JP6111071B2 - Selection and presentation of relevant social networking system content and advertisements - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention generally belongs to social networking, and more particularly relates to linking social networking system content and multiple advertisements in a social networking environment.

  Social networking services allow multiple users (including people, businesses and other entities) to form connections and interact with other multiple users. For example, a user may post a set of photos in a profile associated with the user on a social networking system. A plurality of other users who have formed a connection with the user can review the plurality of presented photographs by browsing the user's profile. Social networking systems can also track connections and interactions between multiple users to obtain useful information about multiple users. For example, a certain social networking system can infer a user's interest in a specific topic based on a plurality of objects (objects) related to the topic and the user's interaction. A social networking system uses a powerful set of information about multiple users to manage and direct that user's communication to, for example, a user or to other users interested in the content of a communication Thus, the plurality of users can communicate information more effectively. This information allows the social networking system to select communications and advertisements that are better adapted to the user based on the individual interests of each user.

  Social networking systems allow users to communicate with each other using various communication tools (e.g., multiple messages tools such as email and streams or feeds that receive content posted by the user). These communications can be personal messages addressed to specific users, or wider posts to a multi-user community. These communications consist of various types of information, from simple texts about user interests, activities, etc. to multimedia postings including photos, videos, hyperlinks, etc. Anything that can be shared over the Internet can be part of these communications. These communications are used by social networking systems to suggest more relevant information for users as well as connections between multiple users and their activities inside and outside the social networking system.

  Social networking systems can incorporate various mechanisms to provide users with content that is most likely to be relevant to any particular user. For example, multiple users are categorized by one or more attributes, such as geographic location, work type, age, music preference, interest, activity within or outside the social networking system, or any information that may be relevant to the user's interest. . This information is used to customize or target information transmission so that information that is of particular interest to a user is communicated to that user or to a group of multiple users of common attributes or common categories. obtain. Thus, users of the social networking system can receive content that is most likely to be relevant to the user based on information that the social networking system can know or infer about each user.

  Another application of this performance is advertising. Advertisers can speculate on information in social networking systems to target advertisements to users who are most interested in the product or service being offered. Another application is, for example, user engagement and growth. Multiple social networking systems may provide multiple users with customized content including news articles about other users (both individuals and other entities) in the social networking system. These news articles engage the social networking system, prompt users to interact with other users and form connections. There are also several tools for these purposes, including social networking systems such as growth, user engagement, revenue, sharing, or any other purpose of a social networking system administrator. In order to optimize some desired result (or desired goal), a better method for utilizing the information available to the system can be utilized.

  Another problem faced by online content providers who provide advertisements with content is “ad-blindness”. Typically, online content providers specify a portion of the display for advertising. For example, websites often have banner ads that always appear in the same place at the top of the web page. The user learns to ignore this part of the web page, thereby greatly reducing the effectiveness of the advertisement. Thus, content providers and advertisers will want to use better mechanisms to direct the user's attention to the portion of the display that contains the advertisement while providing relevant content to the user of the online system.

  In order to provide content that is more effective and related to multiple users than conventional online content, social networking systems use information about the multiple users obtained from multiple users. In particular, social networking systems use this information to select social networking content and advertisements for presentation to multiple users in a manner optimized for a specific optimization goal. The social networking system may be configured for one or more optimization goals, such as monetization maximization, sharing, user engagement, system growth, communication, or any other social networking system administrator goal. The optimization goals may be changed at any time and in real time according to the needs and priorities of the system administrator.

  In one embodiment, the social networking system optimizes for one optimization goal by providing a set of content items selected by the user, eg, on a specified portion of the display on the display. Do. In the case of a social networking website, for example, one web page is composed of a main part and an additional part. Another type of display is similarly composed of main content and a plurality of additional parts. In the case of a social networking website, the additional part includes a set of selected content items, and the main part operates on other content of the social networking website (eg, user or group profile page, social networking system) Application or other web page provided by a social networking website).

  The social networking system may select the multiple content items according to various methods for achieving an optimization goal. In one embodiment, the display is arranged with a plurality of content items related to a plurality of topics of interest to the user. The selected content is tied to some user interest or activity that can be recognized by the system. In this way, the content item can be associated with any interest or activity of the user at that time or over a specified period of time, thereby increasing the opportunity for the user to engage and interact with the content item. .

  The set of selected content items may consist of a combination of one or more activities and one or more social networking content items. Social networking content items include content associated with multiple users, multiple objects, multiple activities, or multiple functions of a social networking system. Examples of social networking content items are posted by news articles, connection suggestions or other activity suggestions, media provided or managed by social networking systems (eg photos or videos), posted by multiple users of social networking systems Status messages or links, events, groups, pages (eg representing an organization or commercial reality), and any other content accessible via or provided by a social networking system. Social networking content items are provided by various sources within the social networking system, such as media storage or generation, news articles, connection suggestions, and the like. The plurality of advertisements may be selected according to any method, including various methods for targeting advertisements associated with the user.

  In one embodiment, the goal should increase user engagement (eg, by providing multiple social networking content items that are beneficial to the user), as well as monetization (eg, the user will click). It should be maximized (by presenting multiple ads). In this embodiment, the social networking system may accomplish both of these goals by selecting multiple advertisements and multiple social networking content items that are related to each other. By presenting multiple content items associated with the additional portion of the display, this additional portion will become more organized and attract more user attention. In addition, if the display includes a mix of multiple advertisements interspersed within certain social networking system content, if those advertisements are associated with other social networking system content For example, the user will pay more attention to and interact with those advertisements.

  Thus, in one embodiment, one or more social networking content items are selected for a particular user, and the one or more advertisements are based at least in part on the relevance to the selected social networking content item. Selected. The plurality of advertisements and the plurality of social networking content items are coupled to a portion of the display (eg, the additional portion), and the display may include another content of the social networking system (eg, within the main portion). . In another embodiment, one or more advertisements are selected for a particular user, and one or more social networking content items are selected based at least in part on their relevance to the selected plurality of advertisements. The Selecting a plurality of advertisements that are of interest to the user, and selecting a plurality of social networking content items associated with those advertisements, in some embodiments, yields better results. For example, social networking systems have more potential social networking content items than multiple advertisements associated with a particular user. In such cases, selecting multiple advertisements first helps the social networking system to identify a better set of multiple content items that are relevant to the user and associated with each other.

  In another embodiment, a plurality of content items (including advertisements and / or social networking content items) are selected based on their relevance with content in the main portion of the display. For example, in a social networking website, a plurality of advertisements are selected based on the remaining portion of the web page that the user was viewing just before for additional portions. The selected advertisements were also visited in close proximity to the page or display the user recently visited, the page or display visited a specified number of times within a given time frame, or another page or display visit It may be associated with the page or display, the most visited page or display in the browsing history, and the like.

  In one embodiment, the social networking system includes a number of optimization goals, such as monetization, sharing, user engagement, system growth, communication, or some combination of the goals of any other social networking system administrator. Optimize for The social networking system may determine a value or rating associated with different types of social networking content items and / or advertisements for each optimization goal. The social networking system may also determine a value for the advertisement based on the monetary value expected to present the advertisement to a particular user. When the system prepares a display for a particular user, the system may include one or more social content based on the evaluation of each optimization goal supplied by the system administrator and the selection of optimization goals to be maximized. Select items and / or advertisements. The social networking system may also select multiple advertisements and / or multiple social content items, such as, for example, some type of advertisement (eg, at least one suggestion to add to a connection) or a minimum number of social networking content items. Apply the rules. The selected plurality of advertisements and the plurality of social networking content items are added to the display of the user interface of the social networking system (eg, in an additional portion thereof) and provided to the user.

  The features and advantages described in the summary of the invention above and in the detailed description of the invention below are not exhaustive. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a review of the drawings, specification and claims.

The event figure explaining the process for selecting the advertisement supplied on the display to a user according to one Embodiment of this invention.

1 is a network diagram of a system for supplying a plurality of content items to a plurality of users of a social networking system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

1 is a block diagram of a social networking system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The interaction figure explaining the process for selecting the some content item for display according to one Embodiment of this invention.

7 is a flowchart of processing for selecting a plurality of content items based on other content items supplied on a list / window according to an embodiment of the present invention;

The flowchart of the process which selects a some content item based on the content on the display requested | required by the user according to one Embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a portion of an example display from a social networking system showing a plurality of displayed content items according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an interaction diagram of a process for generating a plurality of content items for display according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an interaction diagram of a process for collecting and applying feedback in the selection of content items according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an interaction diagram of a process for collecting and applying feedback in the selection of content items according to one embodiment of the present invention.

1 is a block diagram of a social networking system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The figure explaining an example of the table for content type evaluation according to one Embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 4 is an interaction diagram of a process for selecting content types / items according to one embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a flowchart of a process for selecting offline and online content types / items according to one embodiment of the present invention.

These drawings depict various embodiments of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate through the following discussion that variations of the structure and method embodiments described herein may be employed without departing from the inventive principles described herein.
Overview of social networking systems and displays

  Social networking systems provide the user with the ability to communicate with and interact with other users. As used herein, a “user” may be any individual, group, thing or entity that can be represented on a social networking system or the Internet. In operation, users connect with other users through a social networking system. In some cases, multiple users are connected via a social networking website. As used herein, the term “connection” refers to any connection, association, or relationship between two users recognized by a social networking system. Connections are explicitly added by the user. It can be, for example, selecting other users the user wants to connect to, or automatically generated by a social networking system based on common characteristics of multiple users (eg, alumni users at the same school, etc.) by. The connections within a social networking system are usually reciprocal, but not necessarily so. For example, if Sam and Nair both agree to connect with each other within the social networking system, there is a connection between them. Some embodiments of social networking systems allow one-way connections. For example, Sam has chosen a connection with Nair, but Nair does not agree with the form of interconnection. In this case, Sam is connected to Nair, but his interaction with Nair is limited, or information that Nair has made available only to mutual friends You are prevented from seeing. Some embodiments of a social networking system may also connect multiple users via one or more levels of connection or degree of isolation (eg, connection connections). Note that the social networking system may or may not require formal membership. Thus, it should be noted that the term “connection” refers to another member but may also refer to any other user who is interacting or using a social networking system.

  In addition to interacting with other users, social networking systems provide users with the ability to perform actions on various items represented within the social networking system. These items include networks to which multiple users belong (here “network” refers to a network of people, not a physical communication network), events or calendars that the user may be interested in. Entries, computer applications that the user may be using, transactions that allow the user to buy and sell items, and content that will be interacted by users posted by other users or advertisers Including. These are just a few examples of items that a user acts in a social networking system, and many other items are possible. Although many embodiments and examples provided below are directed to social networking websites, the invention described herein is not limited to social networking websites and is not limited to social networking systems or other types. Another environment with a website may be included. For example, a social networking system can be implemented in an application that obtains information from the use of the social networking system, such as multiple application programming interfaces (APIs) or other methods. Further, the term “display” or “page” described below is displayed on a client device (described below), such as a web page of a social networking system, a graphical user interface (GUI) display, information provided in a message, etc. Can include anything.

  FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a social networking system 100 with which a user can interact. In some embodiments, the social networking system 100 is associated with a social networking website. The social networking system 100 maintains information (for example, web pages) for a large number of users. The social networking system 100 of FIG. 1 includes some examples of content that users can use on their displays, photos, people they may know (ie suggestions for connections), events, fans, gifts, videos, More details such as advertisements, applications, proposals, requests, invitations, etc. are described below.

  An example of the display 101 is shown in FIG. In some embodiments, such as the example shown in FIG. 1, the display 101 is comprised of a main portion 102 and an information window 103. In other embodiments, the display 101 is comprised of separate and / or additional portions. The main portion 102 comprises a user interface for interacting with or accessing information about the social networking system, which is typically the majority of content on the display. Is included. The information window 103 is an additional portion or area of the display 101 for presenting additional content (eg, advertisements, news stories about connections, etc.) and will be described in more detail below.

  In one example, each user has a page that presents the user's profile information, and the content is generally in the main portion 102 of the display (although it can be located anywhere on the display 101). The profile can confirm the connection between the user and other users in the social networking system (eg, user connection). A user's profile includes various kinds of information about the user, including his own personal information, his likes and dislikes, photos, a list of his connections, messages / comments between the user and other users, etc. May contain content. Other users access and browse the user's profile page to learn about and interact with the user.

  The user also views display 101 that includes a news feed that provides information that may be relevant to a particular user. The news feed is generally in the main portion 102 of the display 101, but may be located anywhere on the display 101. Newsfeed communications take the form of news articles, and for each article, an information message with one or more lines of information about a connection that a particular user may be interested in or another item presented within the social networking system. have. These articles may include, for example, multimedia, or other material such as photographs, videos, songs, links, and the like. These articles can be presented to the user via one or more displays or pages (eg, a web page of a social networking system), for example, on each user's home page or news feed page. In addition to viewing his / her own page, a user can also view his / her partner's page to view his / her profile, photos, and / or other information about the connection. (As long as privacy settings allow). Actions that a particular user performs on another user are associated with that user's page / profile (and will be the topic of a news article). For example, one user can add a connection with another user, send a message to another user, read a message from another user, view content associated with another user, and Participate in events posted by users.

  When a user is browsing a page on a social networking system, the user is presented with different types of additional content about the user, the user's contacts, or other content that the user may be interested in Is done. Users typically can interact with or select links to links associated with some or all of this additional content. In one embodiment, the additional content is shown in an additional portion of the display or in the information window 103. The information window 103 can be arranged at an arbitrary place distinguishable from the main content on the page on the display 101. In one embodiment of the invention described below, the information window 103 points to a portion on the display 101 that includes a plurality of content items, and the remaining content on the display (sometimes referred to herein as the main portion 102 of the display 101). Can be distinguished in some way. The information window 103 is on one side of the display 101, on the upper or lower side of the display 101 (for example, like a banner advertisement), one corner of the display 101, the center of the display 101 (so that it can be distinguished from the main part), the main part 102 It may be placed as another associated tab or page, or in other locations that provide access to additional content items. In another embodiment, the information window 103 may be static, clickable, or dynamic, such as a pop-up or scrolling ticker. In the example shown in FIG. 1, there are six spaces available for content items in the information window 103, but there may be more or fewer spaces as desired. The number of available spaces does not have to be predetermined and does not have to be the same for each display 101. The plurality of content items described here do not need to be displayed in one information window 103, and can be displayed or described in a list of other content items on the display 101, or can be displayed on the display 101. Can be interspersed or incorporated into the content of the rest of the.

  In one embodiment, the information window 103 includes at least two types of content items: multiple advertisements and multiple social networking content items. The plurality of advertisements presented in the information window 103 are typically paid or sponsored advertisements (but need not be). Social networking content items comprise content related to users, objects, activities, or functions of a social networking system. An example of a social networking content item was posted by a news article, connection suggestion or other activity suggestion, media supplied or managed by the social networking system (eg, photos or videos), posted by multiple users of the social networking system Status messages or links, events, groups, pages (e.g. representing an organizational or commercial context), and any other content accessible via or provided by a social networking system. Thus, a social networking content item is presented to the user with content or highlights about what the user is connected to, or the social networking content item is a new photo of one of the user's contacts The user may be notified that he has posted a comment, commented on something, formed a connection with another user, or took some action that the user may be interested in.

  The social networking content item may also include a message or suggestion from the social networking system 100 to the user. For example, the content may include a “PYMK” proposal, which includes a suggestion to add another specific user as a new connection, as well as the user (For example, “Do you know Greg Griffin? Click here to add Greg to your friends”). The social networking content item may also suggest to the user to invite a new user who has not created a profile and is not yet a user of the social networking system. In addition, social networking content items include events that a user can participate in (eg, a friend's birthday party), applications that the user can use (eg, a message service that allows a user to give a virtual gift / flower in addition to a message to others) Extended applications), groups that users may join (eg groups that support political movements), gifts that users can give (eg birthday gifts), fan pages that users can join (eg music bands) , Products, services, etc.), photos, videos, messages, and other items that the user may be interested in. It will be appreciated that these examples of social networking content items are provided for illustrative purposes only and that an unlimited number of changes and features may be provided for the social networking system.

  A content selection algorithm 170 executed by the social networking system determines a plurality of content items suitable for placement in the available space in the window 103. Content item database 175 provides content items for use by content selection algorithm 170 and includes both advertisements 180 and social networking content items 185. The content selection algorithm 170 provides the user with any desired outcome or in a way that optimizes optimization objectives such as growth, user engagement, revenue, sharing or any other social networking system administrator goals. The content to be presented is selected from the storage unit 175.

In one embodiment, the user is provided in an information window 103 on a third party website 140 or some other display outside the social networking environment or separated from the social networking system 100. The social networking system therefore syndicates this information window 103 (and content items therein) to the third party website 140 and / or through other external systems. Syndication of content items on an external system by a social networking system comprises a social network that communicates content items to one or more external systems, where the social network is a user that need not be a user of the social networking system. Present content items to external system users. Communication (communication) between a social networking system and an external system that enables this syndication can be implemented in various ways. One technique for enabling communication between social networking systems and external systems for this purpose is described in US patent application Ser. No. 12 / 324,761, filed Nov. 8, 2008, where It uses as what constitutes a part of this specification. Information from external systems (eg, third party websites 140) may also be used to provide information to social networking system 100.
Social networking system structure

  FIG. 2 is a Koji abstract block diagram illustrating a system environment suitable for the operation of the social networking system 100. The system environment includes one or more client devices 210, one or more third party websites 140, a social networking system 100, and a network 220. As a configuration variation, different modules and / or additional modules may be incorporated into the system.

  Client device 210 includes one or more computing devices that can receive user input and that can transmit and receive data via network 220. The client device 210 may be, for example, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a smartphone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or any other device that has a computing function and data communication capability. Client device 210 can communicate via network 220, which network 220 comprises any combination of local and / or wide area networks using wired and wireless communication systems. As described above, the third-party website 140 is connected to the network 220 to communicate with the social networking system 100 about what happens outside the system 100.

  The social networking system 100 comprises a computing system that allows users to communicate or interact with each other and access content as described herein. The social networking system 100 stores a plurality of user profiles that describe a plurality of users of the social networking system, such as work history, educational background, hobbies, preferences, residence, and other information about the user. Includes biographical, demographic, and other types of descriptive information, such as information. The system 100 further stores one or more information that describes the connections, associations, and / or relationships between the users or information of the system. This information may indicate, among other things, multiple users who have a common or similar work history, group membership, hobbies or educational background. In addition, social networking systems include relationships between different users that are user defined so that the user can identify relationships with other users. For example, user-defined relationships allow users to create relationships with other users that are parallel to the user's real life, such as friends, family, business associates, and the like. Multiple users can select from predetermined relationship types, and can define their own relationship types as needed.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example of the social networking system 100. The social networking system 100 includes a display server 350, a display generation unit 355, an action recording unit 360, an action log 365, a content item selection unit 375 (having an advertisement module 371 and a social networking content item module 372), a content server 380, a user profile. A storage unit 305, a feedback storage unit 315, and a content item storage unit 175 (including an advertisement 180 and a content item 185) are provided. In other embodiments, the social networking system 100 may comprise additional modules, fewer modules, or different modules for different applications.

  The display server 350 links the social networking system 100 via the network 220 with one or more client devices 210, as well as one or more third party websites 140 or one or more information sources. Display server 350 receives mail between social networking system 100 and client device 210 or third party website 140 or one or more information sources and a mail server or other messaging function for routing. including. Messages include instant messages, waiting messages (eg, email), text and SMS (Short Message Service) messages, or other suitable messaging techniques. The display server 350 maintains information or pages associated with the social networking system for members of the user group described above. In one embodiment, each page / display 101 is comprised of a main portion 102 and an information window 103, although different designs are possible. A social networking system or an external system outside the social networking system maintains a profile for users of the social networking system. The profile includes connections with other users in the social networking system. The profile is stored in the user profile storage unit 305.

  The display server 350 also determines and receives this information request when a user of the social networking system requests information to be rendered. For example, if a user has been delivered to his or her own page or another user's profile page, the display server 350 determines what corresponds to the profile web page requested by the user. The display server 350 passes this information to the display generation unit 355 for generating a display for the user. The display generation unit 355 generates the requested information in the display / page 101 format. As described above, the display can be a web page or other information provided to the client device 210. The display generation unit 355 notifies the content item selection unit 375 when a display is generated in response to a request from the user.

  The content item selection unit 375 selects a content item to be incorporated (to be included) in the information window 103 of the display 101. In one embodiment, the selection unit 375 selects a combination of a plurality of advertisements and a plurality of social networking systems. In particular, the content item selection unit 375 includes an advertisement module 371 for selecting an advertisement and a social networking content item module 372 for selecting a social networking content item. The plurality of selected advertisements and the plurality of social networking content items are added to the display information window 103 generated by the display generation unit 355.

  The content item selector 375 is shown in FIG. 1 to select which additional content should be incorporated into the display 101 (eg, the information window 103) in order to optimize for the requested result or optimization goal. A content selection algorithm 170 may be used. Various algorithms for optimization will be described later. For example, in selecting a content item to be incorporated into the information window 103, the selection unit 375 may consider another content item that has already been selected for the information window 103 or available for selection. The selection unit 375 may also take into account the content of another part on the display 101, such as the main part 102, for example. For example, the selection unit 375 may advertise based on selected advertisements associated with one or more social networking content items to be incorporated in the window 103 and / or based on content of the main portion 102 of the display 101. A plurality of advertisements to be incorporated into the window 103 can be selected from a group (for example, stored in the content item storage unit 175). In this way, multiple advertisements presented to the user are related by the user's current interest (eg, using different content on the display instead of the user's current interest), thereby making it more effective Advertising is possible. It will be understood that several other methods (some of which are described below) may be applied.

  For example, a news article that includes a picture of a connected person's recent trip to Egypt would be one of the social networking content items selected for the information window 103 for a particular user. In that case, the selection unit 375 selects an advertisement related to the trip to Egypt (for example, package trip to Egypt, airfare transaction, Egypt tour reservation, etc.) to be displayed on the information window 103 together with the news article. Good. Similarly, the selection unit 375 can select a news article or other content to be displayed based on the relevance with the advertisement selected for display in the window 103. For example, when an advertisement for a package trip to Las Vegas is selected, the selector 375 selects a news article or other content that provides photos, videos, information related to the partner's recent Las Vegas trip. it can. In any embodiment, multiple advertisements, news articles, and / or other content are combined to optimize for a particular result. In this case, the optimization goal would be to prompt the user to interact with multiple advertisements in the information window 103.

  A content item selected based on its relevance to another content can be “associated” in any sense of the word. For example, content items can be associated with the same topic or subject (eg, both are about an Egyptian trip). If the social networking system stores a classification associated with the content item, or other metadata, the content item can be the same classification of information (eg, advertising about a cooking class and news about the dish of the other party) Articles are both related to cooking etc.). The content item can also be an advertisement associated with the user's connected action reported as a news article (eg, a news article about the connected person becoming a fan of the book and the book) Or the content item may be an advertisement associated with an action taken by one user associated with another user (eg, a partner associated with an advertisement on a birthday card) News articles about a user who ’s thinking about their birthday. Further, the content item can be an advertisement or social networking content item related to another type of content, such as a user comment, photo, video, etc. (eg, a surfing trip advertisement when posting a user surfboard photo). Many different examples are possible. Any way that one content is associated with another can form the basis for these content to be displayed together.

  In one embodiment, the selection unit 375 selects a content item for the information window 103 based on the availability of associated content items as displayed with the content. For example, when there is an article indicating that the user's connection partner has become a fan of a certain product such as a shoe of a specific brand, the selection unit 375 associates it with another product as being incorporated in the information window 103. Instead of providing another advertisement that is selected, the shoe brand advertisement can be selected. Similarly, the selection unit 375 does not select an unrelated news article about another connected party, but to display a news article about a user who went to a new restaurant along with an advertisement for the restaurant. , You can choose.

  In some embodiments, the content item selector 375 can change the content item selected for display (eg, the information window 103 or anywhere else) based on feedback received from the feedback store 315. In one case, the feedback storage 315 may include explicit feedback supplied by a user who evaluates a content item displayed in the information window 103 (or anywhere in the display 101). For example, when a user sees a content item, he or she is rated (eg thumb up or thumb down), rated from 1 to 5 stars, point scale Or other methods of indicating user preferences for the content item). The user can indicate that he / she thought he was not interested in the advertisement in the information window 103 paired with an associated news article. Selector 375 may better serve content items that are more relevant to the user (eg, content items about different subjects, more closely related content items, otherwise related content items, etc.) Use this feedback in the future. In one embodiment, the user may be allowed to view and rate the content items displayed during a predetermined period (eg, the previous day, last week, last month, etc.). The feedback storage 315 may also (or as a modification) comment based on engagement with multiple content items (eg, which content item or category of items the user clicked, shared with other users, comments Collect the implicit feedback provided by the user). The selection unit 375 uses this feedback for future item selection. The overall content selection process will be described in detail below.

  The content server 380 detects a plurality of display contents generated by the display generation unit 355 and supplies a plurality of content items (selected by the selection unit 375) selected to be incorporated into the display. . Content server 380 can then provide display server 350 with a complete display with all content items.

  In one embodiment, the content server 380 also determines how to organize and present multiple news articles / multiple advertisements in the information window and / or on the display. In this embodiment, the content server 380 can control the ordering or placement of multiple advertisements / news items on the display. For example, the content server 380 can place the most relevant item at the top of the list of content items, can order the items in the information window 103 according to the order on the main portion 102 of the display 101, or An advertisement group, a news item group, and other content item groups can be scattered. Similarly, the content server 380 may present the most relevant content as soon as the user logs on to his account, or more relevant content until a short time after the user logs on. You can keep it. For example, typically, when the user does not click on the advertisement until a short time after the user logs on, the content selection unit 375 keeps the advertisement until a later requested display.

  The display server 350 provides a display to the user. The display includes a content item (for example, a news article or an advertisement) selected by the content item selection unit 370 (for example, in the information window 103).

  In some embodiments, the action recorder 360 can receive communications from the display server 350 for user actions within and / or outside the social networking system 100. The action recording unit 360 collects information about these tracked user actions in the action log 365. There are various types of actions that can be recorded by the action recording unit 360. As described above, a user can interact with other users of the same social networking system (eg, send a message, give a gift, send an invitation to an event, etc.). In addition to interacting with other users, social networking systems provide users with the ability to take actions on different types of content (eg, commenting on news articles or other content items gon, content Sharing items, expressing that you like a particular item, etc.). Users can also join groups, become fans of pages dedicated to products, services, entities or other things, approve and use applications that provide various functions and entertainment, Participating in a transaction that enables buying and selling, or visiting a base that represents a general concept. In some embodiments, social networking system 100 maintains multiple objects for different types of items. The objects are those that the user uses to interact on the system 100 (eg, user profiles, pages, hubs, group objects, event objects, application objects, trading objects, etc.), and these objects are associated with them. Each instance of an item can be stored by the system 100. These are just a few examples of items that a user can act on within a social networking system, and many other examples are possible.

  When a user performs any of these types of actions, or another type of action, the action is recorded in the action log 365 (eg, a database of entries, one for each action). The one to which an entry is added). The social networking system 100 can also record actions taken by the user on the third party website 140. A social networking system may include a website 140 when a third party website 140 sends an action notification (eg, notification that a user has purchased an item on the website 140) message to the system 100 through an API or other. You will know the user's actions on the above. In another embodiment, the social networking system records actions taken by the user in the real world. For example, a user registers a credit card with the system 100 so that when the credit card is used in a qualified manner, a message is sent to the system 100 via email, SMS, or other suitable method. it can.

  The action log 365 is filled with entries associated with the actions of users of the social networking system 100 over time. The action log 365 therefore contains a data set for a large number of user actions, allowing analysis and filling to identify trends and relationships, as well as similarity between multiple users and various objects. Analyze and filter to identify gender. The action log 365 can be used for various purposes. The experience of each user on the social networking system can be customized using data from the action log 365. This data is also used by the system 100 to select content items to optimize more effectively for the desired result or optimization goal. The action log 365 can also track user actions that can be stored by the feedback storage unit 315 by tracking how the user interacts, assessing content items, and so forth.

Through the foregoing description, numerous examples of social networking website embodiments have been provided, but embodiments of the invention are not limited to website embodiments. For example, the social networking system is implemented on an application that runs on a client device 210 (eg, a mobile communication terminal) that accesses information from the social networking system using an API or other communication mechanism other than the Internet or the web. Similarly, various other implementations for social networking systems are also possible.
Process for selecting content items

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating processing for selecting a content item in one embodiment. In this process, a user requests a page to be used on the client device 210 (step 400). The display server 350 receives request information from the user of the social networking system (step 405), and transmits the request to the display generation unit 355 (step 410). The display generation unit 355 generates a display in response to the request (step 415). The display includes an information window 103 having a space in which content items and main part 102 can be incorporated, said main part 102 comprising a social networking system comprising profile pages, news feeds, photos, pages, groups, applications, etc. A user interface.

  The display generation unit 355 supplies the display to the content server 380 (step 420), and the content server 380 requests the content item from the content item selection unit 375 (step 425). The selection unit 375 selects a content item to be incorporated in the information window of the display (step 440). In one embodiment, the content item selection unit 375 first requests the content item storage unit 175 for a plurality of content items (eg, social network content item, advertisement, etc.) (step 430). The content item storage unit 175 returns a content item that can be supplied to the user (step 435). For example, the content item storage 175 may supply news articles or other social network content items related to the user or one of the user's connected partners. In one embodiment, these various content items for presentation to the user are generated in advance and stored in the content item store 175 for later use when the user logs on and requests information. In another embodiment, the content item is dynamically generated when the user requests information at step 400. In any case, these items may be generated by the content item server 380, as described in detail with reference to FIG.

The content item selection unit 375 selects various content items from the content item storage unit 175 in order to select a content item to be incorporated into the display generated in the step 415 from the group of available items. A selection algorithm 170 can be used. The algorithm used will depend on the results to be optimized (eg growth, user engagement, revenue, supply, etc.). The content item selection unit 375 may select a plurality of content items based on a relationship with other items that will be present on the display or based on a relationship with other items that may be included in the information window 103. Alternatively, the selection may be based on a combination of both. The selection unit 375 also displays the interest expressed or shown by the user, for example, recently viewed content, content viewed a specified number of times within a specific time frame, content viewed near another display or content The content item may be selected based on the content most viewed in the user's browsing history, or based on interests indicated by other recognizable activities or habits. The selection process is described in more detail with reference to FIGS. In some embodiments, the selector 375 supplies the item to the content server 380 at step 445 and incorporates the selected item into the display (step 450). The content server 380 supplies the display incorporating the selected item to the display server 350 (step 455), and supplies the display and the content item to the user of the client device 210 (step 460).
Select content items based on content item association in info window

  FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an embodiment of the content item selection process, and shows an example in which a content item is selected based on relevance with other content items selected for the information window. In this embodiment, the social networking system receives a request for information from the user (step 505), and generates a display in response to the request, for example, in the process described with reference to FIG. Start (step 510). The display to be generated includes a set of spaces for the set of content items available in the information window. Accordingly, the social networking system selects content items to fill available spaces in the information window.

  As described above, the content item selector 375 of the social networking system may be able to determine what type of content item (eg, advertisement, news article, photo, video, or other content item) to add. The content item selection unit 375 determines which type of content item to add, a predetermined set of rules (for example, at least three advertisements and at least one connection proposal), how many free spaces to satisfy, The content may be determined based on something. For example, when the information window has three advertisements and two empty spaces remain for the content item, the social networking system selects two news articles to balance the content items in the window. How these spaces are filled depends largely on what the optimization goal is to be optimized by the system. The content item selection unit 375 selects a sufficient number of content items to fill the free space on the display, or the content item selection unit 375 has more content items than can be presented on the display (for example, , An item for multiple displays for the user).

  In one example, when one or more content items are selected, the content item selection unit 375 selects an additional content item from the available content item group. Content items are available based on their presence and may be eligible to be presented to the user as well. For example, a social networking system enforces privacy rules that specify whether a user can view news articles, so that news articles are available as content for a display only if the privacy settings allow. To. Although the example shown in FIG. 5 refers to a news article, it will be understood that the news article is only an example and can be extended to other types of social networking content items described herein.

  In one embodiment, the content item selection unit 375 continuously selects a plurality of content items, and for each newly selected content item, the content item selection unit 375 includes the newly selected content item, Consider the relevance of one or more previously selected content items. For example, if the content item selection unit 375 plans to select a new news article for the information window, the content item selection unit 375 first examines the advertisement that is currently selected for inclusion in the information window (step 520). If an advertisement has not been selected, the content item selection unit 375 checks the content item storage unit 175 for a news article for the user related to the advertisement that has already been selected (step 530). If there is an associated news article, the social networking system can select the relevant news article (step 540). That is, the algorithm applied to the content item selection unit 37 is not normally performed to randomly select a news article for the user, but to select a news article related to one of the advertisements to be incorporated in the window. (Step 540 above).

  On the other hand, when the content item selection unit 375 plans to select an advertisement, the content item selection unit 375 can execute the same processing as the above-described steps 520, 530, and 540, but in this case, the content item selection unit 375 Selects advertisements based on news articles (or other social networking content items). The content item selection unit 375 examines the news article selected in the information window (step 525), and if no news article is selected, selects an arbitrary advertisement related to the user. If a news article has been selected, the content item selection unit 375 checks the content item storage unit 175 for advertisements to the user related to the news article (step 530). If there is a related advertisement, the content item selection unit 375 can select the related advertisement (step 545).

  In another embodiment, the content item selector 375 selects a plurality of related advertisements and social networking content items simultaneously. In this case, the content item selection unit 375 checks the content item storage unit 175 for the presence and availability of both types of content items (step 500). The content item selection unit 375 selects a plurality of related advertisements and social networking content items (eg, a set or group of related content items) (step 555). For example, a social networking system selects an advertisement that sells a particular product, along with a news article about one of the user's connection partners that has recently become a fan of an entity associated with that product in the social networking system. (Step 555).

  The content item selection unit 375 can measure the relationship between two content items using various technologies, and this technology depends on the type of content item. By way of example, a content item includes textual content (eg, text in an advertisement, group or event title, or part of a news article, etc.). In such an example, two content items will be related if they contain the same character. As another example, a content item is associated with the content item's metadata (eg, a user-supplied tag character for an image or video), and this metadata is related to two content items. May be compared to determine whether or not. Content items could be related based on other attributes, such as their source (eg, images posted by other users are related to news articles that point to that same user) ). This association may also be based on classification information about the content item (eg, a concert advertisement and a video clip containing a song may be considered the same classification “music”). . The relevance may also be individual and discrete (ie, related or not related) as in the previous example, or the degree of relevance is continuous. It may be. For example, various algorithms can be used to evaluate the relevance of two content items based on the similarity of their various attributes.

In each of the above cases, when there are no content items directly related to other content items to be included in the window, the content item selection unit 375 may select an item that is slightly related. In some embodiments, the content item selector 375 may notify the content server 380 to generate a content item for any topic related to the item in the window (eg, FIG. 8 describing content item generation). As shown). The content item selection unit 375 may also select one or more content items to be included in the display. Once the selection of steps 540, 545, 550 has been made, the selected content item is incorporated on the display (step 560). A display containing the item can then be provided to the user (step 565).
Selecting content items based on the main part of the display

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the content item selection process, where the content item is for an additional portion of the display based on the content in the main portion of the display that the user is currently requesting or viewing. Selected. Similar to FIG. 5, the method includes a step 605 of receiving a request for information from a social networking system from a user. In response to a user request, the social networking system generates a main portion of the display (step 610). This display includes a user interface for the user to interact with the social networking system. The display further comprises additional parts such as the information window described above. Additional portions of the display are provided for inclusion of one or more content items selected for the display. The content item selection unit 375 thus initiates the process of selecting a content item, such as a news article, to be added to the additional portion of the display.

  In one embodiment, information in the main portion of the display is analyzed or analyzed (step 620). Parsing will result in characters placed in the main text content. The analysis also includes metadata that is not displayed in the main part (eg, html tags) and other information derived from processing the main part information content (eg, IDs associated with video clips that are identified using fingerprint authentication). Or other metadata). When the content of the main part on the display is analyzed or analyzed, the content selection unit 375 selects a content item based on the relevance with the information in the main part (step 630). As described above, the degree of relevance may be determined by any number of techniques, which may include determining the main part on the display to select one or more content items to be included in the additional part on the display. It may compare content attributes with available content items. Once the content items are selected, they are included in the display in the additional portion (step 630) and the display is provided to the user (step 640).

As an example, if a user requests a page that contains a profile of a partner with a new baby photo, the new article selected in the info window will be another baby partner who posted the baby photo. It may be an article about a connection partner who just got a connection, a connection partner who became a fan of a baby product, and so on. In this way, the page supplied to the user will contain many items on the same topic. The user will click more news articles on the list / window because they are related to the topic they were viewing on the page that the user requested. If the user continues the above example after looking at a picture of a friend's baby, a baby gift advertisement will be selected and added to the display.
Display example

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display (for example, a web page) supplied to a user of a social networking system. This example shows a profile page for a user of a social networking system (in this example, Bob Jensen), and this profile page shows the user's photo (here, “No Photo Available”) Photo), information about the user (dating relationship, educational background), comments from the user's connection partner, and recent activity information. The user's page also includes a list of content items (in this example, multiple advertisements and multiple news articles), which is placed in an information window 103 that is an additional part to the main display page.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the user to whom Bob Jensen is connected has the requested Bob Jensen page. As described above, the requested page is generated for the viewing user and some content item may be included in the information window 103. If a different user requests to view Bob's page, a different collection of content items can be selected for this different user. In FIG. 7, the content item group is selected using the embodiment of the invention described above. For example, three items 701, 702, and 703 are associated with the United States in the window. Item 703 is a news article that provides a “photo across the United States” provided by Fred Thompson, who may be a connected partner similar to the viewing user. Item 702 is an advertisement for “$ 39 cross-US flight”. Item 701 is a news article about USA (USA) that Jim Fredericks became a fan of (or may be a social advertisement (social ad) if sponsored), and the article is viewed It also offers users to “become fans”. The content item selector 375 is therefore selecting three related items while being encouraged by the opportunity that the viewing user will interact with one or more of these items (eg, according to the process of FIG. 5). .

  The fourth item 704 is a news article about Jan Edwards who is attending law school as a connection partner of the browsing user. The selection unit 375 selects the item 704 in accordance with the process of FIG. This item is not related to other content items on some topics, but Bob's profile shows in column 705 that he “goes to law school” Since the comment column 706 includes comments from the connection partner regarding the state of the school, it is related to the page requested by the user being viewed (the page of Bob Jensen). If the viewing user is also a law school or a lawyer, the social networking system keeps track of that information, which is the overlap between the viewing user and Bob (eg law study or practice) This content item for Jan Edwards will be further selected by the selector 375.

Any combination of the methods of FIGS. 5 and 6 can be used as well. For example, an item that is associated with another item in the information window and that is associated with the page currently being viewed by the user will be selected.
Content item generation process

FIG. 8 is according to one embodiment. Fig. 4 illustrates a process for generating a content item. In this embodiment, content server 380 receives a request to generate a content item (step 800). The content server 380 inquires of the action log 365 about the action regarding the user (for example, the action of the user's connection partner) (step 805). Connections between users are supplied to the user profiles stored in the user profile storage unit 305. The action log 365 returns a list of different actions for the user (step 810). The content server 380 generates content items based on these actions (step 815), and transmits them to the content item storage unit 175 to store them (step 820). In some embodiments, the server 380 selects the most relevant action of the user's partner and generates an item for it at step 815. For example, the server 380 can select the most recent action, the action of the partner most closely associated with the user or the person with whom the user interacts regularly. In one embodiment, server 380 generates news articles about these actions at step 815 (eg, news articles about a newly married partner). Product advertisements may or may not be related to user actions. The product advertisement group may be generated by the content server 380, but may be created by an advertiser or other entity and stored in the content item storage unit 175. These items may be generated in real time in step 815 or may be generated for the users in advance (eg, stored for when the user requests a page). These stored items should be updated periodically to avoid aging items when the user has not logged on for a while or requested information.
Feedback collection and processing

  FIG. 9 illustrates a process in which feedback is collected from users and used to select content items, according to one embodiment. The display server 350 receives explicit feedback when the user evaluates the supplied content item. For example, returning to FIG. 7, an advertisement for a flight across the United States provides a thumb up or thumb down link that allows the user to rate the advertisement. Other rating systems are also possible (eg, points, stars, etc.) and the user may provide comments in some cases. The explicit feedback is transmitted by the display server 350 for storage in the feedback storage unit 315 (step 905).

  In some embodiments, implicit feedback may also be collected. Display server 350 may receive user actions regarding the supplied content item (step 915). For example, the user may click or interact with the content item, follow links for additional information about the item, or spend a certain amount of time on this additional information. These types of actions provide information about what you think about the content item you have supplied. The display server 350 can send any action performed on the content item to the action recording unit 360 (step 920). If the recording unit 360 determines that the action provides useful feedback from the user (step 925), the recording unit 360 can send feedback to the feedback storage unit 315 (step 930), and the feedback storage. Unit 315 can store this implicit feedback.

  The remaining steps explain how the stored feedback is used to select content items. The display server 350 indicates that some information (eg, a particular web page) has been requested by the user (step 940), and the content server 380 is requesting a content item for display from the selection unit 375 (step 945). ), The selection unit 375 can search for feedback from the feedback storage unit 315 (step 950). The storage unit 315 replies with any available feedback from the user (e.g., user ratings or actions regarding previously supplied content items). The content item selection unit 375 applies this feedback to content item selection (step 960). For example, if the user gives a low rating to all provided travel advertisements, the selection unit 375 can avoid travel advertisements for this user. When the user is interested only in social advertisements and not interested in other advertisements, the selection unit 375 can concentrate on social advertisements. The feedback is stored in the storage 315 and can be filtered in various ways to learn a given user's tendency. The selection unit 375 can apply this information to item selection (step 960) by various methods.

In one embodiment, the process described above is applied across multiple users. In this case, the selection unit 375 does not select an item for each user, but instead selects an item over a group of users. For example, an advertisement / news story set or group can be reused across multiple users of the same social networking system. If multiple users are connected to Bob Jensen in FIG. 7, the same news article / advertising pair or group may be displayed to his other connected parties when relevant.
Optimization for mixing different types of content items

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a social networking system 100 with which a user can interact. The system of FIG. 10 includes all of the features and descriptions associated with the system 100 of FIG. 1 and the third party website 140, which descriptions are not repeated here. FIG. 10 illustrates the process. The content is mixed and directed to the user (targeted to the user) for presentation to the user. In FIG. 10, the process includes a display 101 having an information window 103 and a main portion 102, and thus includes all of the features of the display / page 101 of FIG. A display that does not contain content has multiple available spaces into which different types of content items can be incorporated.

  The content optimization algorithm 1070 is used to determine the optimal mix or ratio of different types of content that should be included in the available space of the window 103 for a given user. . The content type database 1075 provides different types of content that are used by the content optimization algorithm 1070 for the information window 103 for a user. Content item database 1076 provides certain users with different content items (of different types). Content types include any of the types described above, for example, PYMK, events, gifts, photos, fans, advertisements, social advertisements, applications, recommendations, requests, invitations, videos, links, third party content outside the social networking system, etc. Good. Content items include specific instances of these content types for a given user, such as, for example, PYMK items that recommend a second user to a first user who the first user would know. obtain.

  Algorithm 1070 receives a request for information for a given user and receives or determines input parameters for that user (eg, one or more user groups, one or more optimizations for the group). Goal). The algorithm 1070 then outputs the content item for display in the information window to the user. Instead of randomly selecting a content type for a user, or selecting based on availability, the algorithm 1070 determines information based on the content type's ability to enhance some optimization goal for the user group. Allocate the available space in the window to different types of content items. The mix of content types to be allocated can be changed according to user groups and optimization goals. In one embodiment, the ability of a content type to enhance some optimization goal is to optimize different types of content more effectively than other types by presenting different types of content to different groups of users in a given period of time. It is determined by monitoring the result of determining whether to increase the goal. The algorithm 1070 may rate each type of content based on that type's ability to achieve an optimization goal 1080 for a different user group 1085, and the rating is based on the availability of an information window for the user. It can be applied to distribute content types in various spaces. Rating is described in more detail below with reference to FIG.

  Optimization goals 1080 include any type of goals related to the content presented to the user within window 103, such as monetization, user sharing, user engagement, user communication, network growth, etc. It's okay. For example, a goal 1080 for a new user of the social networking system 100 will encourage an increase in the social communication of a user. In this case, the optimization goal 1080 increases user communication. The algorithm will select more content types associated with prompting the user to connect more connections, such as PYMK, new connection invitations, connection suggestions, etc. In another example, for a user who already has many connections but does not interact so much with these connections, the goal 1080 may be to increase user sharing. In this case, the algorithm would more select the content type associated with facilitating user interaction with other users, such as events, gifts, photos, etc. In another embodiment, for a user who has an extensive network of connections and interacts regularly, the goal 1080 may be to increase monetization for this user algorithm that interacts with the advertisement. You will choose more paid ads that generate revenue for your users through action. Similarly, for users who have connected partners and interact with them, the goal 1080 is to post information and photos about themselves, participate in fan clubs, use applications, or use the system 100 It may be to increase the user's engagement with the social networking system 100, including prompting the user for game play. In this case, the algorithm will more select the content type associated with encouraging the user to participate in the system 100, such as, for example, proposing use of the application or providing use of any function of the system 100. Let's go.

  The optimization goals 1080 may be different for different user groups 1085, which may be set specifically for each user or may be set comprehensively for all users of the social networking system. The above examples illustrate several situations where the goal 1080 is different based on the user type / account usage (eg, new users, less interacting users, or many connections / many Interactive users). Users may also be social networking system groups specified by the system 100 (eg, all supporters of a particular political movement, fan clubs of a particular music band, etc.), or user preferences (eg, profile to food) May be grouped according to all users showing interests). The user group further includes, among other things, the user's gender or age, geographical residence, demographics, user preferences, user profile information, race, ethnicity, account usage or calendar, usage time of the social networking system 100 , Groups formed according to engagement levels, user networks, and the like. For example, female users will be known to be more likely to participate in user sharing (eg gift gifts, events) than male users. The goal of male users is to provide more user-shared content in order to get more interacting male users (or to provide a different kind of user-shared content that male users tend to prefer) ) As another example, a goal for a user in a particular geographic residence may be different from that in another residence. Assuming that Swedish users are known not to make too many connections, the goal of Swedish users is to increase user connections (eg, provide more PYMK or types of content to invite to connections) Will be).

  The goal 1080 may also change over time for the user group 1085. For example, if Swedish users have made many connections, the goal 1080 will be to focus on monetization and provide them with more advertising to increase their income. User group 1085 and goal 1080 are described in more detail below.

  The algorithm 1070 receives parameters (eg, user group 1085 and one or more optimization goals 1080) for users requesting information (eg, a display that includes an information window). Based on the evaluation of the effectiveness of promoting some purpose for different content types in the database 1075, the algorithm 1070 determines the content type or content type for the information window 103 to be presented to the user. You may choose to evaluate. In the embodiment of FIG. 10, to fill the six spaces in window 103, algorithm 1070 selects two advertisements, one event, one fan, one PYMK, and one gift. In another embodiment, the algorithm 1070 allocates 50% of available space to PYMK item types, 25% to advertising item types, and 25% to photo item types.

  The algorithm 1070 further targets information window content for specific users by selecting content type content items allocated to fill available space. Content items are selected from items stored in database 1076 to enhance user interaction with information window 103. In the example of FIG. 10, algorithm 1070 selects two specific advertisements to be shown and an event, fan, PYMK, and gift content item. For example, the algorithm 1070 is an advertisement for a vacation trip transaction, an advertisement for a new movie, a birthday event of a user's connection partner, and an advertisement in which the user's connection partner is a fan. You will choose a fan item for the movie, PYMK for another user with several connected partners, and a proposal to give a birthday celebration to the connected party that has a birthday event. The selection of content items is described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 11-14 below.

  When algorithm 1070 selects an appropriate content item to fill the space in window 103, display 101 containing the content item is presented to the user. Content can be viewed while the user is reviewing any page associated with the social networking system 100 (eg, the user's own profile, news feed, other user's profile, group profile, etc.) It may be presented to the user, for example while using. The display may be supplied to the user as a web page on the website, but may be supplied as an electronic message (e.g., e-mail or text message) transmitted to the client device 210 or a GUI.

  The embodiment of the system environment described in FIG. 2 may also be applied to the embodiment of FIG. FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an example of the social networking system 100. The social networking system 100 includes a display server 1150, a parameter receiving unit 1155, and an optimization engine 1175 (including an evaluation generation unit 1160, a content type selection unit 1165, and a content item selection unit 1170), an action recording unit 1180, an action log 1185, a user A profile storage unit 1105, a group storage unit 1110, a feedback storage unit 1115, a content type storage unit 1075, and a content item storage unit 1076 are provided. In another embodiment, social networking system 100 may comprise additional modules, fewer modules, or different modules for various applications.

  Display server 1150 couples social networking system 100 to one or more client devices 210 via network 220, as well as to one or more third party websites 140. Display server 1150 may be a mail server or other message delivery for receiving and routing messages between social networking system 100 and client device 210 or third party website 140 or one or more information sources. Includes functionality. Messages include instant messages, waiting messages (eg, email), text and SMS (Short Message Service) messages, or other suitable messaging techniques. Display server 1150 can maintain user profile information for multiple users.

  The display server 1150 receives a request for information to be supplied or displayed to the user (eg, the user is manipulating his own profile page), or when the content type needs to be determined, the display server 1150 communicates this to the parameter receiver 1155 to determine the parameters for content type selection. In one embodiment, the display server 1150 generates a display to which content items are added. In some embodiments, the display server 1150 requests a content item to be added to the display each time the display is presented (thus selecting a content type / item is the user operating the system 100). Sometimes done in real time). In another embodiment, the display server 1150 requests content items that do not have a specific display to post the item immediately. In these embodiments, the selected content type / item is stored for later presentation to the user.

  The parameter receiving unit 1155 determines a parameter to be input to the content optimization algorithm 1070. The receiving unit 1155 determines the first parameter. This first parameter is a user group 1085 for one or more users. The receiving unit 1155 also determines the second parameter. This second parameter includes one or more optimization goals 1080 for user group interaction using the information window. The parameter receiver 1155, in one embodiment, collects these parameters by gathering information about the user to whom the content is to be supplied (eg, user preferences, gender, geographic residence, etc.) from the user profile store 1105. decide. In some embodiments, one or both of these parameters for the user are determined in advance by the parameter receiver 1155 and retrieved when needed.

  The parameter receiving unit 1155 also acquires information about the user's action from the action log 1185 in order to determine the parameter. The action log 1185 is configured in the same manner as the action log 365 of FIG. Therefore, the description of the action log 365 described above can be applied here. The action log 1185 may include any action performed by the user on an object associated with the system 100, or a group of actions associated with other users (eg, actions indicating user preferences in typical user account usage). And user types). The receiving unit 1155 can collect information about the group in which the user is participating from the group storage unit 1110 (for example, a group supporting a political or social movement, a music band fan site, a local city network, etc.). . All of this information is used by the receiver 1155 to classify users into user groups 1085 or optimization goals 1080. User group 1085 and optimization goal 1080 are described in more detail with reference to FIGS.

  The optimization engine 1175 distributes / selects the content type and inputs the parameters collected by the parameter receiving unit 1155 to the optimization algorithm 1070 in order to select the content for the user. The engine 1175 outputs the selected content item to the user. Thus, a mixture of optimized content items is provided to the user to facilitate the optimization goals of the user's group.

  In some embodiments, the optimization engine 1175 includes an evaluation generator 1160 for determining the ability to promote one or more optimization goals for different content types. The evaluation generation unit 1160 can monitor the presentation results of the types of content items distributed to users of different user groups over a predetermined period. Based on the result, the evaluation generation unit 1160 can determine which type of content promotes a certain optimization target more effectively than other types of content. For example, the evaluation generation unit 1160 may determine that the presented content type PYMK facilitates communication between users and promotes the growth of a social networking system by monitoring over a predetermined period of time. The evaluation generation unit 1160 can determine this by comparing the group of users in which a higher percentage of PYMK items are displayed with other groups in which the item is displayed. The evaluation generation unit 1160 can determine, for a group of users who have seen more content types PYMK, whether the ratio of forming connections with other users or the size of the network increases. The evaluation generator 1160 can then evaluate the type of content based on the ability to achieve some optimization goal.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of evaluation performed by the evaluation generation unit 1160 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this example, each content type is evaluated based on the ability to promote each optimization goal. In FIG. 12, three different optimization goals are being evaluated (monetization, user sharing, and user communication), but other goals may be included and evaluated. In this example, the evaluation range is 10 levels from 1 to 10, but other ranges (eg, 1 to 50, 1 to 100, etc.) may be used, and other rating / weighting systems may be used. Good. In this example, the content type “PYMK” is highly evaluated for the purpose of user communication because it encourages the creation of more connections between users when the user selects the content type PYMK from the information window 103. The content type “event” is highly valued for user sharing because it prompts users to share and interact with other users using the system 100. The content type “paid advertising” is highly valued for monetization because providing the user with ads that the user can select and interact with allows the system 100 to generate money. Other content types can be evaluated as well.

  The evaluation shown in FIG. 12 may be common across different user groups 1085 or may be different for different user groups 1085. Thus, each content type can be evaluated for the ability to promote each goal across all user groups, and / or each content type can be evaluated individually for each user group's goal promotion. For example, it may be when a male user does not interact with the event content item. That is, even if an event item generally tends to promote user sharing across user groups, the event item does not allow a male user group to rate 4 points, but a 4 point rating, and In both user communication and monetization, there will be only one rating. However, male users may tend to interact more with fan content items, so that these content will be more appreciated in user sharing for male user groups. How the content type should be evaluated can be determined by examining the action log 1185, the user profile storage unit 1105, and the group storage unit 1110, for example. For example, the actions stored in the action log 1185 can be filtered to determine which items the male user tends to interact with.

  Furthermore, the assessment may be updated from time to time or periodically. Evaluation of different optimization goals is such that more or different user groups are identified, new content types are available, new goals are set or previous goals are changed Alternatively, it may be changed over a period of time so that more information is gathered about the current user group, goal, content type, content item, etc. The rating and / or rating system may be coordinated by an administrator of the social networking system 100 that handles different goals.

  The content type selection unit 1165 selects a content type based on the evaluation generated by the evaluation generation unit 1160, and distributes the content type for the information window. The selected / allocated content type may vary depending on the user group 1085 and the target 1080. For example, for a male user group between the ages of 20 and 25 whose goal is to first promote user sharing and secondly to encourage network growth, the selection unit 1165 You will examine content type ratings. The selection unit 1165 selects the content type (for example, event, gift, fan, and application) having the top four evaluations regarding sharing, and selects the content type (for example, PYMK) having the top evaluation for network growth. You can do it. Each time a male user between the ages of 20 and 25 requests information, he is supplied with these five content types. All of these content types can be provided on one display or across multiple displays / pages. The display is arranged so that the user receives other content types but also receives the selected type with a high degree of concentration. In another example, the selection unit 1165 can select many content types having high evaluation in user sharing and some having high evaluation in network growth, and only these content types over time, or These content types are supplied to user groups with an advantage.

  The content type selector 1165 is also configured to distribute the proportion or percentage of available space that is filled with different content types. In one embodiment, the selection unit 1165 allocates a certain percentage of space to a certain content type for a user group (eg, 5% of space to an event content type for German users). To do. In another embodiment, the selector 1165 may provide a specified percentage of available space for all users who have fewer than a specified number of connections with other users in the social networking system. Allocate to specific content types. For example, a user placed in a user group of “users with fewer connections than X” will spend 50% of the space on a content type known to promote network growth (eg, PYMK, connection request or invitation) Etc.). As another example, a user who is in the user group of “Users interacting with other users less than X during the last week” will allow 75% of the space to interact or share information between users. Will be filled with content types that promote. The selection unit 1165 distributes some of the available space to one or more content types, and selects the remaining content types randomly or based on availability. Thus, content types can be selected in many different ways, but the above examples are only some possible forms and are not limited thereto.

  In another embodiment, a user may be multiple groups of users (eg, a “20 to 25 year old male” group and a “resident in San Francisco” group). Thus, a given user may have a content type evaluated and selected towards him based on his membership to multiple groups. For example, a user is provided with a display with content types for one group and is provided with a display with content types for the next group, and the user is provided with a display with a mix of content types for both groups. Alternatively, the user is provided with a display that incorporates only the content types associated with the main or more important groups or preferentially incorporates the same content types.

  In some embodiments, the selection unit 1165 selects a certain number of content types to fill a certain number of available locations on the display. In another embodiment, the selection unit 1165 selects different content types appropriate for the user or user group 1085. A smaller or greater number of content types may be selected than empty areas of the display. If fewer content types are selected, the remainder of the vacancy will be filled randomly or left empty (or the display will show only some of the selected content types) Can be re-arranged). If more content types are selected, the display is arranged to hold more content types, or the selected additional content types are provided to later displays (eg, To continue operation through the system).

  The timing of selection performed by the selection unit 1165 is different in various embodiments. In one embodiment, the selection unit 1165 selects one or more content types in real time when members of different user groups are operating through the system 100. In another embodiment, the selection unit 1165 has previously selected one or more content types for a given user group, the selected content types are stored, and certain users of the group can account. Used when logging on to or requesting information. In some embodiments, the selection of a particular proportion of content types is provided to the user group 1085 so that multiple users are provided with a mixture of the same content types selected for their user group 1085. Performed across multiple users. In another embodiment, the selection depends on the members of the user group 1085 or a subset of members so that the same mix of content types is provided to users who are not all of the user group 1085.

  The content item selection unit 1170 selects a content item of each content type selected by the content type selection unit 1165. The content item is selected to facilitate user interaction with the information window 103. In one embodiment, the selected content item is specific to the particular user to whom it is presented. In other words, as described above, a particular mix of different content types has been selected for a given user group (eg, male users between the ages of 15 and 20). Accordingly, the selection unit 1170 can select a specific item of that type for a user belonging to the group. For example, if one of the content types selected by the selection unit 1170 for a given user group (eg male users between the ages of 15 and 20) is the type PYMK, the 16-year-old male user Tom Edwards An example of a content item selected by the selector 1170 for: “You and Bob Smith are attending Central High. Connect Bob. Let ’s add it as a partner. ” In one embodiment, one or more content items are selected by the selection unit 1170 on the fly (dynamically during execution) when the user requests information to be displayed. In another embodiment, one or more content items are pre-selected and saved to be presented to one or more users the next time they log on to an account.

  In some embodiments, the content item selection unit 1170 varies the content item selected for display (eg, in the information window 103) based on feedback received from the feedback storage unit 1115. The feedback is input as a third parameter for the optimization engine 1715. The description of the feedback stored in the feedback storage unit 315 can be similarly applied to the feedback storage unit 1115. The selector 1170 can use this feedback to provide the user with more relevant content items in the future (eg, different thematic items or more relevant items). In some embodiments, user-supplied feedback can also be used by the content type selector 1165 in the process of optimizing the mix of selected content types. The content type selected for the user group 1085 to which the user belongs may be changed based on the feedback of the user or based on the overall feedback from the users of the group. Feedback for users of user group 1085 is stored over time in feedback storage 1115 and filtered in various ways to optimize the mix of content types provided to users of group 1085. .

  Display server 1150 provides the user requesting information with a display of an information window having the selected content item in the selected content type. In some embodiments, the display server 1150 determines in which order the items are provided. For example, the server 1150 may place a more relevant item at the top of the window or other prominent display location on the display. In another embodiment, this ordering is determined by the optimization engine 1175. In embodiments where multiple items (eg, a number of items that can be presented on a page) are selected, the display server 1150 or optimization engine 1175 may indicate which items to present on the current display, and , Determine which items to present on additional pages operated by the user. In some embodiments, how items are arranged on a single display or across multiple displays depends on what type of presentation mechanism facilitates the interaction between the information window and the user over a predetermined period of time. It is determined by gathering feedback from users indicating that they are most successful.

In some embodiments, the system 100 includes an action recorder 1180 that functions generally similar to the action recorder 360. The recording unit 1180 has the ability to receive communications from the display server 1150 for user actions within or outside the social networking system 100. The action recording unit 1180 collects an action log 1185 together with information about these tracked user actions. As described above with reference to the recording unit 360 in FIG. 3, there are various types of actions recorded by the recording unit 1180.
Process for selecting a mix of optimized content item types

  FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating the entire content type / item selection process according to an embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the method includes a request for content for a user from the display server 1150 (step 1300). In some embodiments, this request comes from the display server 1150 because the client device 210 is requesting information to be displayed. As described above, in such a case, the processing can be performed in real time when requested by the user. In another embodiment, the request comes from the display server 1150 because the display server 1150 has determined that it is time to perform the selection process. For example, the content type storage unit 1075 or the content item storage unit 1076 may be deficient or the content needs to be updated. In these embodiments, one or both of the content type or item selection may be performed or partially performed in advance before the user requests information. The storage units 1075 and 1076 collect the content types / items already selected for the user group / user.

  When the display server 1150 requests content for a certain user (step 1300), the parameter receiving unit 1155 determines a parameter including grouping users into one or more user groups 1085 (or a predetermined parameter). (Step 1305). The receiving unit 1155 can determine or retrieve information about the user's gender, geographical residence, age, race, ethnicity, and other information from the user profile storage unit 1105 in order to assign the user to a group 1085. . For example, all female users can form one group, and all Canadian users can form another group. Similarly, the groups include groups of all users in the Bay Area, groups of all users aged 20 to 30 years, groups of all Latin users in San Jose, San Francisco (San Francisco) may include a group of all female users aged 15-20. The receiving unit 1155 also receives information about user actions from the action log 1185 (eg, how often the user is logged on to the account and how the user is using the account when grouping is determined). , And other related actions). Furthermore, a social networking group (for example, a fan club) in which a user stored in the group storage unit 1110 is participating is also displayed by the receiving unit 1155 in a user group setting (for example, a group of all members of a specific fan club). Can be used. In some embodiments, the grouping has been performed in advance, and thus the determining step 1305 includes a grouping search or grouping update.

  The receiving unit 1155 can also determine an optimization target 1080 (or search for a predetermined target) for the user group 1085 for which the user has been determined (step 1305). The receiving unit 1155 can acquire information from the action log 1185, the user profile storage unit 1105 and / or the group storage unit 1110. For example, action log 1185 shows how users from Cincinnati, Ohio are using their accounts (eg, how they interact frequently with other users, regularly They are filtered by actions performed by their users to determine whether they are logged on to, click on ads, etc.). If filtering of action information in the log 1185 indicates that Cincinnati users tend to interact only occasionally with connected parties in the social networking system, the receiving unit 1155 is directed to those users. Can be determined to promote more user supply. The receiving unit 1155 can determine one target for each group 1085 or a plurality of targets for each group 1085. Some goals may be rated as more important than others. For example, another goal for Cincinnati users is focused on monetization, but user sharing can be a major interest. In this case, the content types selected for those users will mostly include content types that are expected to increase user sharing, but the user will be presented with the current page or a later page or after a while. In any case, a small number of paid advertisements can be presented. In some embodiments, goals are determined in advance for the user group 1085, and the determining step 1305 also includes searching for goals, or possibly grouping updates.

  The parameter receiving unit 1155 supplies the parameter determined in step 1305 (step 1310). The optimization engine 1175 inputs parameters for the user to the content optimization engine 1070. As described above, the parameter of step 1310 may be supplied to the evaluation generation unit 1160 for the input of content type (step 1315) and evaluation. In some embodiments, content types are pre-rated, and the generator 1160 only retrieves the ratings and / or updates the ratings if necessary. The generation unit 1160 supplies the evaluation to the content type selection unit 1165 (step 1320), and the content type selection unit 1165 selects / distributes the content type for the information window directed to the user (step 1325). The selection unit 1165 supplies the content type to the content item selection unit 1170 (step 1330). The selected one or more content types are stored in the content type storage unit 1075 until they are needed later, and when necessary, the content type selection unit 1165 retrieves them from the content type storage unit 1075, The content type is supplied to the content item selection unit 1170. The content item selection unit 1170 selects each type of content item selected for the window (step 1335). The selection unit 1170 supplies the selected item to the display server 1150 (step 1340).

  In some embodiments, the display server 1150 includes selected items in the display generated for the user. Server 1150 thus provides the user with a display having an information window with the selected content item in the selected content type. In some embodiments, instead of generating a display for selecting an item, the selected item is stored in the content item store 1076 for a given user. When a user whose content is stored for the user requests information to be displayed (for example, a web page), the display server 1150 generates a page, queries the storage unit 1076 for the content item, and displays the item. The display having is provided to the user (step 1345).

  FIG. 14 shows the content type / item selection processing, which shows offline processing when selection is performed in advance and online processing where selection is performed in response to a user request (the method is: It also includes a combination of these two processes). In an offline selection process embodiment, the system determines and requests the content type / item to be selected. For example, content type / item selection can be at regular time intervals (eg, every minute, every 30 minutes, every hour, once a day / week / month, etc.) or when a user logs on to their account Alternatively, it is executed when the content type / item storage units 1075 and 1076 determine the lack of the type / item for the user or the user group 1085. The frequency with which the content type / item is selected differs for each individual user / user group. For example, content types / items may be selected more frequently for users / user groups that regularly use the system 100 than users / user groups that only occasionally use the system 100.

  The social networking system determines the user group in step 1405 and determines the optimization goal in step 1410 (or stores the group and / or goal if determined in advance) as described above. Search from the department). The parameters determined in steps 1405 and 1410 are input to the algorithm 1070 in step 1415 as described above, and the content type is evaluated in step 1420 (or a predetermined evaluation is retrieved / updated). . Based on the rating, a content type for the information window is selected (step 1425). In one embodiment, the selected type is stored in the content type storage unit 1075 for the particular user / user group for which the type was selected until needed (step 1441).

  In one embodiment, feedback is provided (step 1440), which can change the type of content type selected (step 1425). The information in the feedback store 1115 (step 1441) can be filtered to search for feedback 1430 for members of the user group 1085 whose content type has been selected (eg, users regarding content items supplied to those users). Explicit or implicit feedback). For example, Bob Smith can provide negative feedback by giving negative ratings to all items of the content type PYMK supplied to him or never clicking on them. This feedback can be incorporated into the storage 1115 along with feedback from other users of Bob's group (eg, male users between the ages of 15 and 20). If many users of this group are giving similar feedback to items of content type PYMK, this group will be supplied with a smaller number of content types PYMK.

  The social networking system selects a content item of each selected content type (step 1435). In one embodiment, a number of content items are selected for a given user, and those content types are selected for the particular user selected (eg, by linking to an ID number or other user identifier). The information is stored in the content item storage unit 1076 until information is requested by the user (step 1446).

  Furthermore, feedback is also provided at step 1445, which can change the selected content item. The information in the feedback store 1115 may be filtered to retrieve feedback for the user regarding the content item supplied to the user (step 1445). For example, Bob Smith can provide negative feedback to all advertisements served to him by giving negative ratings or never clicking on those items. This feedback can be used to select different types of ads for Bob (for example, more social ads, fewer product ads, or ads on topics that Bob is more interested in) Can be used. In some embodiments, selected specific content items of a content type for a given user may be selected using additional elements. For example, advertisements or other items may be based on associations with other items on the web page that Bob is browsing, instead of randomly selecting advertisements for Bob, or It can be selected based on its association with other information that will be incorporated into the window.

  All of the above steps are performed offline in order to prepare content types and content items in advance. At some later point in time, the selected content items in the selected content type are added to the display for the user, and the display is provided to one or more users along with the items (step 1450). .

  FIG. 14 also shows an embodiment of online processing. In this case, a request for a user is received (step 1455) and the system initiates processing associated with generating or displaying a display for that user (step 1460). If no information window content is needed (eg, no information window), a display is provided to the user (step 1465). If content is needed, check to determine if a content item for the user's request is in content item storage unit 1076 (eg, by filtering items in storage unit 1076 based on user ID). . If there are content items for the user's request in the content item storage unit 1076, one or more content items are retrieved from the storage unit (step 1470) and supplied to the requesting user (step 1475). Built into the display. If there is no content item for the requesting user in the storage unit, a new item is selected. The method may then include identifying the user group to which the user belongs (step 1466) and examining the content type storage unit 1075 for the content type for any user group to which the user belongs. If there are content types for any user group to which the user belongs, one or more content types are retrieved for the user (step 1480) and those types of content items are selected for the user (step 1435). If there is no content type, the method may include performing one or more steps for selecting the content type described above.

  In some embodiments, in steps 1405 and 1410, a user group 1085 and goal 1080 need to be determined first. As described above, these parameters are input (step 1415), the content type is evaluated (or the evaluation is searched) (step 1420), and the content type is selected (step 1425). However, one or more of steps 1405, 1410, 1415, and 1420 may have already been performed, and the only step required at this point is the step 1425 to select or steps 1405-1425. It might be some part. An item of the selected type is then selected (step 1435) and a display with the item is provided to the requesting user (step 1450).

  Returning to FIG. 7, this example may also represent an example of the embodiment of FIGS. Bob Jensen has requested his home page and the additional content items added to Bob's page include four items on the right side of the page. For example, Bob is a member of a male user group 1085 between Kentucky ages 30 and 40, whose optimization goal 1080 is primarily to promote user sharing. However, the second is to promote monetization. The content types of fans, photos, and connected actions are highly appreciated for user sharing. If the product advertisement is highly valued for monetization, Bob shows one content type fan, one advertisement, one content type photo, and one content type linked update. The specific items selected for Bob are items 701 that became a fan of the United States (US), items 702 for airmail in the United States (US), and items for photos supplied by the connection partner. 703, and an item 704 that provides updates about connected parties attending law school.

  The content item can be generated in the embodiment of FIGS. 10 to 14 in the same manner as described in FIG. 8, and the display server 1150 interacts with the action log 1185 and the content item storage unit 1076 to thereby generate the content item. Is generated. Feedback can also be received and applied in the embodiment of FIGS. 10-14 in a manner similar to that described in FIG. 9, whose execution body performs the functions of the display server 1150 (content server 380). An action recording unit 1180, a content item selection unit 1170 (or content type selection unit 1165), and a feedback storage unit 1115.

  The foregoing disclosure of the embodiments of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form presented. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that many modifications and variations are possible with reference to the above disclosure. For example, in the above-described embodiments, the environment of a social networking system has been described, but for those of ordinary skill in the art, the present invention may be applied to any electronic social networking system, even if it is not provided through a website. However, it will be clear that it can be used. Any computer-based system that provides social networking capabilities, even if it relies on e-mail, instant messaging, or other forms of electronic communication, and other technologies that communicate between users Even so, it can be used in accordance with the present invention. The present invention is therefore not limited to any particular type of communication system, network, protocol, format or application.

  Some portions of this disclosure describe embodiments of the invention in terms specific to information processing algorithms and symbolic representations. These algorithmic descriptions and symbolic representations are commonly used by those skilled in the data processing arts to effectively convey the gist of their work to others skilled in the art. Although these operations are described functionally, computerly, or logically, it is understood that they can be implemented by a computer program or equivalent electronic circuit, microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has proven convenient at times to apply these motion arrangements as modules without loss of generality. The operations described above and associated modules can be implemented by software, firmware, hardware, or a combination thereof.

  Any of the steps, operations or processes described above may be implemented or performed by one or more hardware or software modules alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, the software module includes a computer readable medium containing computer program code that is executed by a computer processor to perform any or all of the steps, operations, or processes described above. Implemented as a product. Embodiments of the invention also relate to an apparatus that performs the operations described above. This device is specially configured for the required purpose and / or consists of a general purpose computer device, selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored on a tangible computer readable storage medium or any type of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions and connected to a computer system bus. Further, any computer system referred to in this specification may consist of a single processor, or may be a structure that uses multiple processors to improve computing power. Good.

Claims (67)

A computer-implemented method for providing social networking system content and advertisements to a user, the method comprising:
Receiving a request for information from a user of a social networking system;
Selecting one or more advertisements for display to the user in an information window of a user interface;
From selecting one or more social networking content items for display to the user in the information window, wherein the social networking content item recommends actions to increase engagement with a social networking system. it also social networking content items the Ru is selected, which is selected based at least in part on the degree of association between one of the advertisements to be the selected with the social networking content item, wherein The selected advertisement is selected based at least in part on the degree of relevance between the advertisement and one of the selected social networking content items;
Combining the selected one or more advertisements in the information window with the selected one or more social networking content items;
Providing a display to the user, wherein the display comprises the information window containing the selected advertisement and social networking content item;
A method comprising the steps of:   The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the one or more social networking content items is based at least in part on the degree of relevance of the selected social networking content item to the user.   The degree of association may be one or more of a history of user interaction with the social networking content item, information stored in a profile associated with the user, and explicit feedback about the social networking content item supplied by the user. The method of claim 2, wherein the method is determined based on. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the one or more advertisements is based at least in part on the degree of relevance of the selected advertisements to the user.   The degree of association is determined based on one or more of a history of user interaction with the social networking content item, information stored in a profile associated with the user, and explicit feedback about advertisements supplied by the user. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein:   The selected one or more advertisements and the selected one or more social networking content items in the information window are related to the user for each selected advertisement and for each selected social networking content item. The method of claim 1, further comprising ordering based at least in part.   The one or more social networking content items are selected before the one or more advertisements are selected, and selecting the advertisement is the selected one or more social networking of the selected one or more advertisements. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is based at least in part on a degree of association with a content item.   8. The method of claim 7, wherein the degree of association is determined by comparing attributes of the selected advertisement with attributes of the selected social networking content item.   The compared attributes are associated with text content within an advertisement or social networking content item, metadata associated with the advertisement or social networking content item, a category of advertisement or social networking content item, and an advertisement or social networking content item. 9. The method of claim 8, comprising one or more of the information sources provided.   The one or more advertisements are selected before the one or more social networking content items are selected, and selecting the social networking content item is selected with the selected one or more social networking content items. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is based at least in part on a degree of association with one or more advertisements.   The method of claim 10, wherein the degree of association is determined by comparing attributes of the selected advertisement with attributes of the selected social networking content item.   Selecting the one or more social networking content items comprises selecting social networking content items to be included in the information window from a group of social networking content items based on availability of associated advertisements. The method according to claim 1.   Selecting the one or more advertisements comprises selecting an advertisement to be included in the information window from a group of advertisements based on availability of related social networking content items. Item 2. The method according to Item 1.   The method of claim 1, wherein the display provided to the user is a web page of a social networking website.   15. The method of claim 14, wherein providing the display to the user further comprises distributing an information window to a website external to a social networking website.   The method of claim 1, wherein providing the display to the user comprises transmitting the display to the user's mobile device.   The selected social networking content item is at least one social selected from the group consisting of news articles, media items held or supplied by the social networking system, groups and pages associated with entities within the social networking system. The method of claim 1, further comprising a networking content item. A system for providing social networking system content and advertisements to a user, the system comprising:
A display server configured to receive a request for information from a user of the social networking system and to provide a display to the user, the display comprising an information window including selected advertisements and social networking content items When,
Configured to select one or more advertisements for display to the user in the information window of the display and to select one or more social networking content items for display to the user in the information window a content item selection unit, where the social networking content items, made from those recommending to take action to increase the engagement to social networking system, also social networking content items the Ru is selected, the social networking content are those selected based at least in part on the degree of association between one of the advertisements items to be said selected, the advertisement to be selected, the selection of the said advertising That is what is selected based at least in part on the degree of association between one of the social networking content item,
A system comprising: a display generator configured to combine the selected one or more advertisements in the information window with the selected one or more social networking content items.   The content item selection unit is configured to select the one or more social networking content items based at least in part on a degree of relevance of the selected social networking content item to the user. 18. The system according to 18.   The degree of association may be one or more of a history of user interaction with the social networking content item, information stored in a profile associated with the user, and explicit feedback about the social networking content item supplied by the user. 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the system is determined based on.   The system of claim 18, wherein the content item selector is configured to select one or more advertisements based at least in part on a degree of relevance of the selected advertisement to the user.   The content item selector is based on one or more of a history of user interaction with a social networking content item, information stored in a profile associated with the user, and explicit feedback about advertisements supplied by the user. The system of claim 21, wherein the degree of association is determined.   The display generation unit further includes the selected one or more advertisements and the selected one or more social networking content items in the information window for each selected advertisement and each selected social networking content item. The system of claim 18, wherein the system is configured to order based at least in part on a degree of relevance to the user.   The content item selector is configured to select the one or more social networking content items before selecting the one or more advertisements, and the content item selector is further selected 1 The system of claim 18, wherein the system is configured to select the advertisement based at least in part on the degree of relevance of the advertisement to the selected one or more social networking content items.   The content item selector is configured to determine the degree of association by comparing an attribute of the selected advertisement with an attribute of the selected social networking content item. 24. The system according to 24.   The compared attributes are associated with text content within an advertisement or social networking content item, metadata associated with the advertisement or social networking content item, a category of advertisement or social networking content item, and an advertisement or social networking content item. 26. The system of claim 25, comprising one or more of the designated information sources.   The content item selector is configured to select the one or more advertisements before the one or more social networking content items are selected, and the content item selector is further selected 19. The social networking content item is configured to be selected based at least in part on a degree of relevance of the one or more social networking content items to the selected one or more advertisements. System.   The content item selection unit is configured to determine the degree of association by comparing an attribute of the selected advertisement with an attribute of the selected social networking content item. 27. The system according to 27.   The content item selection unit selects one or more social networking content items to be included in the information window from a group of social networking content items based on availability of related advertisements. The system of claim 18, wherein the system is configured to select   The content item selection unit is configured to select one or more advertisements by selecting an advertisement to be included in the information window from a group of advertisements based on availability of related social networking content items. The system of claim 18.   The content item selector may further include at least one social networking content item from a news article, a media item held or supplied by the social networking system, a group, and a group consisting of pages related to entities in the social networking system. The system of claim 18, wherein the system is configured to select. A computer-implemented method for optimizing content provided to a user, the method comprising:
Receiving a request to supply a display to a user, wherein the display comprises an information window having a plurality of spaces available for presenting a mixture of different content types to the user; And
Determining a first parameter comprising a user group for the user;
Determining a second parameter comprising one or more optimization goals for the user group;
Inputting the first and second parameters into an optimization algorithm, the optimization algorithm comprising:
Allocating the available spaces of the information window to different content types based on the capability of the content type to enhance the one or more optimization goals for the user group, The mix of types varies with individual user groups and optimization goals;
Selecting a content item for each of the allocated content types for the user;
And the one that performs
Selecting one content item for each space, wherein one content item selected for each space matches the allocated content type for the space;
Providing the user with a display having the information window with the selected content item of the allocated content type.   The method of claim 32, wherein at least one of the content types is a sponsored advertisement or a social advertisement.   At least one of the content types is a news article that provides information about actions performed by or for other users with whom the user is connected in social networking 33. A method according to claim 32, characterized.   The method of claim 32, wherein providing the display with the information window is providing a web page for a social networking website.   36. The method of claim 35, wherein providing the display with the information window is distributing the information window to a website external to a social networking website.   The method of claim 32, wherein the one or more optimization goals are selected from the group consisting of monetization, user sharing, user engagement, and user communication.   The optimization goal is monetization, and the monetization further comprises presenting the sponsored advertisement to the user to generate revenue based on user interaction with the sponsored advertisement. 38. The method of claim 37, characterized in that   The method of claim 37, wherein the optimization goal is user engagement, the user engagement further comprising prompting the user to participate regularly in a social networking system.   38. The optimization goal is user sharing, wherein the user sharing further comprises prompting the user to interact with another user connected to the user in the social network. The method described in 1.   41. The method of claim 40, wherein the content type selected to facilitate user sharing is selected from the group consisting of event items, gift items, photo items or video items.   The optimization goal is user communication, the user communication comprising urging the user to connect with another user in the social network to increase social network growth. Item 38. The method according to Item 37.   43. The method of claim 42, wherein the content type selected to facilitate the user communication is selected from a group of person items, friend suggestion items, or friend introduction items that may be acquainted.   The method of claim 32, wherein the user group is a group of users related by demographics or geographic location.   The method of claim 32, wherein the user group is selected from a user group of a social networking system comprising users with the same preferences, users with the same account usage, and users with the same user characteristics.   The display is a web page of a social networking website, the content type includes both advertisements and news articles, and the news articles provide information about actions related to another user with whom the user is connected in the social network 33. The method of claim 32, wherein:   Further comprising determining a third input parameter including explicit feedback provided by a user by rating the content item in the information window, wherein the content item in the content type or the display is the explicit The method of claim 32, wherein the method changes based on feedback.   Determining a third input parameter including implicit feedback provided by a user upon selection or involvement of the content item in the information window, wherein the content item in the content type or the display is the implicit The method of claim 32, wherein the method varies based on dynamic feedback.   Allocating the available spaces of the information window to different content types further promotes one or more optimization goals for the user group of the user based on user interaction with the information window. 33. The method of claim 32, comprising presenting a mixture of content types optimized for.   Allocating the available spaces of the information window to different content types may further include a specified percentage of the available spaces of the information window for all users of a particular demographic. 35. The optimization goal for the specific demographic is facilitated by user interaction with content items of the specific content type, wherein the optimization goal for the specific demographic is promoted. the method of.   Allocating the available spaces of the information window to different content types is further for all users who have fewer than the specified number of connections with other users in the social network. Allocating a specified percentage of the available spaces of the information window to a specific content type, and network growth is facilitated by user interaction with content items of the specific content type 35. The method of claim 32, wherein:   Allocating the available spaces in the information window to different content types further promotes one or more optimization goals to a content type known to promote one or more optimization goals. The method of claim 32, comprising allocating a greater percentage of the available spaces than content types that would do. Monitoring the presentation results of multiple types of content items allocated to users in different user groups over a period of time;
Based on the results, determining which content types promote specific optimization goals more effectively than other types;
Evaluating the content type based on the ability of the content type to achieve one or more optimization goals for the user group, wherein the rating is the information window of a plurality of users. Further comprising determining the ability of the type to promote the one or more optimization goals by being applied to allocate the available spaces to the different content types. 35. The method of claim 32. A computer system for optimizing content presented to a user,
A display server configured to receive a request to provide a user with a display comprising an information window having a plurality of spaces available for presenting a mixture of different content types;
A parameter receiver configured to determine a first parameter comprising a user group for the user and to determine a second parameter comprising an optimization target for the user group;
An optimization engine configured to input the first and second parameters into an optimization algorithm,
Configured to allocate the available spaces of the information window to different content types based on the capability of the content type to enhance the one or more optimization goals for the user group A content type selection unit, wherein the mixture of types varies depending on individual user groups and optimization goals;
A content item selector configured to select, for the user, a content item for each of the allocated content types;
Comprising the optimization engine comprising:
The content item selection unit is further configured to select one content item for each space, wherein one content item selected for each space is the allocated content type related to the space. Matches
The computer system is further configured to provide the user with a display having the information window with the selected content item of the allocated content type.   The optimization goal is monetization, which further comprises presenting the sponsored advertisement to the user to generate revenue based on user interaction with the sponsored advertisement. 55. The system according to claim 54, characterized in that   55. The system of claim 54, wherein the optimization goal is user engagement, the user engagement further comprising prompting the user to participate regularly in a social networking system.   The optimization goal is user sharing, the user sharing further comprising prompting the user to interact with another user connected to the user in a social network. 55. The system according to item 54.   58. The system of claim 57, wherein the content type selected to facilitate user sharing is selected from the group consisting of event items, gift items, photo items or video items.   The optimization goal is user communication, the user communication comprising urging the user to connect with another user in the social network to increase social network growth. 55. The system according to item 54.   55. The system of claim 54, wherein the user group is a group of users related by demographics or geographic location.   55. The system of claim 54, wherein the display server is a web server and the display is a web page of a social networking website.   62. The system of claim 61, wherein the web server is further configured to distribute the information window to a website external to a social networking website.   And further comprising a feedback storage for storing explicit or implicit feedback supplied by a user regarding the content item in the information window, wherein the optimization engine is configured to provide the explicit or implicit feedback. 55. The system of claim 54, wherein the system is configured to change the content type or the content item based on the content.   The content type selection unit is further configured to distribute a specified percentage of the plurality of available spaces of the information window to a specific content type for all users of a specific demographic, 55. The system of claim 54, wherein the optimization goal for specific demographics is facilitated by user interaction with content items of the specific content type.   The content type selection unit further specifies the plurality of available spaces in the information window for all users having fewer than the specified number of connections with another user in the social network. 55. The system of claim 54, wherein the system is configured to distribute the proportioned proportions to a particular content type, and network growth is facilitated by user interaction with content items of the particular content type.   The content type selector further includes a plurality of available multiple types of content types known to promote one or more optimization goals than content types that would promote one or more optimization goals less. The system of claim 54, wherein the system is configured to distribute a greater percentage of space. Monitor the presentation results of multiple types of content items allocated to users in different user groups over a period of time;
Based on the results, determine which content types promote specific optimization goals more effectively than others,
Assessing the content type based on the content type's ability to achieve one or more optimization goals for the user group;
An evaluation generator configured as described above, wherein the rating is applied to allocate the available spaces of the information window of a plurality of users to the different content types. 55. The system of claim 54, wherein:

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