Identifying sold indicators in social networking system listings

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10078864-B2
Application number	US-201514693391-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 22, 2015
Priority date	Apr 22, 2015
Publication date	Sep 18, 2018
Grant date	Sep 18, 2018

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed toward systems and methods for identifying sold indicators within for-sale groups hosted by a social networking system. For example, systems and methods described herein identify information and social networking activities associated with a sale listing to determine whether an item advertised by the sale listing has been sold. Furthermore, systems and methods can prompt a seller associated with the sale listing to take action with regard to the sale listing in response to a determination that the item advertised by the sale listing has been sold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
identifying, within a social graph maintained by a social networking system and using one or more processors, a user-to-user sale listing available on the social networking system, wherein the sale listing advertises an item for sale by a seller and is associated within the social graph with social networking activity information and item information, wherein the social networking activity information comprises comments and messages associated with the sale listing and the item information comprises a product-type associated with the sale listing;
analyzing, using the one or more processors, the comments and messages associated with the sale listing;
analyzing, using the one or more processors, the product-type associated with the sale listing;
determining, using the one or more processors and based on the analyzed comments and messages associated with the sale listing and on the analyzed product-type associated with the sale listing, a likelihood that the item advertised for sale in the sale listing available on the social networking system has been sold offline;
receiving, using the one or more processors and in response to a prompt provided to the seller based on the determined likelihood, an indication from the seller to update the sale listing to indicate the item has been sold offline; and
updating the sale listing within the social graph to indicate the item is no longer for sale.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the user-to-user sale listing is available on the social networking system via a for-sale group.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising analyzing additional item information associated with the sale listing, wherein analyzing the additional item information comprises analyzing one or more of a description of the item, a typical price associated with the product-type, a history of similar sales associated with the product-type, a history of sales associated with the product-type within a geographic region, a typical length of time associated with sales of items of the product-type associated with the item, or an advertising saturation level associated with the product-type.

4. The method as recited in claim 3 , further comprising analyzing additional social networking activity information associated with the sale listing, wherein analyzing the additional social networking activity information comprises analyzing one or more of a social networking system association between the seller and a sender of a comment, a period of time that has elapsed since the seller submitted the sale listing, a typical period of time that elapses before similar items are sold, or a volume of sales associated with other items similar to the item for sale by the seller via the social networking system.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 , further comprising determining a weight associated with each piece of item information associated with the sale listing and each piece of social networking activity information associated with the sale listing.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 , wherein
the analysis of item information associated with the sale listing indicates whether the sale listing has been active for an amount of time that is longer than a typical length of time for sale listings of similar items, and
if the sale listing has been active for an amount of time longer than the typical length of time for sale listings of similar items, the determined likelihood that the item has been sold is increased.

7. The method as recited in claim 5 , wherein
the analysis of the comments and messages associated with the sale listing comprises a natural language processing analysis of the comments and messages associated with the sale listing to identify whether the comments and messages associated with the sale listing include language indicating an off-line sale of the item has taken place, and
if the comments and messages associated with the sale listing include language indicating an off-line sale of the item has taken place, the determined likelihood that the item has been sold is increased.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
determining a likelihood that the item has been sold offline further comprises calculating a score based on the analyzed comments and messages associated with the sale listing and the analyzed product-type associated with the sale listing; and
further comprising, prior to receiving an indication from the seller to update the sale listing, prompting the seller to update the sale listing to indicate the item has been sold based on the calculated score.

9. The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein prompting the seller to update the sale listing to indicate the item has been sold comprises one or more of providing the seller with a mark as sold notification or providing the seller with a mark as sold control.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving, in response to being prompted, a selection of the mark as sold control;
wherein updating the sale listing to indicate the item is no longer for sale comprises updating a node associated with the sale listing within the social graph.

11. A system comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:
identify, within a social graph maintained by a social networking system, a user-to-user sale listing available on the social networking system, wherein the sale listing advertises an item for sale by a seller and is associated within the social graph with social networking activity information and item information, wherein the social networking activity information comprises comments and messages associated with the sale listing and the item information comprises a product-type associated with the sale listing;
analyze the comments and messages associated with the sale listing;
analyze the product-type associated with the sale listing;
determine, based on the analyzed comments and messages associated with the sale listing and on the analyzed product-type associated with the sale listing, a likelihood that the item advertised for sale in the sale listing available on the social networking system has been sold offline;
receive, in response to a prompt provided to the seller based on the determined likelihood, an indication from the seller to update the sale listing to indicate the item has been sold offline; and
update the sale listing within the social graph to indicate the item is no longer for sale.

12. The system as recited in claim 11 , wherein the user-to-user sale listing is available on the social networking system via a for-sale group.

13. The system as recited in claim 12 , further storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to analyze item information associated with the sale listing by analyzing one or more of a description of the item, product-type associated with the item, a typical price associated with the product-type, a history of similar sales associated with the product-type, a history of sales associated with the product-type within a geographic region, a typical length of time associated with sales of items of the product-type associated with the item, or an advertising saturation level associated with the product-type.

14. The system as recited in claim 13 , further storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to analyze social networking activity information associated with the sale listing by analyzing

Assignees

• Facebook Inc

Inventors

• Liu Deborah
• Ku Mary Pao-An
• Lo Kwok Ngai Eric
• Pan Bowen

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title

• G06Q30/0627

  by specifying product or service characteristics, e.g. product dimensions · CPC title

• G06Q30/0641 Primary

  utilising user interfaces specially adapted for shopping · CPC title

• G06Q50/01

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06Q10/48

  using social graphs · CPC title