Implicit contacts in an online social network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10917485-B2
Application number	US-201916444931-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 18, 2019
Priority date	Mar 31, 2014
Publication date	Feb 9, 2021
Grant date	Feb 9, 2021

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving, from a client system of a first user of an online social network, a request for a user-list, generating a structured query corresponding to the user-list, where the structured query is selected from a plurality of structured queries, and identifying one or more second users of the online social network that match the structured query and have a social connection or non-social connection with the first user. The social connection between the first user and the second user being based on social interactions on the online social network. The non-social connection between the first user and the second user being based on non-social interactions on a third-party application on the client system and being accessed by the online social network from the third-party application. The method includes sending, to the client system, instructions for displaying the user-list to the first user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising, by a computing device:
receiving, from a client system of a first user of an online social network, a request for a user-list interface comprising a first user-list, from a plurality of pre-defined user-lists, wherein each user-list is associated with a query-domain of a plurality of query-domains;
generating a structured query corresponding to the user-list and that references one of the plurality of query-domains, wherein the structured query is selected from a plurality of structured queries;
identifying one or more second users of the online social network that match the structured query and have a social connection or non-social connection with the first user, wherein for each second user:
a social connection between the first user and the second user being based on social interactions on the online social network; and
a non-social connection between the first user and the second user being based on non-social interactions on a third-party application on the client system and being accessed by the online social network from the third-party application; and

sending, to the client system responsive to the request, instructions for displaying the user-list to the first user, wherein the user-list comprises one or more references to one or more of the identified second users, respectively.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
accessing a social graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes, each of the edges between two of the nodes representing a single degree of separation between them, the nodes comprising:
a first node corresponding to the first user associated with the online social network; and
a plurality of second nodes corresponding to a plurality of second users associated with the online social network, respectively.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more social interactions are represented as edges connecting the first node corresponding to the first user and a second node corresponding to the second user.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the user-list comprises references to one or more second users who are first-degree connections of the first user within the social graph.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the user-list comprises references to one or more second users who are not connected to the first user within the social graph.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the user-list is displayed on a user interface of a native application associated with the online social network or a webpage associated with the online social network accessed by a browser client.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user-list comprises one or more interactive elements associated with one or more second user referenced on the user-list.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the one or more interactive elements are operable to:
send a friend request to the referenced second user;
accept a friend request from the referenced second user;
modify a privacy setting with respect to the referenced second user;
modify a friend connection with respect to the referenced second user;
send a message to the referenced second user;
initiate a voice call with the referenced second user;
remove the referenced second user from the user-list; or
view additional information about the referenced second user.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-social interactions between the first user and the second user comprise one or more of:
a phone call between the first user and the second user;
an SMS or MMS message between the first user and the second user;
an email message between the first user and the second user;
an event attended by the first user and the second user;
the first user and the second user having substantially the same geographic location at substantially the same time; or
an address book entry of the first user or the second user.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
calculating, for each of the one or more second users, a contact-score between the first user and the second user, wherein the contact-score for each second user is based at least in part on one or more social interactions between the first user and the second user and one or more non-social interactions between the first user and the second user.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the user-list is an ordered list of one or more second users, the order being based on the contact-score calculated for each second user.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the contact-score for each second user is a composite contact-score comprising:
a first weighting factor applied to a first component of the contact-score based on the social interactions; and
a second weighting factor applied to a second component of the contact-score based on the non-social interactions.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
applying a query-filter to the user-list;
updating the contact-scores of the one or more second users based at least in part on the query-filter;
generating a revised user-list based on the updated contact-scores; and
providing, to the client system, instructions for displaying the revised user-list to the first user.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the contact-score for each second user is calculated based at least in part on one or more interactions by the second user that have a visibility that is not visible to the first user based on privacy settings associated with the second user.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the contact-score for each second user is calculated based at least in part on one or more interactions by the first user that have a visibility that is not visible to the second user based on privacy settings associated with the first user.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein each of the identified second users on the user-list have a contact-score with respect to the first user above a threshold contact-score.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein a reference to a second user comprises:
an image associated with the referenced second user;
a name associated with the referenced second user;
an email address associated with the referenced second user;
contact information associated with the referenced second user;
a user ID associated with the referenced second user; or
user-profile information associated with the referenced second user on the online social network.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from the client system, an input to filter the user-list by a particular time period, wherein the particular time period extends to a time of the input by the first user;
re-calculating, for each of one or more second users, the contact-score between the first user and the second user based on social interactions or non-social interactions between the first user and the second user within the particular time period;
updating the user-list to comprise references to one or more second users having a re-calculated contact-score above a threshold contact-score; and
providing, to the client system, instructions for displaying the updated user-list to the first user.

19. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:
receive, from a client system of a first user of an online social network, a request for a user-list interface comprising a first user-list, from a plurality of pre-defined user-lists, wherein each user-list is associated with a query-domain of a plurality of query-domains;
generate a str

Assignees

• Facebook Inc

Inventors

• Lessin Samuel Wharton
• Baldwin Robert M
• Huang Jeffrey
• Stanke Timothy A
• Winner Caitlin Rothrock
• Sain Matthew Vincent

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

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

• H04L51/52

  for supporting social networking services · CPC title

• H04L67/535 Primary

  Tracking the activity of the user (network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34) · CPC title

• G06Q10/00

  Administration; Management · CPC title

• G06Q10/10

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title