types of activity in determining whether a messaging thread is active (e.g., activity can include interactions with messages).
• In one or more embodiments, themessaging system100 can identify whether a user is highly active in a messaging thread based on individual activity for the user. Specifically, the messaging thread can identify that one of a plurality of users is actively participating in a highly active messaging thread if the user has sent more than a predetermined individual threshold, and participated for at least a predetermined number of days according to an individual participation threshold. For example, if the user has participated for at least four days within a thirty-day period and has sent at least fifty messages, themessaging system100 can determine that the user is a highly active participant in the messaging thread.
• To increase the number of users engaging in highly active messaging threads, themessaging system100 can provide information to certain users that will encourage the users to engage in communications with certain other users. Specifically, themessaging system100 can target users that are likely to engage in a highly active messaging thread. For example, themessaging system100 can identify, for a first user, one or more other users with whom the first user is most likely to engage in a highly active messaging thread. Themessaging system100 can identify the other users based on preexisting relationships between the first user and the other users, as well as interactions of the first user and the other users.
• For example, themessaging system100 can assign activity scores to each association (e.g., pairing) between the first user and the other users based on interactions related to each pairing. Each activity score can be based on interactions related to the pairings between the first user and the other users, and can represent a likelihood that the first user and a second user will engage in a highly active messaging thread.
• To illustrate, themessaging system100 can identify a pair of users including the first user and a second user from a plurality of users having a relationship (e.g., a social networking connection) with the first user. According to one or more implementations, the second user can be a user from the first user's contact list. Alternatively, the second user can be in another list of users associated with the first user. For example, the second user can be a “friend” of the first user in the social networking system. In another embodiment, themessaging system100 can identify the second user from a list of users that the first user might know based on other users in the first user's contact list or list of friends.
• After identifying the association between the first user and the second user, themessaging system100 can identify the interactions by the first user and the second user relating to the association between the first user and the second user. In particular, themessaging system100 can identify interactions by the users in connection with messages or other content within themessaging system100. For example, the interactions can include, but are not limited to, the following: private communications between the users (e.g., social networking messages, text messages, telephone calls); public communications involving the users (e.g., social networking posts and/or comments); read states of messages between the users; searches for the first user by the second user (or vice versa); selections of the first user in the search results, or number of times the first user appears in searches by the second user; interactions with notifications of activity relating to the users; length of time the users observe content associated with each other; number of social application requests between the users (e.g., such as gaming requests or other application requests within the social networking system206); amount of time since the first user or the second user has “liked” or commented on content by the other user in the messaging system100 on one or more application platforms (e.g., mobile and/or web interfaces); location check-ins by both users at the same location (either at the same time or different times); amount of time since both users have “liked” or commented on the same content; an action by one of the users to tag the other user in a content item owned by one of the users; number of times both users are tagged in the same content item; event invitations between the users; number of times the users have interacted with each other in a third-party application; and/or number and times of messages exchanged between the users. In additional, or alternative, embodiments, themessaging system100 may identify all or only some of the above interactions, and may identify other interactions not listed above.
• In one or more embodiments, themessaging system100 can use the identified interactions related to the association between the first user and the second user to generate an activity score for the pair of users. For example, themessaging system100 can generate the activity score by applying a logistic regression to the identified interactions to obtain a number representing the probability that the users will engage in highly active messaging activities. Themessaging system100 can adjust the weight and/or effect that the presence and/or absence of certain interactions have on activity scores. Thus, some interactions can influence the activity score more than other interactions.
• Activity scores can be represented in accordance with any suitable scale or numbering system for representing a likelihood of future highly active messaging threads. For example, an activity score can include a decimal number between zero and one, with one representing a 100% chance that the users will engage in highly active messaging activities, and zero representing a 0% chance. Alternatively, themessaging system100 can utilize an activity score having a different scale for representing the likelihood of highly active messaging activities.
• According to at least some embodiments, themessaging system100 can generate the activity score by weighting values associated with the interactions. Specifically, one or more values associated with the interactions may have a greater affect on the likelihood that the users participate in a highly active messaging thread than other interactions. Thus, themessaging system100 can apply a greater weight to the more important interactions and a lower weight to the less important interactions. Additionally, each of the weights may vary in proportion to the effect the corresponding interactions have on the probability of future activity.
• In one or more embodiments, the activity score can correspond to a period of time from the time themessaging system100 generates the activity score. In particular, the activity score represents the likelihood that the users will actively engage in communications for a period of time from the moment at which themessaging system100 generates the activity score. For example, the activity score can represent a prediction of communications between the users for the next week. In at least some instances, the activity score can grow stale or irrelevant to the pair of users after a certain amount of time has passed, at which time the activity score can expire if the activity score is not updated based on new interactions. Alternatively, themessaging system100 can continuously update the activity score to maintain a current activity score for the users. Specifically, themessaging system100 can update the activity score in response to detecting new interactions related to the association between the users, thereby updating the time period to which the activity score corresponds.
• After assigning an activity score to a pair of users, themessaging system100 can monitor the activity for each of the users to determine whether the users participate in a highly active messaging thread with each other. If the users participate with each other in a highly active messaging thread within the time that the activity score is valid, themessaging system100 can set an activity status of the messaging thread to indicate that the messaging thread is highly active. If the users do not participate with each other in a highly active messaging thread within the valid time of the activity score, themessaging system100 can set the activity status of the messaging thread to inactive. Themessaging system100 can then use the observed statuses of the messaging thread to improve the predicted likelihood for the users.
• For example, themessaging system100 can use machine learning to improve the algorithm that generates the activity score. Themessaging system100 can utilize machine-learning to train a model based on prior interactions between users. Specifically, themessaging system100 can identify interactions between users that have participated in highly active messaging threads in the past. Themessaging system100 can then use this data to train the model to generate scores indicating the likelihood that two individuals will engage in highly active messaging threads in the future.
• In one or more embodiments, themessaging system100 determines relationships between interactions and highly active messaging threads. In particular, themessaging system100 trains the model to acknowledge identify relationships between interactions and highly active messaging threads based on the interactions that are frequently present between users that have engaged in highly active messaging threads in the past. Themessaging system100 can train the model based on the determined relationships between interactions and the likelihood of highly active messaging threads. By training the model accordingly, themessaging system100 is able to attribute a higher likelihood of future highly active messaging threads based on detected interactions between users. For example, training the machine-learning model can involve weighting the possible interactions based on the correlation between the possible interactions and highly active messaging threads.
• Themessaging system100 can continue to train the model as additional data becomes available. In particular, themessaging system100 can continue to use machine-learning principles to refine the model based on the accuracy of the model in predicting future highly active messaging threads. As such, themessaging system100 can more accurately predict highly active messaging threads in the future. For example, if themessaging system100 detects a new highly active messaging thread between two users and identifies other interactions between the two users, the machine-learning model can adjust the weighting of interactions to reflect the additional data. To illustrate, if the new data indicates an additional interaction that is indicative of the potential for highly active messaging threads, themessaging system100 can adjust the model to increase activity scores if the additional interaction is present. Themessaging system100 can additionally increase and/or decrease the effects of other interactions on generated activity scores based on additional data. Using the foregoing principles, themessaging system100 can train the model to accurately predict the likelihood of future highly active messaging threads based on the presence and/or absence of interactions between users.
• To take advantage of the information that the activity score for a pair of users provides, themessaging system100 can provide information to the users in accordance with the activity score. In particular, themessaging system100 can provide information to users who are most likely to engage in highly active messaging threads. For example, themessaging system100 can improve the organization of a user's contact list, as described inFIG. 3. Additionally, or alternatively, themessaging system100 can determine when to promote certain features of a messaging application and for which users the promotional campaigns are likely to be most effective, as described inFIGS. 4-5D. Thus, themessaging system100 can provide timely information to the users who are most likely to benefit from the information.
• As mentioned, themessaging system100 can organize a contact list of a user based on interactions related to the associations between the user and the user's contacts. Themessaging system100 can use one or more of the components ofFIGS. 1 and 2 to provide one or more graphical user interfaces. For example, the components can allow a user to interact with a collection of display elements for a variety of purposes.FIG. 3 and the description that follows illustrate an example embodiment of the user interface and features that themessaging system100 can use as part of a messaging application in accordance with general principles described above.
• For example,FIG. 3 illustrates a GUI provided by a messaging application to facilitate electronic messaging between two or more users of themessaging system100. In some examples, a client device (i.e., client device104a,104b) can implement and or communicate with at least some of the components of themessaging system100. For example,FIG. 3 illustrates aclient device300 that may include a messaging application that communicates with the communication manager102 of themessaging system100. As illustrated, theclient device300 can be a handheld device, such as a mobile phone device (e.g., a smartphone). As used herein, the term “handheld device” refers to a device sized and configured to be held/operated in a single hand of a user. In additional or alternative examples, however, any other suitable computing device, such as, but not limited to, a tablet device, a handheld device, larger wireless devices, laptop or desktop computer, a personal-digital assistant device, and/or any other suitable computing device can perform one or more of the processes and/or operations described herein.
• Theclient device300 can include any of the features and components described below in reference to acomputing device900 ofFIG. 9. As illustrated inFIG. 3, theclient device300 includes atouchscreen display302 that can display or provide user interfaces and by way of which user input may be received and/or detected. As used herein, a “touchscreen display” refers to the display of a touchscreen device. In one or more embodiments, a touchscreen device may be a client device with at least one surface upon which a user may perform touch gestures (e.g., a laptop, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant, a media player, a mobile phone). Additionally or alternatively, theclient device300 may include any other suitable input device, such as a touch pad or those described below in reference toFIG. 9.
• As noted previously, themessaging system100 can include a messaging application that allows users to communicate with each other via their respective client devices.FIG. 3 illustrates acontacts user interface304 that the messaging application provides on thetouchscreen302. Thecontacts user interface304 can providecontact list306 of a user (“Donald”) of theclient device300. In particular, thecontacts user interface304 can list “friends” or contacts with which the user is connected or associated within themessaging system100. For example, the friends or contacts can include other users with which the user has established relationships in a social networking system.
• As mentioned, themessaging system100 can organize thecontact list306 for providing to theclient device300 based on the activity scores corresponding to each of the users in thecontact list306. In particular, themessaging system100 ranks a plurality of users in thecontact list306 of the user of theclient device300 using the corresponding activity scores. Ranking the plurality of users allows themessaging system100 to position the plurality of users in thecontact list306 in a way that allows the user to more easily find other users that are likely to engage with the user in highly active messaging threads.
• For example, themessaging system100 can position users with higher activity scores in more prominent positions of thecontact list306. Specifically, themessaging system100 organizes thecontact list306 such that the users associated with the highest activity scores located toward the top of thecontact list306 in the contact user interface. To illustrate, the contact user interface ofFIG. 3 illustrates a user “Charlie Richards” at the top of thecontact list306, indicating that the activity score related to the association between Charlie Richards and the user of theclient device300 is higher than activity scores corresponding to other users in thecontact list306. Similarly, the users associated with the lowest activity scores can be located toward the bottom of thecontact list306. According to alternative embodiments, thecontact list306 may include a different organization with different prominent positions.
• According to other embodiments, themessaging system100 can use additional criteria to determine how to list the users in thecontact list306. For example, themessaging system100 can compare the activity scores of one or more pairs of users to a predetermined threshold. Based on the comparison, themessaging system100 can determine where to place users within thecontact list306 of the user of theclient device300 or even whether to include the users in thecontact list306. For example, themessaging system100 can include users that meet or exceed the predetermined threshold in thecontact list306, and exclude users that do not meet or exceed the predetermined threshold from thecontact list306.
• Alternatively, one or more embodiments of themessaging system100 place users into different groups within thecontact list306. For example, themessaging system100 can identify a first set of users for which the corresponding activity scores meet or exceed the threshold and a second set of users for which the corresponding activity scores do not meet the threshold. Themessaging system100 can then organize the first set of users into a first group within thecontact list306 and the second set of users into a second group within thecontact list306. The first group and second group may be visibly distinguishable, allowing the user to more easily find users that are likely to engage in a highly active messaging thread with the user. Additionally, themessaging system100 may apply additional sorting methods to the separate groups, such as listing the users within the groups alphabetically.
• In one or more embodiments, themessaging system100 organizes thecontact list306 based on user input in addition to the interactions by the users. For example, themessaging system100 can include whether a user is a “favorites” of the user of theclient device300 in the calculation of the activity score and/or the organization of thecontact list306. Additionally, or alternatively, themessaging system100 can identify whether the user has explicitly indicated whether to include or exclude a specific user from thecontact list306.
• According to one or more embodiments, themessaging system100 updates thecontact list306 in response to one or more additional interactions related to the association between the user of theclient device300 and a user in thecontact list306. For example, themessaging system100 can update one or more activity scores based on the additional interactions and reorganize thecontact list306 according to the updated activity scores. To illustrate, if an updated activity score corresponding to a first user is now higher than an activity score corresponding to a second user that was previously listed above the first user, themessaging system100 can change the position of the first user to a position above the second user in thecontact list306. Accordingly, themessaging system100 can reorganize thecontact list306 in any manner based on recalculated activity scores for any of the users in thecontact list306.
• In one or more embodiments, thecontacts user interface304 further provides one or more statuses of each of the contacts. For example, thecontacts user interface304 can indicate whether a given contact or co-user is active (e.g., logged into the messaging application, connected to the Internet, or recently performed an action using the messaging application) by way of afirst status indicator308. Thefirst status indicator308 can comprise a graphical user interface object such as an icon. In one embodiment, thefirst status indicator308 includes a dot of a first color (e.g., green) next to a name of each co-user who is active. Along related lines, thefirst status indicator308 can also include a dot of a second color (e.g., grey) next to users who are inactive.
• Thecontacts user interface304 can indicate the type of device a contact or co-user is currently using via adevice indicator310. Thedevice indicator310 can include a graphical user interface object such as an icon or description. For example, as shown thedevice indicator310 can include the words “Web” indicating that a co-user is active or logged into the messaging application using a personal computer. Along similar lines, thedevice indicator310 can include the word “Mobile” to indicate that a given contact is active or logged into the messaging application using a mobile device, such as a mobile phone. Additionally or alternatively, thedevice indicator310 can indicate a brand or model of theclient device300 of a given co-user.
• One or more embodiments of the messaging application receive notifications or indications of the statuses of the contacts associated with the user of theclient device300 from themessaging system100. For example, the messaging applications can send notifications or status updates to themessaging system100 to indicate when the messaging applications are active or online. Themessaging system100 can then send the statuses of contacts associated with a given user to the client device(s) associated with the given user.
• In one or more additional embodiments, themessaging system100 also ranks users in other locations or interfaces of the messaging application. In particular, themessaging system100 can display a plurality of users according to their corresponding activity scores within a list of search results. Additionally, themessaging system100 can display a plurality of users as autofill suggestions within a type-ahead text field. For example, as a user begins typing a name into a search field or a contact field, themessaging system100 can display a ranked list of suggested users based on the activity scores associated with the users.
• In one or more embodiments, themessaging system100 allows a user to search for messaging threads in which the user has previously participated. For example, the messaging application may include an interface, such as a messaging history, that allows a user to search for previous messaging threads or content of previous messaging threads. The messaging application can display results for messaging threads based on the activity scores associated with the participants of the messaging threads. Thus, messaging threads involving users with high activity scores may be positioned at the top of the results.
• As previously described, themessaging system100 can also promote features of the messaging application to users based on the activity scores corresponding to the users. Themessaging system100 can provide information in a promotional campaign to promote the features of the messaging application within various different interfaces of the messaging application. For example,FIG. 4 illustrates aclient device400 displaying athreads list interface402 that allows users to see a plurality ofmessaging threads404 involving the user of theclient device400. Specifically, thethreads list interface402 can displaymessaging threads404 in which the user has sent and/or received messages.
• In one or more embodiments, themessaging system100 provides information in thethreads list interface402 to promote one or more features of the messaging application to the user. To illustrate, themessaging system100 can display abanner406 within thethreads list interface402 with information related to one or more features of the messaging application. Thebanner406 can include information with the purpose of encouraging the user to use the feature of the messaging application and engage in a messaging thread with a particular user.
• For example, themessaging system100 can promote the use of the messaging features in connection with a particular event. To illustrate, themessaging system100 can recommend initiating a conversation in connection with an event associated with a particular user.FIG. 4 illustrates abanner406 with the message, “It's your anniversary! Tap to wish Michelle a happy anniversary today!” Themessaging system100 can then recommend that the user wish his wife a happy anniversary using the messaging features of the messaging application.
• In one or more embodiments, themessaging system100 provides information with which the user can interact to access the promoted feature. Specifically, as mentioned, themessaging system100 can identify a pair of users for promoting a particular feature of the messaging application based on the activity score corresponding to the pair of users. For example, themessaging system100 can select a user associated with the highest activity score from thecontact list306 of the user of theclient device400. Thus, themessaging system100 can selectively promote a feature of the messaging application to specifically identified individuals, rather than spamming all users with promotional information for the feature. Selectively promoting the feature of the messaging application can be more effective and less intrusive than spamming all of the users of themessaging system100 with promotional information that is not likely to result in messaging activity between certain users.
• After identifying the users, themessaging system100 can select or generate promotional information to provide to the user of theclient device400 and/or to the other identified user. In one or more embodiments, themessaging system100 can select promotional information from a plurality of predefined promotional messages. For example, themessaging system100 can select a predefined promotional message that promotes the usage of a new feature that the users may use in a messaging thread with each other based on the activity score. The predefined promotional message can recommend the new feature to the users and/or teach the users how to use the new feature within the messaging application.
• In one or more alternative embodiments, themessaging system100 generates new promotional information that is customized to the users. Specifically, themessaging system100 uses the identity of the users, the current time (e.g., hour, day, or month), and/or the relationship between the two users to determine how to promote a feature to the users. For example, themessaging system100 can determine that the users share an anniversary, as shown inFIG. 4, and generate a message that tells one or more of the identified users to send each other messages within a new messaging thread. In another example, themessaging system100 can send a birthday notification to one or more friends of a user based on the activity scores corresponding to the users. Thus, themessaging system100 can provide customized messages to target specific events and/or interests of the users in relation to one or more of the features of the messaging application.
• In one or more embodiments, the promotional information can appear as abanner406 that overlays on top of a list ofmessaging threads404, as inFIG. 4. In one or more alternative embodiments, themessaging system100 provides the promotional information to theclient device400 for displaying in another portion of thethreads list interface402 or in another interface of the messaging application. To illustrate, themessaging system100 can provide promotional information within a messaging thread interface (as described in relation toFIGS. 5B-5D), the contacts list interface, or in any other interface within the messaging application, as may serve a particular embodiment. Alternatively, themessaging system100 may promote features of the messaging application using video, sound, images, highlighting or other methods of promoting the use of a particular feature of the messaging application.
• After providing the promotional information to the user of theclient device400, the user of theclient device400 can interact with the promotion to initiate a new messaging thread with another user or resume an existing messaging thread. To illustrate, if the user clicks or taps thebanner406 in thethreads list interface402 ofFIG. 4, the messaging application can initiate a new conversation between the user and the identified recipient. The user can then engage in a messaging thread with the user based on the promotion information in thebanner406. In at least some instances, the resulting messaging thread can be a highly active messaging thread.
• In additional, or alternative, embodiments, a promotional campaign is successful based on whether the users engaged in a communications as a result of one or more promotional messages. For example, if the user initiates a messaging thread with a user identified in a promotional message, themessaging system100 can determine that the promotional campaign is successful. In other embodiments, a promotional campaign may be successful if the users engage in a highly active messaging thread as a result of one or more promotional messages. In one or more alternative implementations, a promotional campaign may be successful if the users engage in a messaging thread that does not become a highly active messaging thread. In at least some embodiments, a promotional campaign is considered successful if the users interact in any type of engagement, regardless of length or content.
• According to various embodiments, themessaging system100 can also provide promotional information in a plurality of messages in connection with a single promotional campaign. For example, a promotional campaign may include a plurality of messages to better aid a user in learning and using one or more features of the messaging application. To illustrate, a promotional campaign can provide a plurality of messages to the user, each message at different times or in different interfaces.FIGS. 5A-5D illustrate aclient device500 that displays example user interfaces with messages to encourage a user to use one or more features of the messaging application.
• FIG. 5A illustrates an embodiment of acontacts user interface502 including amessage504 associated with a promotional campaign. Specifically, themessage504 includes promotional information encouraging a user to send a message to another user using a specific feature of the messaging application. To illustrate,FIG. 5A illustrates amessage504 that promotes the use of “stickers” with an identified user (“Susan”) in a messaging thread. In one or more embodiments, themessage504 can be the first of a plurality of messages directed to the usage of the “stickers” feature of the messaging application.
• As recited previously, themessaging system100 can identify the pair of users (including the user of the client device500) for providing promotional information based on an activity score associated with the pair of users. If the activity score associated with the pair of users meets or exceeds a predetermined threshold, themessaging system100 can select the pair of users for promoting one or more features of the messaging application to the users. For example, themessaging system100 can promote one or more features that are most likely to encourage the users to engage in messaging activities. To illustrate, themessaging system100 can determine that Susan frequently uses stickers in messaging threads. Themessaging system100 can then select or generate a promotional campaign to promote, to the user of theclient device500, the use of stickers in a messaging thread with Susan.
• After selecting or generating the promotional campaign, themessaging system100 can provide promotional information from the promotional campaign to theclient device500. In one or more embodiments, themessaging system100 can generate amessage504 including the promotional information to display within an interface of the messaging application. For example, themessaging system100 can include themessage504 in a banner, overlay, or pop-up message in an interface of the messaging application. In another example, themessaging system100 can generate a notification message associated with the messaging application to provide within a notification menu of theclient device500.
• As illustrated inFIG. 5A, when presenting the promotional content to the user, the messaging application displays themessage504 above atoolbar506. Additionally, the messaging application can automatically display or highlight one or more features that are part of the promotional campaign. For example, for a campaign that promotes the usage of “stickers” in messaging threads, the messaging application can present asticker selection list508 with one or more “stickers” available for selection and insertion into the messaging thread. Alternatively, the messaging application can visually highlight asticker toolbar option506athat opens thesticker selection list508 in response to the user selecting thesticker toolbar option506 or in response to the user selecting themessage504 with the promotional information.
• In response to the user selecting the feature promoted by the campaign, themessaging system100 can perform one or more operations associated with the selected feature in the messaging application. For example, as illustrated in themessaging thread interface510 ofFIG. 5B, in response to the user selecting a “sticker” to post in a message to the other user identified by the promotional information, themessaging system100 can input the selected “sticker” into amessage512 in amessaging thread514 involving the user of theclient device500 and the identified user. In one or more embodiments, themessaging thread514 can be a new messaging thread. In alternative embodiments, themessaging thread514 can be an existing messaging thread with the “sticker” as thenewest message512 by the user in the messaging thread.
• According to one or more embodiments, themessaging system100 can determine whether the campaign results in increased messaging activity between the users. In particular, themessaging system100 can maintain a count of the number of messages between the users after providing the promotional information to the user. For example, themessaging system100 can determine whether the user selected themessage504 or used the feature and initiated amessaging thread514 in response to themessage504 or usage of the feature.
• In one or more implementations, if the number of messages in themessaging thread514 resulting from the message or the use of the feature is above a threshold, themessaging system100 can determine that the promotional campaign is successful. For example, if the promotional information results in a highly active messaging thread, themessaging system100 can determine that the promotional campaign is successful. Based on the promotional campaign being successful, themessaging system100 may not present any additional promotional information to the user in connection with the specific promotional campaign. Alternatively, themessaging system100 may deliver one or more additional messages to the user to reinforce the usage of the specific feature or to promote additional features.
• If the number of messages resulting from the messages in themessaging thread514 resulting from the message or the use of the feature is below a threshold, themessaging system100 can determine that the promotional campaign is not yet successful. In response to such a determination, themessaging system100 can determine that one or more additional messages can improve the likelihood of a successful campaign. Thus, themessaging system100 can make a dynamic determination of how many messages with promotional information to provide to the user based on the resulting messaging activity.
• In one or more embodiments, themessaging system100 can provide an additional message to theclient device500 of the user in connection with the promotional campaign. Specifically, in response to a determination that the messaging activities of the users did not meet or exceed a threshold, themessaging system100 can provide additional promotional information to theclient device500. For example,FIG. 5C illustrates asecond message504acontaining promotional information from the promotional campaign within themessaging thread interface510. In particular, thesecond message504aincludes promotional information about a second feature (i.e., sending videos) that the user can use in messaging threads.
• According to at least some embodiments, themessaging system100 can promote the second feature in thesecond message504ato further encourage the user to initiate a messaging thread with the identified user or continue theprevious messaging thread514. Specifically, by promoting the use of another feature, themessaging system100 can provide new ways for the users to communicate with each other. Encouraging new ways to communicate may increase the likelihood that the users engage in a highly active messaging thread. Alternatively, themessaging system100 can promote the same feature in a plurality of different messages.
• As illustrated inFIG. 5C, when themessaging system100 provides the second message to theclient device500, the messaging application can display thesecond message504awithin themessaging thread interface510. For example, themessaging thread interface510 can display the second message in an overlay or pop-up message, similar to thefirst message504 in thethreads list interface402. To illustrate, thesecond message504acan include a banner that says, “Nothing shows you care like a ‘good morning’ video. Send one now!” Because the banner appears in themessaging thread interface510 containing themessaging thread514 with the recipient, the banner may not include the recipient's name. Alternatively, if thesecond message504aappears in another messaging thread or in another interface, the banner may indicate to send the video to the recipient as part of the earlier promotional campaign.
• When the user selects thesecond message504a, or the second feature highlighted by the second message, the messaging application can allow the user to use the second feature in connection with themessaging thread514.FIG. 5D illustrates themessaging thread interface510 containing a video interface516 (e.g., inside a composition area of the messaging thread interface) corresponding to thesecond message504a. Thevideo interface516 can allow the user to capture video using theclient device500 and send the video to the recipient within themessaging thread514. For instance, thevideo interface516 can display the live video of the user while the user captures the video, and then embed the captured video in themessaging thread514 for display in themessaging thread interface510.
• In one or more embodiments, themessaging system100 can provide a plurality of messages in connection with a promotional campaign at designated times. In particular, themessaging system100 can determine that the promotional campaign can be most effective if the messages are provided at specific intervals to remind the user to communicate with the specified user using one or more features of the messaging application. For example, the promotional campaign can include a plurality of messages provided on different days. To illustrate, a promotional campaign to encourage a user to send “stickers” on a first day, videos on a second day, a specific message on a third day, etc. Additionally, themessaging system100 can encourage the user to send other media (e.g., images, audio) or text within the messaging application, and can provide a plurality of messages over the course of several consecutive days or predetermined time intervals. Alternatively, themessaging system100 can provide the messages at other time intervals or dynamic time intervals, as may serve a particular embodiment.
• As described themessaging system100 provides promotional information based on the activity levels that represents the likelihood of at least two users to engage in highly active messaging threads with each other. Although the activity score is described herein with reference to two users, themessaging system100 can calculate an activity score for more than two users. Consequently, themessaging system100 can create groups or perform other operations related to specified groups based on the corresponding activity scores, including selecting or generating promotional information to the groups. For example, themessaging system100 can provide promotional information to a first group while not providing the promotional information (or providing different promotional information) to a second group based on the activity scores of each group. Tailoring the promotional activity to each group can encourage higher messaging activities between the members of each group.
• FIGS. 1-5D, the corresponding text, and the examples, provide a number of different systems and devices for increasing messaging activity between users of a messaging system. In addition to the foregoing, embodiments can be described in terms of flowcharts comprising acts and steps in a method for accomplishing a particular result. For example,FIGS. 6-8 illustrate flowcharts of exemplary methods in accordance with one or more embodiments.
• FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart of amethod600 of predicting messaging activity between users of amessaging system100. Themethod600 includes anact602 of identifying interactions related to an association between users. For example, act602 involves identifying interactions related to an association between a first user and a second user of anelectronic messaging system100. To illustrate, the interactions can include binary labels corresponding to actions by the first user or the second user within a messaging application. Additionally, or alternatively the interactions can include communications between the first user and the second user, interactions with communications, interactions with notifications associated with the first user or the second user, or interactions with content associated with the first user or the second user.
• Themethod600 also includes anact604 of analyzing the interactions. For example, act604 involves analyzing the interactions related to the association between the first user and the second user. To illustrate, act604 can involve applying a logistic regression to the interactions related to the association between the first user and the second user. Act604 can involve determining an effect that the interactions have on a likelihood of future activity between the first user and the second user.
• Additionally, themethod600 includes anact606 of generating an activity score. For example, act606 involves generating, based on the analyzed interactions, an activity score representing a likelihood that the first user and the second user will engage in a highly active messaging thread. To illustrate, act606 can involve applying different weights to at least some of the interactions related to the association between the first user and the second user. For example, act606 can involve applying different weights to the interactions based on an effect of each interaction on a likelihood of future messaging activity between the first user and the second user.
• Additionally, act606 can involve determining that a predetermined period of time has passed since the generation of the activity score, and invalidating the activity score. Additionally, act606 can further involve generating a new activity score in response to invalidating the activity score. Furthermore, act606 can involve generating the activity score to represent the likelihood that the first user and the second user will engage in a highly active messaging thread within the predetermined period of time.
• Furthermore, themethod600 includes anact608 of determining whether the generated activity score meets or exceeds a predetermined threshold. For example, act608 can involve determining that the generated activity score meets or exceeds the predetermined threshold. Themethod600 can include performing an operation related to the association between the first user and the second user within the messaging application in response to the generated activity score meeting or exceeding the predetermined threshold. Additionally, themethod600 can include providing information related to the association between the first user and the second user within the messaging application.
• As part ofact608, or as an additional act, themethod600 can include an act of identifying one or more additional interactions related to the association between the first user and the second user. Additionally, themethod600 can include an act of updating the activity score based on the one or more additional interactions. For example, the updating the activity score can involve updating the activity score at predefined intervals. Alternatively, updating the activity score can involve updating the activity score in response to identifying the one or more additional interactions.
• FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a series of acts in amethod700 of promoting features of promoting features of a messaging application. The method includes anact702 of identifying interactions related to an association between users. For example, act702 involves identifying interactions related to an association between a first user and a second user of anelectronic messaging system100. To illustrate, the interactions can include binary labels corresponding to actions by the first user or the second user within a messaging application. Additionally, or alternatively the interactions can include communications between the first user and the second user, interactions with communications, interactions with notifications associated with the first user or the second user, or interactions with content associated with the first user or the second user.
• Themethod700 also includes anact704 of analyzing the interactions. For example, act704 involves analyzing the interactions related to the association between the first user and the second user. To illustrate, act704 can involve applying a logistic regression to the interactions related to the association between the first user and the second user. Act604 can involve determining an effect that the interactions have on a likelihood of future activity between the first user and the second user.
• Themethod700 further includes anact706 of generating an activity score. For example, act706 involves generating, based on the analyzed interactions, an activity score representing a likelihood that the first user and the second user will engage in a highly active messaging thread. To illustrate, act706 can involve applying different weights to at least some of the interactions related to the association between the first user and the second user. For example, act706 can involve applying different weights to the interactions based on an effect of each interaction on a likelihood of future messaging activity between the first user and the second user.
• Additionally, themethod700 includes anact708 of selectively promoting a feature of the messaging application. For example, act708 involves selectively promoting a feature of the messaging application relating to the association between the first user and the second user based on the generated activity score. To illustrate, act708 can involve providing a recommendation to the first user to initiate a new messaging thread with the second user using the feature. Additionally, act708 can involve providing a notification to the first user to send a message to the second user in connection with a specific event associated with the second user.
• Act708 can also involve identifying a present time and a relationship between the first user and the second user. Act708 can further involve providing a recommendation to the first user to initiate a new messaging thread with the second user based on the current time or the identified relationship.
• Furthermore, act708 can involve providing a recommendation to the first user in a first user interface of the messaging application to use a feature within a second user interface of the messaging application. Act708 can also involve receiving communication information related to the association between the first user and the second user from a third-party application, and selectively promoting the feature of the messaging application based on the generated activity score and the received communication information.
• As part ofact708, or as an additional act, themethod700 can include identifying a plurality of users associated with activity scores that meet or exceed a predetermined threshold. Themethod700 can also include providing a notification to the plurality of users to send a message to the second user in connection with the specific event associated with the second user.
• FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart of a series of acts in amethod800 of organizing acontact list306 in a messaging application. The method includes anact802 of identifying interactions related to an association between users. For example, act802 involves identifying interactions related to an association between a first user and a second user of an electronic messaging system. To illustrate, the interactions can include binary labels corresponding to actions by the first user or the second user within a messaging application. Additionally, or alternatively the interactions can include communications between the first user and the second user, interactions with communications, interactions with notifications associated with the first user or the second user, or interactions with content associated with the first user or the second user.
• Additionally, themethod800 includes an act804 of analyzing the interactions. For example, act804 involves analyzing the interactions related to the association between the first user and the second user. To illustrate, act804 can involve applying a logistic regression to the interactions related to the association between the first user and the second user. Act604 can involve determining an effect that the interactions have on a likelihood of future activity between the first user and the second user.
• Themethod800 further includes anact806 of generating an activity score. For example, act806 involves generating, based on the analyzed interactions, an activity score representing a likelihood that the first user and the second user will engage in a highly active messaging thread. To illustrate, act806 can involve applying different weights to at least some of the interactions related to the association between the first user and the second user. For example, act806 can involve applying different weights to the interactions based on an effect of each interaction on a likelihood of future messaging activity between the first user and the second user.
• Themethod800 also includes anact808 of organizing users in acontact list306. For example, act808 involves organizing a plurality of users in acontact list306 comprising the second user based on the generated activity score. To illustrate, act808 can involve ranking the plurality of users based on activity scores corresponding to a plurality of associations between the first user and the plurality of users. Additionally, act808 can involve positioning a user with a highest activity score in a most prominent position of thecontact list306.
• As part ofact808, or as an additional act, themethod800 can include generating a plurality of activity scores corresponding to a plurality of associations between the first user and the plurality of users, and organizing the plurality of users in thecontact list306 based on the generated plurality of activity scores. Act808 can also involve excluding a third user from thecontact list306 based on an activity score representing a likelihood that the first user and the third user will engage in a highly active messaging thread.
• Additionally, themethod800 can include acts of determining that a plurality of activity scores for a first set of users from the plurality of users meet or exceed a predetermined threshold, and determining that a plurality of activity scores for a second et of users from the plurality of users do not meet the predetermined threshold. The method can also include organizing the first set of users into a first group within thecontact list306 and the second of users into a second group within thecontact list306.
• Themethod800 can include an act of identifying one or more additional interactions related to the association between the first user and the second user. Themethod800 can further include an act of updating the activity score based on the one or more additional interactions, and changing a position of the second user in thecontact list306 based on the updated activity score.
• Themethod800 also includes anact810 of providing thecontact list306 to aclient device300. For example, act810 can involve providing thecontact list306 to aclient device300 of the first user. To illustrate, act810 can involve providing thecontact list306 in a contacts user interface of a messaging application at theclient device300. Act810 can involve organizing thecontact list306 at one or more servers, and sending the organized contact list from the one or more servers to theclient device300. Alternatively, act810 can involve sending activity scores for a plurality of users in thecontact list306 to theclient device300, and organizing thecontact list306 at theclient device300 based on the activity scores for the plurality of users.
• Embodiments of the present disclosure may comprise or utilize a special purpose or general-purpose computer including computer hardware, such as, for example, one or more processors and system memory, as discussed in greater detail below. Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure also include physical and other computer-readable media for carrying or storing computer-executable instructions and/or data structures. In particular, one or more of the processes described herein may be implemented at least in part as instructions embodied in a non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by one or more computing devices (e.g., any of the media content access devices described herein). In general, a processor (e.g., a microprocessor) receives instructions, from a non-transitory computer-readable medium, (e.g., a memory, etc.), and executes those instructions, thereby performing one or more processes, including one or more of the processes described herein.
• Computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer system. Computer-readable media that store computer-executable instructions are non-transitory computer-readable storage media (devices). Computer-readable media that carry computer-executable instructions are transmission media. Thus, by way of example, and not limitation, embodiments of the disclosure can comprise at least two distinctly different kinds of computer-readable media: non-transitory computer-readable storage media (devices) and transmission media.
• Non-transitory computer-readable storage media (devices) includes RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM, solid state drives (“SSDs”) (e.g., based on RAM), Flash memory, phase-change memory (“PCM”), other types of memory, other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store desired program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.
• A “network” is defined as one or more data links that enable the transport of electronic data between computer systems and/or modules and/or other electronic devices. When information is transferred or provided over a network or another communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to a computer, the computer properly views the connection as a transmission medium. Transmissions media can include a network and/or data links which can be used to carry desired program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
• Further, upon reaching various computer system components, program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures can be transferred automatically from transmission media to non-transitory computer-readable storage media (devices) (or vice versa). For example, computer-executable instructions or data structures received over a network or data link can be buffered in RAM within a network interface module (e.g., a “NIC”), and then eventually transferred to computer system RAM and/or to less volatile computer storage media (devices) at a computer system. Thus, it should be understood that non-transitory computer-readable storage media (devices) can be included in computer system components that also (or even primarily) utilize transmission media.
• Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions and data which, when executed at a processor, cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function or group of functions. In one or more embodiments, computer-executable instructions are executed on a general-purpose computer to turn the general-purpose computer into a special purpose computer implementing elements of the disclosure. The computer executable instructions may be, for example, binaries, intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, or even source code. Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the described features or acts described above. Rather, the described features and acts are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
• Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the disclosure may be practiced in network computing environments with many types of computer system configurations, including, personal computers, desktop computers, laptop computers, message processors, hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, mobile telephones, PDAs, tablets, pagers, routers, switches, and the like. The disclosure may also be practiced in distributed system environments where local and remote computer systems, which are linked (either by hardwired data links, wireless data links, or by a combination of hardwired and wireless data links) through a network, both perform tasks. In a distributed system environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.
• Embodiments of the present disclosure can also be implemented in cloud computing environments. In this description, “cloud computing” is defined as a model for enabling on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources. For example, cloud computing can be employed in the marketplace to offer ubiquitous and convenient on-demand access to the shared pool of configurable computing resources. The shared pool of configurable computing resources can be rapidly provisioned via virtualization and released with low management effort or service provider interaction, and then scaled accordingly.
• A cloud-computing model can be composed of various characteristics such as, for example, on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, measured service, and so forth. A cloud-computing model can also expose various service models, such as, for example, Software as a Service (“SaaS”), Platform as a Service (“PaaS”), and Infrastructure as a Service (“IaaS”). A cloud-computing model can also be deployed using different deployment models such as private cloud, community cloud, public cloud, hybrid cloud, and so forth. In this description and in the claims, a “cloud-computing environment” is an environment in which cloud computing is employed.
• FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram ofexemplary computing device900 that may be configured to perform one or more of the processes described above. One will appreciate that one or more computing devices such as thecomputing device900 may implement themessage system100. As shown byFIG. 9, thecomputing device900 can comprise aprocessor902, amemory904, astorage device906, an I/O interface908, and acommunication interface910, which may be communicatively coupled by way of acommunication infrastructure912. While anexemplary computing device900 is shown inFIG. 9, the components illustrated inFIG. 9 are not intended to be limiting. Additional or alternative components may be used in other embodiments. Furthermore, in certain embodiments, thecomputing device900 can include fewer components than those shown inFIG. 9. Components of thecomputing device900 shown inFIG. 9 will now be described in additional detail.
• In one or more embodiments, theprocessor902 includes hardware for executing instructions, such as those making up a computer program. As an example and not by way of limitation, to execute instructions, theprocessor902 may retrieve (or fetch) the instructions from an internal register, an internal cache, thememory904, or thestorage device906 and decode and execute them. In one or more embodiments, theprocessor902 may include one or more internal caches for data, instructions, or addresses. As an example and not by way of limitation, theprocessor902 may include one or more instruction caches, one or more data caches, and one or more translation lookaside buffers (TLBs). Instructions in the instruction caches may be copies of instructions in thememory904 or thestorage1106.
• Thememory904 may be used for storing data, metadata, and programs for execution by the processor(s). Thememory904 may include one or more of volatile and non-volatile memories, such as Random Access Memory (“RAM”), Read Only Memory (“ROM”), a solid state disk (“SSD”), Flash, Phase Change Memory (“PCM”), or other types of data storage. Thememory904 may be internal or distributed memory.
• Thestorage device906 includes storage for storing data or instructions. As an example and not by way of limitation,storage device906 can comprise a non-transitory storage medium described above. Thestorage device906 may include a hard disk drive (HDD), a floppy disk drive, flash memory, an optical disc, a magneto-optical disc, magnetic tape, or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) drive or a combination of two or more of these. Thestorage device906 may include removable or non-removable (or fixed) media, where appropriate. Thestorage device906 may be internal or external to thecomputing device900. In one or more embodiments, thestorage device906 is non-volatile, solid-state memory. In other embodiments, thestorage device906 includes read-only memory (ROM). Where appropriate, this ROM may be mask programmed ROM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), electrically alterable ROM (EAROM), or flash memory or a combination of two or more of these.
• The I/O interface908 allows a user to provide input to, receive output from, and otherwise transfer data to and receive data fromcomputing device900. The I/O interface908 may include a mouse, a keypad or a keyboard, a touchscreen, a camera, an optical scanner, network interface, modem, other known I/O devices or a combination of such I/O interfaces. The I/O interface908 may include one or more devices for presenting output to a user, including, but not limited to, a graphics engine, a display (e.g., a display screen), one or more output drivers (e.g., display drivers), one or more audio speakers, and one or more audio drivers. In certain embodiments, the I/O interface908 is configured to provide graphical data to a display for presentation to a user. The graphical data may be representative of one or more graphical user interfaces and/or any other graphical content as may serve a particular implementation.
• Thecommunication interface910 can include hardware, software, or both. In any event, thecommunication interface910 can provide one or more interfaces for communication (such as, for example, packet-based communication) between thecomputing device900 and one or more other computing devices or networks. As an example and not by way of limitation, thecommunication interface910 may include a network interface controller (NIC) or network adapter for communicating with an Ethernet or other wire-based network or a wireless NIC (WNIC) or wireless adapter for communicating with a wireless network, such as a WI-FI.
• Additionally or alternatively, thecommunication interface910 may facilitate communications with an ad hoc network, a personal area network (PAN), a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), or one or more portions of the Internet or a combination of two or more of these. One or more portions of one or more of these networks may be wired or wireless. As an example, thecommunication interface910 may facilitate communications with a wireless PAN (WPAN) (such as, for example, a BLUETOOTH WPAN), a WI-FI network, a WI-MAX network, a cellular telephone network (such as, for example, a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network), or other suitable wireless network or a combination thereof.
• Additionally, thecommunication interface910 may facilitate communications various communication protocols. Examples of communication protocols that may be used include, but are not limited to, data transmission media, communications devices, Transmission Control Protocol (“TCP”), Internet Protocol (“IP”), File Transfer Protocol (“FTP”), Telnet, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”), Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (“HTTPS”), Session Initiation Protocol (“SIP”), Simple Object Access Protocol (“SOAP”), Extensible Mark-up Language (“XML”) and variations thereof, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (“SMTP”), Real-Time Transport Protocol (“RTP”), User Datagram Protocol (“UDP”), Global System for Mobile Communications (“GSM”) technologies, Code Division Multiple Access (“CDMA”) technologies, Time Division Multiple Access (“TDMA”) technologies, Short Message Service (“SMS”), Multimedia Message Service (“MMS”), radio frequency (“RF”) signaling technologies, Long Term Evolution (“LTE”) technologies, wireless communication technologies, in-band and out-of-band signaling technologies, and other suitable communications networks and technologies.
• Thecommunication infrastructure912 may include hardware, software, or both that couples components of thecomputing device900 to each other. As an example and not by way of limitation, thecommunication infrastructure912 may include an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) or other graphics bus, an Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, a front-side bus (FSB), a HYPERTRANSPORT (HT) interconnect, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, an INFINIBAND interconnect, a low-pin-count (LPC) bus, a memory bus, a Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, a PCI-Express (PCIe) bus, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) bus, a Video Electronics Standards Association local (VLB) bus, or another suitable bus or a combination thereof.
• As mentioned above, thesystem100 can comprise a social-networking system. A social-networking system may enable its users (such as persons or organizations) to interact with the system and with each other. As mentioned above, thesystem100 can comprise a social-networking system. A social-networking system may enable its users (such as persons or organizations) to interact with the system and with each other. The social-networking system may, with input from a user, create and store in the social-networking system a user profile associated with the user. The user profile may include demographic information, communication-channel information, and information on personal interests of the user. The social-networking system may also, with input from a user, create and store a record of relationships of the user with other users of the social-networking system, as well as provide services (e.g. wall posts, photo-sharing, on-line calendars and event organization, messaging, games, or advertisements) to facilitate social interaction between or among users. Also, the social-networking system may allow users to post photographs and other multimedia content items to a user's profile page (typically known as “wall posts” or “timeline posts”) or in a photo album, both of which may be accessible to other users of the social-networking system depending upon the user's configured privacy settings.
• FIG. 10 illustrates anexample network environment1000 of a social-networking system.Network environment1000 includes aclient system1006, a social-networking system1002, and a third-party system1008 connected to each other by anetwork1004. AlthoughFIG. 10 illustrates a particular arrangement ofclient system1006, social-networking system1002, third-party system1008, andnetwork1004, this disclosure contemplates any suitable arrangement ofclient system1006, social-networking system1002, third-party system1008, andnetwork1004. As an example and not by way of limitation, two or more ofclient system1006, social-networking system1002, and third-party system1008 may be connected to each other directly, bypassingnetwork1004. As another example, two or more ofclient system1006, social-networking system1002, and third-party system1008 may be physically or logically co-located with each other in whole or in part. Moreover, althoughFIG. 10 illustrates a particular number ofclient systems1006, social-networking systems1002, third-party systems1008, andnetworks1004, this disclosure contemplates any suitable number ofclient systems1006, social-networking systems1002, third-party systems1008, andnetworks1004. As an example and not by way of limitation,network environment1000 may includemultiple client system1006, social-networking systems1002, third-party systems1008, andnetworks1004.
• This disclosure contemplates anysuitable network1004. As an example and not by way of limitation, one or more portions ofnetwork1004 may include an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a portion of the Internet, a portion of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a cellular telephone network, or a combination of two or more of these.Network1004 may include one ormore networks1004.
• Links may connectclient system1006, social-networking system1002, and third-party system1008 tocommunication network1004 or to each other. This disclosure contemplates any suitable links. In particular embodiments, one or more links include one or more wireline (such as for example Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS)), wireless (such as for example Wi-Fi or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), or optical (such as for example Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) or Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH)) links. In particular embodiments, one or more links each include an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a VPN, a LAN, a WLAN, a WAN, a WWAN, a MAN, a portion of the Internet, a portion of the PSTN, a cellular technology-based network, a satellite communications technology-based network, another link, or a combination of two or more such links. Links need not necessarily be the same throughoutnetwork environment1000. One or more first links may differ in one or more respects from one or more second links.
• In particular embodiments,client system1006 may be an electronic device including hardware, software, or embedded logic components or a combination of two or more such components and capable of carrying out the appropriate functionalities implemented or supported byclient system1006. As an example and not by way of limitation, aclient system1006 may include any of the computing devices discussed above in relation toFIG. 9. Aclient system1006 may enable a network user atclient system1006 to accessnetwork1004. Aclient system1006 may enable its user to communicate with other users atother client systems1006.
• In particular embodiments,client system1006 may include a web browser932, such as MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER, GOOGLE CHROME or MOZILLA FIREFOX, and may have one or more add-ons, plug-ins, or other extensions, such as TOOLBAR or YAHOO TOOLBAR. A user atclient system1006 may enter a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or other address directing the web browser to a particular server (such as server, or a server associated with a third-party system1008), and the web browser may generate a Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request and communicate the HTTP request to server. The server may accept the HTTP request and communicate toclient system1006 one or more Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) files responsive to the HTTP request.Client system1006 may render a webpage based on the HTML files from the server for presentation to the user. This disclosure contemplates any suitable webpage files. As an example and not by way of limitation, webpages may render from HTML files, Extensible Hyper Text Markup Language (XHTML) files, or Extensible Markup Language (XML) files, according to particular needs. Such pages may also execute scripts such as, for example and without limitation, those written in JAVASCRIPT, JAVA, MICROSOFT SILVERLIGHT, combinations of markup language and scripts such as AJAX (Asynchronous JAVASCRIPT and XML), and the like. Herein, reference to a webpage encompasses one or more corresponding webpage files (which a browser may use to render the webpage) and vice versa, where appropriate.
• In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may be a network-addressable computing system that can host an online social network. Social-networking system1002 may generate, store, receive, and send social-networking data, such as, for example, user-profile data, concept-profile data, social-graph information, or other suitable data related to the online social network. Social-networking system1002 may be accessed by the other components ofnetwork environment1000 either directly or vianetwork1004. In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may include one or more servers. Each server may be a unitary server or a distributed server spanning multiple computers or multiple datacenters. Servers may be of various types, such as, for example and without limitation, web server, news server, mail server, message server, advertising server, file server, application server, exchange server, database server, proxy server, another server suitable for performing functions or processes described herein, or any combination thereof. In particular embodiments, each server may include hardware, software, or embedded logic components or a combination of two or more such components for carrying out the appropriate functionalities implemented or supported by server. In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may include one or more data stores. Data stores may be used to store various types of information. In particular embodiments, the information stored in data stores may be organized according to specific data structures. In particular embodiments, each data store may be a relational, columnar, correlation, or other suitable database. Although this disclosure describes or illustrates particular types of databases, this disclosure contemplates any suitable types of databases. Particular embodiments may provide interfaces that enable aclient system1006, a social-networking system1002, or a third-party system1008 to manage, retrieve, modify, add, or delete, the information stored in data store.
• In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may store one or more social graphs in one or more data stores. In particular embodiments, a social graph may include multiple nodes—which may include multiple user nodes (each corresponding to a particular user) or multiple concept nodes (each corresponding to a particular concept)—and multiple edges connecting the nodes. Social-networking system1002 may provide users of the online social network the ability to communicate and interact with other users. In particular embodiments, users may join the online social network via social-networking system1002 and then add connections (e.g., relationships) to a number of other users of social-networking system1002 whom they want to be connected to. Herein, the term “friend” may refer to any other user of social-networking system1002 with whom a user has formed a connection, association, or relationship via social-networking system1002.
• In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may provide users with the ability to take actions on various types of items or objects, supported by social-networking system1002. As an example and not by way of limitation, the items and objects may include groups or social networks to which users of social-networking system1002 may belong, events or calendar entries in which a user might be interested, computer-based applications that a user may use, transactions that allow users to buy or sell items via the service, interactions with advertisements that a user may perform, or other suitable items or objects. A user may interact with anything that is capable of being represented in social-networking system1002 or by an external system of third-party system1008, which is separate from social-networking system1002 and coupled to social-networking system1002 via anetwork1004.
• In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may be capable of linking a variety of entities. As an example and not by way of limitation, social-networking system1002 may enable users to interact with each other as well as receive content from third-party systems1008 or other entities, or to allow users to interact with these entities through an application programming interfaces (API) or other communication channels.
• In particular embodiments, a third-party system1008 may include one or more types of servers, one or more data stores, one or more interfaces, including but not limited to APIs, one or more web services, one or more content sources, one or more networks, or any other suitable components, e.g., that servers may communicate with. A third-party system1008 may be operated by a different entity from an entity operating social-networking system1002. In particular embodiments, however, social-networking system1002 and third-party systems1008 may operate in conjunction with each other to provide social-networking services to users of social-networking system1002 or third-party systems1008. In this sense, social-networking system1002 may provide a platform, or backbone, which other systems, such as third-party systems1008, may use to provide social-networking services and functionality to users across the Internet.
• In particular embodiments, a third-party system1008 may include a third-party content object provider. A third-party content object provider may include one or more sources of content objects, which may be communicated to aclient system1006. As an example and not by way of limitation, content objects may include information regarding things or activities of interest to the user, such as, for example, movie show times, movie reviews, restaurant reviews, restaurant menus, product information and reviews, or other suitable information. As another example and not by way of limitation, content objects may include incentive content objects, such as coupons, discount tickets, gift certificates, or other suitable incentive objects.
• In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 also includes user-generated content objects, which may enhance a user's interactions with social-networking system1002. User-generated content may include anything a user can add, upload, send, or “post” to social-networking system1002. As an example and not by way of limitation, a user communicates posts to social-networking system1002 from aclient system1006. Posts may include data such as status updates or other textual data, location information, photos, videos, links, music or other similar data or media. Content may also be added to social-networking system1002 by a third-party through a “communication channel,” such as a newsfeed or stream.
• In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may include a variety of servers, sub-systems, programs, modules, logs, and data stores. In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may include one or more of the following: a web server, action logger, API-request server, relevance-and-ranking engine, content-object classifier, notification controller, action log, third-party-content-object-exposure log, inference module, authorization/privacy server, search module, advertisement-targeting module, user-interface module, user-profile store, connection store, third-party content store, or location store. Social-networking system1002 may also include suitable components such as network interfaces, security mechanisms, load balancers, failover servers, management-and-network-operations consoles, other suitable components, or any suitable combination thereof. In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may include one or more user-profile stores for storing user profiles. A user profile may include, for example, biographic information, demographic information, behavioral information, social information, or other types of descriptive information, such as work experience, educational history, hobbies or preferences, interests, affinities, or location. Interest information may include interests related to one or more categories. Categories may be general or specific. As an example and not by way of limitation, if a user “likes” an article about a brand of shoes the category may be the brand, or the general category of “shoes” or “clothing.” A connection store may be used for storing connection information about users. The connection information may indicate users who have similar or common work experience, group memberships, hobbies, educational history, or are in any way related or share common attributes. The connection information may also include user-defined connections between different users and content (both internal and external). A web server may be used for linking social-networking system1002 to one ormore client systems1006 or one or more third-party system1008 vianetwork1004. The web server may include a mail server or other messaging functionality for receiving and routing messages between social-networking system1002 and one ormore client systems1006. An API-request server may allow a third-party system1008 to access information from social-networking system1002 by calling one or more APIs. An action logger may be used to receive communications from a web server about a user's actions on or off social-networking system1002. In conjunction with the action log, a third-party-content-object log may be maintained of user exposures to third-party-content objects. A notification controller may provide information regarding content objects to aclient system1006. Information may be pushed to aclient system1006 as notifications, or information may be pulled fromclient system1006 responsive to a request received fromclient system1006. Authorization servers may be used to enforce one or more privacy settings of the users of social-networking system1002. A privacy setting of a user determines how particular information associated with a user can be shared. The authorization server may allow users to opt in to or opt out of having their actions logged by social-networking system1002 or shared with other systems (e.g., third-party system1008), such as, for example, by setting appropriate privacy settings. Third-party-content-object stores may be used to store content objects received from third parties, such as a third-party system1008. Location stores may be used for storing location information received fromclient systems1006 associated with users. Advertisement-pricing modules may combine social information, the current time, location information, or other suitable information to provide relevant advertisements, in the form of notifications, to a user.
• FIG. 11 illustrates examplesocial graph1100. In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may store one or moresocial graphs1100 in one or more data stores. In particular embodiments,social graph1100 may include multiple nodes—which may includemultiple user nodes1102 ormultiple concept nodes1104—andmultiple edges1106 connecting the nodes. Examplesocial graph1100 illustrated inFIG. 11 is shown, for didactic purposes, in a two-dimensional visual map representation. In particular embodiments, a social-networking system1002,client system1006, or third-party system1008 may accesssocial graph1100 and related social-graph information for suitable applications. The nodes and edges ofsocial graph1100 may be stored as data objects, for example, in a data store (such as a social-graph database). Such a data store may include one or more searchable or query able indexes of nodes or edges ofsocial graph1100.
• In particular embodiments, auser node1102 may correspond to a user of social-networking system1002. As an example and not by way of limitation, a user may be an individual (human user), an entity (e.g., an enterprise, business, or third-party application), or a group (e.g., of individuals or entities) that interacts or communicates with or over social-networking system1002. In particular embodiments, when a user registers for an account with social-networking system1002, social-networking system1002 may create auser node1102 corresponding to the user, and store theuser node1102 in one or more data stores. Users anduser nodes1102 described herein may, where appropriate, refer to registered users anduser nodes1102 associated with registered users. In addition or as an alternative, users anduser nodes1102 described herein may, where appropriate, refer to users that have not registered with social-networking system1002. In particular embodiments, auser node1102 may be associated with information provided by a user or information gathered by various systems, including social-networking system1002. As an example and not by way of limitation, a user may provide his or her name, profile picture, contact information, birth date, sex, marital status, family status, employment, education background, preferences, interests, or other demographic information. Each user node of the social graph may have a corresponding web page (typically known as a profile page). In response to a request including a user name, the social-networking system can access a user node corresponding to the user name, and construct a profile page including the name, a profile picture, and other information associated with the user. A profile page of a first user may display to a second user all or a portion of the first user's information based on one or more privacy settings by the first user and the relationship between the first user and the second user.
• In particular embodiments, aconcept node1104 may correspond to a concept. As an example and not by way of limitation, a concept may correspond to a place (such as, for example, a movie theater, restaurant, landmark, or city); a website (such as, for example, a website associated with social-network system1002 or a third-party website associated with a web-application server); an entity (such as, for example, a person, business, group, sports team, or celebrity); a resource (such as, for example, an audio file, video file, digital photo, text file, structured document, or application) which may be located within social-networking system1002 or on an external server, such as a web-application server; real or intellectual property (such as, for example, a sculpture, painting, movie, game, song, idea, photograph, or written work); a game; an activity; an idea or theory; another suitable concept; or two or more such concepts. Aconcept node1104 may be associated with information of a concept provided by a user or information gathered by various systems, including social-networking system1002. As an example and not by way of limitation, information of a concept may include a name or a title; one or more images (e.g., an image of the cover page of a book); a location (e.g., an address or a geographical location); a website (which may be associated with a URL); contact information (e.g., a phone number or an email address); other suitable concept information; or any suitable combination of such information. In particular embodiments, aconcept node1104 may be associated with one or more data objects corresponding to information associated withconcept node1104. In particular embodiments, aconcept node1104 may correspond to one or more webpages.
• In particular embodiments, a node insocial graph1100 may represent or be represented by a webpage (which may be referred to as a “profile page”). Profile pages may be hosted by or accessible to social-networking system1002. Profile pages may also be hosted on third-party websites associated with a third-party server1008. As an example and not by way of limitation, a profile page corresponding to a particular external webpage may be the particular external webpage and the profile page may correspond to aparticular concept node1104. Profile pages may be viewable by all or a selected subset of other users. As an example and not by way of limitation, auser node1102 may have a corresponding user-profile page in which the corresponding user may add content, make declarations, or otherwise express himself or herself. As another example and not by way of limitation, aconcept node1104 may have a corresponding concept-profile page in which one or more users may add content, make declarations, or express themselves, particularly in relation to the concept corresponding toconcept node1104.
• In particular embodiments, aconcept node1104 may represent a third-party webpage or resource hosted by a third-party system1008. The third-party webpage or resource may include, among other elements, content, a selectable or other icon, or other inter-actable object (which may be implemented, for example, in JavaScript, AJAX, or PHP codes) representing an action or activity. As an example and not by way of limitation, a third-party webpage may include a selectable icon such as “like,” “check in,” “eat,” “recommend,” or another suitable action or activity. A user viewing the third-party webpage may perform an action by selecting one of the icons (e.g., “eat”), causing aclient system1006 to send to social-networking system1002 a message indicating the user's action. In response to the message, social-networking system1002 may create an edge (e.g., an “eat” edge) between auser node1102 corresponding to the user and aconcept node1104 corresponding to the third-party webpage or resource andstore edge1106 in one or more data stores.
• In particular embodiments, a pair of nodes insocial graph1100 may be connected to each other by one ormore edges1106. Anedge1106 connecting a pair of nodes may represent a relationship between the pair of nodes. In particular embodiments, anedge1106 may include or represent one or more data objects or attributes corresponding to the relationship between a pair of nodes. As an example and not by way of limitation, a first user may indicate that a second user is a “friend” of the first user. In response to this indication, social-networking system1002 may send a “friend request” to the second user. If the second user confirms the “friend request,” social-networking system1002 may create anedge1106 connecting the first user'suser node1102 to the second user'suser node1102 insocial graph1100 andstore edge1106 as social-graph information in one or more of data stores. In the example ofFIG. 11,social graph1100 includes anedge1106 indicating a friend relation betweenuser nodes1102 of user “A” and user “B” and an edge indicating a friend relation betweenuser nodes1102 of user “C” and user “B.” Although this disclosure describes or illustratesparticular edges1106 with particular attributes connectingparticular user nodes1102, this disclosure contemplates anysuitable edges1106 with any suitable attributes connectinguser nodes1102. As an example and not by way of limitation, anedge1106 may represent a friendship, family relationship, business or employment relationship, fan relationship, follower relationship, visitor relationship, subscriber relationship, superior/subordinate relationship, reciprocal relationship, non-reciprocal relationship, another suitable type of relationship, or two or more such relationships. Moreover, although this disclosure generally describes nodes as being connected, this disclosure also describes users or concepts as being connected. Herein, references to users or concepts being connected may, where appropriate, refer to the nodes corresponding to those users or concepts being connected insocial graph1100 by one ormore edges1106.
• In particular embodiments, anedge1106 between auser node1102 and aconcept node1104 may represent a particular action or activity performed by a user associated withuser node1102 toward a concept associated with aconcept node1104. As an example and not by way of limitation, as illustrated inFIG. 11, a user may “like,” “attended,” “played,” “listened,” “cooked,” “worked at,” or “watched” a concept, each of which may correspond to a edge type or subtype. A concept-profile page corresponding to aconcept node1104 may include, for example, a selectable “check in” icon (such as, for example, a clickable “check in” icon) or a selectable “add to favorites” icon. Similarly, after a user clicks these icons, social-networking system1002 may create a “favorite” edge or a “check in” edge in response to a user's action corresponding to a respective action. As another example and not by way of limitation, a user (user “C”) may listen to a particular song (“Ramble On”) using a particular application (SPOTIFY, which is an online music application). In this case, social-networking system1002 may create a “listened”edge1106 and a “used” edge (as illustrated inFIG. 11) betweenuser nodes1102 corresponding to the user andconcept nodes1104 corresponding to the song and application to indicate that the user listened to the song and used the application. Moreover, social-networking system1002 may create a “played” edge1106 (as illustrated inFIG. 11) betweenconcept nodes1104 corresponding to the song and the application to indicate that the particular song was played by the particular application. In this case, “played”edge1106 corresponds to an action performed by an external application (SPOTIFY) on an external audio file (the song “Imagine”). Although this disclosure describesparticular edges1106 with particular attributes connectinguser nodes1102 andconcept nodes1104, this disclosure contemplates anysuitable edges1106 with any suitable attributes connectinguser nodes1102 andconcept nodes1104. Moreover, although this disclosure describes edges between auser node1102 and aconcept node1104 representing a single relationship, this disclosure contemplates edges between auser node1102 and aconcept node1104 representing one or more relationships. As an example and not by way of limitation, anedge1106 may represent both that a user likes and has used at a particular concept. Alternatively, anotheredge1106 may represent each type of relationship (or multiples of a single relationship) between auser node1102 and a concept node1104 (as illustrated inFIG. 11 betweenuser node1102 for user “E” andconcept node1104 for “SPOTIFY”).
• In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may create anedge1106 between auser node1102 and aconcept node1104 insocial graph1100. As an example and not by way of limitation, a user viewing a concept-profile page (such as, for example, by using a web browser or a special-purpose application hosted by the user's client system1006) may indicate that he or she likes the concept represented by theconcept node1104 by clicking or selecting a “Like” icon, which may cause the user'sclient system1006 to send to social-networking system1002 a message indicating the user's liking of the concept associated with the concept-profile page. In response to the message, social-networking system1002 may create anedge1106 betweenuser node1102 associated with the user andconcept node1104, as illustrated by “like”edge1106 between the user andconcept node1104. In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may store anedge1106 in one or more data stores. In particular embodiments, anedge1106 may be automatically formed by social-networking system1002 in response to a particular user action. As an example and not by way of limitation, if a first user uploads a picture, watches a movie, or listens to a song, anedge1106 may be formed betweenuser node1102 corresponding to the first user andconcept nodes1104 corresponding to those concepts. Although this disclosure describes formingparticular edges1106 in particular manners, this disclosure contemplates forming anysuitable edges1106 in any suitable manner.
• In particular embodiments, an advertisement may be text (which may be HTML-linked), one or more images (which may be HTML-linked), one or more videos, audio, one or more ADOBE FLASH files, a suitable combination of these, or any other suitable advertisement in any suitable digital format presented on one or more webpages, in one or more e-mails, or in connection with search results requested by a user. In addition or as an alternative, an advertisement may be one or more sponsored stories (e.g., a news-feed or ticker item on social-networking system1002). A sponsored story may be a social action by a user (such as “liking” a page, “liking” or commenting on a post on a page, RSVPing to an event associated with a page, voting on a question posted on a page, checking in to a place, using an application or playing a game, or “liking” or sharing a website) that an advertiser promotes, for example, by having the social action presented within a pre-determined area of a profile page of a user or other page, presented with additional information associated with the advertiser, bumped up or otherwise highlighted within news feeds or tickers of other users, or otherwise promoted. The advertiser may pay to have the social action promoted. As an example and not by way of limitation, advertisements may be included among the search results of a search-results page, where sponsored content is promoted over non-sponsored content.
• In particular embodiments, an advertisement may be requested for display within social-networking-system webpages, third-party webpages, or other pages. An advertisement may be displayed in a dedicated portion of a page, such as in a banner area at the top of the page, in a column at the side of the page, in a GUI of the page, in a pop-up window, in a drop-down menu, in an input field of the page, over the top of content of the page, or elsewhere with respect to the page. In addition or as an alternative, an advertisement may be displayed within an application. An advertisement may be displayed within dedicated pages, requiring the user to interact with or watch the advertisement before the user may access a page or utilize an application. The user may, for example view the advertisement through a web browser.
• A user may interact with an advertisement in any suitable manner. The user may click or otherwise select the advertisement. By selecting the advertisement, the user may be directed to (or a browser or other application being used by the user) a page associated with the advertisement. At the page associated with the advertisement, the user may take additional actions, such as purchasing a product or service associated with the advertisement, receiving information associated with the advertisement, or subscribing to a newsletter associated with the advertisement. An advertisement with audio or video may be played by selecting a component of the advertisement (like a “play button”). Alternatively, by selecting the advertisement, social-networking system1002 may execute or modify a particular action of the user.
• An advertisement may also include social-networking-system functionality that a user may interact with. As an example and not by way of limitation, an advertisement may enable a user to “like” or otherwise endorse the advertisement by selecting an icon or link associated with endorsement. As another example and not by way of limitation, an advertisement may enable a user to search (e.g., by executing a query) for content related to the advertiser. Similarly, a user may share the advertisement with another user (e.g., through social-networking system1002) or RSVP (e.g., through social-networking system1002) to an event associated with the advertisement. In addition or as an alternative, an advertisement may include social-networking-system context directed to the user. As an example and not by way of limitation, an advertisement may display information about a friend of the user within social-networking system1002 who has taken an action associated with the subject matter of the advertisement.
• In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may determine the social-graph affinity (which may be referred to herein as “affinity”) of various social-graph entities for each other. Affinity may represent the strength of a relationship or level of interest between particular objects associated with the online social network, such as users, concepts, content, actions, advertisements, other objects associated with the online social network, or any suitable combination thereof. Affinity may also be determined with respect to objects associated with third-party systems1008 or other suitable systems. An overall affinity for a social-graph entity for each user, subject matter, or type of content may be established. The overall affinity may change based on continued monitoring of the actions or relationships associated with the social-graph entity. Although this disclosure describes determining particular affinities in a particular manner, this disclosure contemplates determining any suitable affinities in any suitable manner.
• In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may measure or quantify social-graph affinity using an affinity coefficient (which may be referred to herein as “coefficient”). The coefficient may represent or quantify the strength of a relationship between particular objects associated with the online social network. The coefficient may also represent a probability or function that measures a predicted probability that a user will perform a particular action based on the user's interest in the action. In this way, a user's future actions may be predicted based on the user's prior actions, where the coefficient may be calculated at least in part a the history of the user's actions. Coefficients may be used to predict any number of actions, which may be within or outside of the online social network. As an example and not by way of limitation, these actions may include various types of communications, such as sending messages, posting content, or commenting on content; various types of a observation actions, such as accessing or viewing profile pages, media, or other suitable content; various types of coincidence information about two or more social-graph entities, such as being in the same group, tagged in the same photograph, checked-in at the same location, or attending the same event; or other suitable actions. Although this disclosure describes measuring affinity in a particular manner, this disclosure contemplates measuring affinity in any suitable manner.
• In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may use a variety of factors to calculate a coefficient. These factors may include, for example, user actions, types of relationships between objects, location information, other suitable factors, or any combination thereof. In particular embodiments, different factors may be weighted differently when calculating the coefficient. The weights for each factor may be static or the weights may change according to, for example, the user, the type of relationship, the type of action, the user's location, and so forth. Ratings for the factors may be combined according to their weights to determine an overall coefficient for the user. As an example and not by way of limitation, particular user actions may be assigned both a rating and a weight while a relationship associated with the particular user action is assigned a rating and a correlating weight (e.g., so the weights total 100%). To calculate the coefficient of a user towards a particular object, the rating assigned to the user's actions may comprise, for example, 60% of the overall coefficient, while the relationship between the user and the object may comprise 40% of the overall coefficient. In particular embodiments, the social-networking system1002 may consider a variety of variables when determining weights for various factors used to calculate a coefficient, such as, for example, the time since information was accessed, decay factors, frequency of access, relationship to information or relationship to the object about which information was accessed, relationship to social-graph entities connected to the object, short- or long-term averages of user actions, user feedback, other suitable variables, or any combination thereof. As an example and not by way of limitation, a coefficient may include a decay factor that causes the strength of the signal provided by particular actions to decay with time, such that more recent actions are more relevant when calculating the coefficient. The ratings and weights may be continuously updated based on continued tracking of the actions upon which the coefficient is based. Any type of process or algorithm may be employed for assigning, combining, averaging, and so forth the ratings for each factor and the weights assigned to the factors. In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may determine coefficients using machine-learning algorithms trained on historical actions and past user responses, or data farmed from users by exposing them to various options and measuring responses. Although this disclosure describes calculating coefficients in a particular manner, this disclosure contemplates calculating coefficients in any suitable manner.
• In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may calculate a coefficient based on a user's actions. Social-networking system1002 may monitor such actions on the online social network, on a third-party system1008, on other suitable systems, or any combination thereof. Any suitable type of user actions may be tracked or monitored. Typical user actions include viewing profile pages, creating or posting content, interacting with content, joining groups, listing and confirming attendance at events, checking-in at locations, liking particular pages, creating pages, and performing other tasks that facilitate social action. In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may calculate a coefficient based on the user's actions with particular types of content. The content may be associated with the online social network, a third-party system1008, or another suitable system. The content may include users, profile pages, posts, news stories, headlines, instant messages, chat room conversations, emails, advertisements, pictures, video, music, other suitable objects, or any combination thereof. Social-networking system1002 may analyze a user's actions to determine whether one or more of the actions indicate an affinity for subject matter, content, other users, and so forth. As an example and not by way of limitation, if a user may make frequently posts content related to “coffee” or variants thereof, social-networking system1002 may determine the user has a high coefficient with respect to the concept “coffee”. Particular actions or types of actions may be assigned a higher weight and/or rating than other actions, which may affect the overall calculated coefficient. As an example and not by way of limitation, if a first user emails a second user, the weight or the rating for the action may be higher than if the first user simply views the user-profile page for the second user.
• In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may calculate a coefficient based on the type of relationship between particular objects. Referencing thesocial graph1100, social-networking system1002 may analyze the number and/or type ofedges1106 connectingparticular user nodes1102 andconcept nodes1104 when calculating a coefficient. As an example and not by way of limitation,user nodes1102 that are connected by a spouse-type edge (representing that the two users are married) may be assigned a higher coefficient thanuser nodes1102 that are connected by a friend-type edge. In other words, depending upon the weights assigned to the actions and relationships for the particular user, the overall affinity may be determined to be higher for content about the user's spouse than for content about the user's friend. In particular embodiments, the relationships a user has with another object may affect the weights and/or the ratings of the user's actions with respect to calculating the coefficient for that object. As an example and not by way of limitation, if a user is tagged in first photo, but merely likes a second photo, social-networking system1002 may determine that the user has a higher coefficient with respect to the first photo than the second photo because having a tagged-in-type relationship with content may be assigned a higher weight and/or rating than having a like-type relationship with content. In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may calculate a coefficient for a first user based on the relationship one or more second users have with a particular object. In other words, the connections and coefficients other users have with an object may affect the first user's coefficient for the object. As an example and not by way of limitation, if a first user is connected to or has a high coefficient for one or more second users, and those second users are connected to or have a high coefficient for a particular object, social-networking system1002 may determine that the first user should also have a relatively high coefficient for the particular object. In particular embodiments, the coefficient may be based on the degree of separation between particular objects. Degree of separation between any two nodes is defined as the minimum number of hops required to traverse the social graph from one node to the other. A degree of separation between two nodes can be considered a measure of relatedness between the users or the concepts represented by the two nodes in the social graph. For example, two users having user nodes that are directly connected by an edge (i.e., are first-degree nodes) may be described as “connected users” or “friends.” Similarly, two users having user nodes that are connected only through another user node (i.e., are second-degree nodes) may be described as “friends of friends.” The lower coefficient may represent the decreasing likelihood that the first user will share an interest in content objects of the user that is indirectly connected to the first user in thesocial graph1100. As an example and not by way of limitation, social-graph entities that are closer in the social graph1100 (i.e., fewer degrees of separation) may have a higher coefficient than entities that are further apart in thesocial graph1100.
• In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may calculate a coefficient based on location information. Objects that are geographically closer to each other may be considered to be more related, or of more interest, to each other than more distant objects. In particular embodiments, the coefficient of a user towards a particular object may be based on the proximity of the object's location to a current location associated with the user (or the location of aclient system1006 of the user). A first user may be more interested in other users or concepts that are closer to the first user. As an example and not by way of limitation, if a user is one mile from an airport and two miles from a gas station, social-networking system1002 may determine that the user has a higher coefficient for the airport than the gas station based on the proximity of the airport to the user.
• In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may perform particular actions with respect to a user based on coefficient information. Coefficients may be used to predict whether a user will perform a particular action based on the user's interest in the action. A coefficient may be used when generating or presenting any type of objects to a user, such as advertisements, search results, news stories, media, messages, notifications, or other suitable objects. The coefficient may also be utilized to rank and order such objects, as appropriate. In this way, social-networking system1002 may provide information that is relevant to user's interests and current circumstances, increasing the likelihood that they will find such information of interest. In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may generate content based on coefficient information. Content objects may be provided or selected based on coefficients specific to a user. As an example and not by way of limitation, the coefficient may be used to generate media for the user, where the user may be presented with media for which the user has a high overall coefficient with respect to the media object. As another example and not by way of limitation, the coefficient may be used to generate advertisements for the user, where the user may be presented with advertisements for which the user has a high overall coefficient with respect to the advertised object. In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may generate search results based on coefficient information. Search results for a particular user may be scored or ranked based on the coefficient associated with the search results with respect to the querying user. As an example and not by way of limitation, search results corresponding to objects with higher coefficients may be ranked higher on a search-results page than results corresponding to objects having lower coefficients.
• In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may calculate a coefficient in response to a request for a coefficient from a particular system or process. To predict the likely actions a user may take (or may be the subject of) in a given situation, any process may request a calculated coefficient for a user. The request may also include a set of weights to use for various factors used to calculate the coefficient. This request may come from a process running on the online social network, from a third-party system1008 (e.g., via an API or other communication channel), or from another suitable system. In response to the request, social-networking system1002 may calculate the coefficient (or access the coefficient information if it has previously been calculated and stored). In particular embodiments, social-networking system1002 may measure an affinity with respect to a particular process. Different processes (both internal and external to the online social network) may request a coefficient for a particular object or set of objects. Social-networking system1002 may provide a measure of affinity that is relevant to the particular process that requested the measure of affinity. In this way, each process receives a measure of affinity that is tailored for the different context in which the process will use the measure of affinity.
• In connection with social-graph affinity and affinity coefficients, particular embodiments may utilize one or more systems, components, elements, functions, methods, operations, or steps disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/503,093, filed 11 Aug. 2006, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/971,0027, filed 22 Dec. 2010, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/978,265, filed 23 Dec. 2010, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/642,869, field 1 Oct. 2012, each of which is incorporated by reference.
• In particular embodiments, one or more of the content objects of the online social network may be associated with a privacy setting. The privacy settings (or “access settings”) for an object may be stored in any suitable manner, such as, for example, in association with the object, in an index on an authorization server, in another suitable manner, or any combination thereof. A privacy setting of an object may specify how the object (or particular information associated with an object) can be accessed (e.g., viewed or shared) using the online social network. Where the privacy settings for an object allow a particular user to access that object, the object may be described as being “visible” with respect to that user. As an example and not by way of limitation, a user of the online social network may specify privacy settings for a user-profile page identify a set of users that may access the work experience information on the user-profile page, thus excluding other users from accessing the information. In particular embodiments, the privacy settings may specify a “blocked list” of users that should not be allowed to access certain information associated with the object. In other words, the blocked list may specify one or more users or entities for which an object is not visible. As an example and not by way of limitation, a user may specify a set of users that may not access photos albums associated with the user, thus excluding those users from accessing the photo albums (while also possibly allowing certain users not within the set of users to access the photo albums). In particular embodiments, privacy settings may be associated with particular social-graph elements. Privacy settings of a social-graph element, such as a node or an edge, may specify how the social-graph element, information associated with the social-graph element, or content objects associated with the social-graph element can be accessed using the online social network. As an example and not by way of limitation, aparticular concept node1104 corresponding to a particular photo may have a privacy setting specifying that the photo may only be accessed by users tagged in the photo and their friends. In particular embodiments, privacy settings may allow users to opt in or opt out of having their actions logged by social-networking system1002 or shared with other systems (e.g., third-party system1008). In particular embodiments, the privacy settings associated with an object may specify any suitable granularity of permitted access or denial of access. As an example and not by way of limitation, access or denial of access may be specified for particular users (e.g., only me, my roommates, and my boss), users within a particular degrees-of-separation (e.g., friends, or friends-of-friends), user groups (e.g., the gaming club, my family), user networks (e.g., employees of particular employers, students or alumni of particular university), all users (“public”), no users (“private”), users of third-party systems1008, particular applications (e.g., third-party applications, external websites), other suitable users or entities, or any combination thereof. Although this disclosure describes using particular privacy settings in a particular manner, this disclosure contemplates using any suitable privacy settings in any suitable manner.
• In particular embodiments, one or more servers may be authorization/privacy servers for enforcing privacy settings. In response to a request from a user (or other entity) for a particular object stored in a data store, social-networking system1002 may send a request to the data store for the object. The request may identify the user associated with the request and may only be sent to the user (or aclient system1006 of the user) if the authorization server determines that the user is authorized to access the object based on the privacy settings associated with the object. If the requesting user is not authorized to access the object, the authorization server may prevent the requested object from being retrieved from the data store, or may prevent the requested object from be sent to the user. In the search query context, an object may only be generated as a search result if the querying user is authorized to access the object. In other words, the object must have a visibility that is visible to the querying user. If the object has a visibility that is not visible to the user, the object may be excluded from the search results. Although this disclosure describes enforcing privacy settings in a particular manner, this disclosure contemplates enforcing privacy settings in any suitable manner.
• The foregoing specification is described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. Various embodiments and aspects of the disclosure are described with reference to details discussed herein, and the accompanying drawings illustrate the various embodiments. The description above and drawings are illustrative and are not to be construed as limiting. Numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments.
• The additional or alternative embodiments may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the present disclosure is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

Claims (20)

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:

identifying, by one or more servers, interactions related to an association between a first user and a second user of an electronic messaging system;

analyzing, by the one or more servers, the interactions related to the association between the first user and the second user;

generating, by the one or more servers and based on the analyzed interactions, an activity score representing a likelihood that the first user and the second user will engage in a highly active messaging thread; and

organizing, by the one or more servers, a plurality of users in a contact list comprising the second user based on the generated activity score; and

providing, by the one or more servers, the contact list to a client device of the first user.

2. The method as recited inclaim 1, wherein organizing the plurality of users in the contact list comprises ranking the plurality of users based on activity scores corresponding to a plurality of associations between the first user and the plurality of users.

3. The method as recited inclaim 2, wherein organizing the plurality of users in the contact list comprises positioning a user with a highest activity score in a most prominent position of the contact list.

4. The method as recited inclaim 1, further comprising:

generating a plurality of activity scores corresponding to a plurality of associations between the first user and the plurality of users; and

organizing the plurality of users in the contact list based on the generated plurality of activity scores.

5. The method as recited inclaim 4, further comprising:

determining that a plurality of activity scores for a first set of users from the plurality of users meet or exceed a predetermined threshold;

determining that a plurality of activity scores for a second set of users from the plurality of users do not meet the predetermined threshold; and

organizing the first set of users into a first group within the contact list and the second of users into a second group within the contact list.

6. The method as recited inclaim 1, wherein organizing the plurality of users in the contact list comprises excluding a third user from the contact list based on an activity score representing a likelihood that the first user and the third user will engage in a highly active messaging thread.

7. The method as recited inclaim 1, further comprising:

identifying one or more additional interactions related to the association between the first user and the second user;

updating the activity score based on the one or more additional interactions; and

changing a position of the second user in the contact list based on the updated activity score.

8. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:

identify interactions related to an association between a first user and a second user of an electronic messaging system;

analyze the interactions related to the association between the first user and the second user;

generate, based on the analyzed interactions, an activity score representing a likelihood that the first user and the second user will engage in a highly active messaging thread; and

organize a plurality of users in a contact list comprising the second user based on the generated activity score; and

provide the contact list to a client device of the first user.

9. The system as recited inclaim 8, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to organize the plurality of users in the contact list by ranking the plurality of users based on activity scores corresponding to a plurality of associations between the first user and the plurality of users.

10. The system as recited inclaim 9, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to organize the plurality of users in the contact list by positioning a user with a highest activity score in a most prominent position of the contact list.

11. The system as recited inclaim 8, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:

generate a plurality of activity scores corresponding to a plurality of associations between the first user and the plurality of users; and

organize the plurality of users in the contact list based on the generated plurality of activity scores.

12. The system as recited inclaim 11, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:

determine that a plurality of activity scores for a first set of users from the plurality of users meet or exceed a predetermined threshold;

determine that a plurality of activity scores for a second et of users from the plurality of users do not meet the predetermined threshold; and

organizing the first set of users into a first group within the contact list and the second of users into a second group within the contact list.

13. The system as recited inclaim 8, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to organize the plurality of users in the contact list by excluding a third user from the contact list based on an activity score representing a likelihood that the first user and the third user will engage in a highly active messaging thread.

14. The system as recited inclaim 8, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:

identify one or more additional interactions related to the association between the first user and the second user;

update the activity score based on the one or more additional interactions; and

change a position of the second user in the contact list based on the updated activity score.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform steps comprising:

identifying interactions related to an association between a first user and a second user of an electronic messaging system;

analyzing the interactions related to the association between the first user and the second user;

generating based on the analyzed interactions, an activity score representing a likelihood that the first user and the second user will engage in a highly active messaging thread; and

organizing a plurality of users in a contact list comprising the second user based on the generated activity score; and

providing the contact list to a client device of the first user.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited inclaim 15, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform steps comprising organizing the plurality of users in the contact list by ranking the plurality of users based on activity scores corresponding to a plurality of associations between the first user and the plurality of users.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited inclaim 16, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform steps comprising organizing the plurality of users in the contact list by positioning a user with a highest activity score in a most prominent position of the contact list.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited inclaim 15, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform steps comprising:

generating a plurality of activity scores corresponding to a plurality of associations between the first user and the plurality of users; and

organizing the plurality of users in the contact list based on the generated plurality of activity scores.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited inclaim 18, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform steps comprising:

determining that a plurality of activity scores for a first set of users from the plurality of users meet or exceed a predetermined threshold;

determining that a plurality of activity scores for a second et of users from the plurality of users do not meet the predetermined threshold; and

organizing the first set of users into a first group within the contact list and the second of users into a second group within the contact list.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited inclaim 18, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform steps comprising organizing the plurality of users in the contact list by excluding a third user from the contact list based on an activity score representing a likelihood that the first user and the third user will engage in a highly active messaging thread.

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