Selectively delaying social media messages

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016156583-A1
Application number	US-201414557824-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 2, 2014
Priority date	Dec 2, 2014
Publication date	Jun 2, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method, system, and computer program product for selectively delaying social media messages in a social media environment are provided in the illustrative embodiments. A subject matter of a social media message is determined by analyzing the social media message at a first time after sending by a sender user and prior to publishing on a social media page of a receiver user. Using a delay rule related to the subject matter, a determination is made whether the publishing of the social media message on the social media page of receiver user should be delayed. Responsive to the delay rule concluding to delay the publishing, the publishing of the social media message on the social media page of the receiver user is delayed by a delay period.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for selectively delaying social media messages in a social media environment, the method comprising:
determining, by analyzing a social media message at a first time after sending by a sender user and prior to publishing on a social media page of a receiver user, a subject matter of the social media message; determining, using a delay rule related to the subject matter, whether the publishing of the social media message on the social media page of receiver user should be delayed; and delaying, responsive to the delay rule concluding to delay the publishing, the publishing of the social media message on the social media page of the receiver user by a delay period.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether the receiver user has a delay preference set in a profile of the receiver user for the subject matter; and selecting the delay period from the profile according to the delay preference.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether the receiver user has published a second social media message containing the subject matter prior to the first time, wherein delaying the publishing by the delay period is responsive to the receiver user not having published the second social media message prior to the first time.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by analyzing a second social media message at a second time after sending by the sender user and prior to publishing on the social media page of the receiver user, a second subject matter of the second social media message; determining that the receiver user has published a third social media message on the social media page of the receiver user prior to the second time, the third message containing the second subject matter; and publishing the second social media message on the social media page of the receiver user without adding the delay period to the publishing of the second social media message.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
prompting the receiver user with a prompt, the prompt comprising the subject matter; receiving, responsive to the prompting, an input from the receiver user; and selecting the delay rule according to the input.

6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
modifying the delay rule, wherein the modifying changes a second delay period configured in the delay rule to the delay period.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
locating a different user in the social media environment, wherein the different user and the receiver user have at least one parameter common between a profile of the different user and a profile of the receiver user; determining that the different user has selected the delay rule for a second subject matter; and selecting the delay rule for delaying the publishing of the social media message on the social media page of the receiver user.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the second subject matter has at least one characteristic in common with the subject matter.

9 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
prompting the receiver user with a prompt, the prompt comprising an identifier associated with the delay rule; receiving, responsive to the prompting, an input from the receiver user; and selecting the delay rule according to the input.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the subject matter is distinct from an identity of the receiver user.

11 . A computer usable program product comprising a computer readable storage device including computer usable code for selectively delaying social media messages in a social media environment, the computer usable code comprising:
computer usable code for determining, by analyzing a social media message at a first time after sending by a sender user and prior to publishing on a social media page of a receiver user, a subject matter of the social media message; computer usable code for determining, using a delay rule related to the subject matter, whether the publishing of the social media message on the social media page of receiver user should be delayed; and computer usable code for delaying, responsive to the delay rule concluding to delay the publishing, the publishing of the social media message on the social media page of the receiver user by a delay period.

12 . The computer usable program product of claim 11 , further comprising:
computer usable code for determining whether the receiver user has a delay preference set in a profile of the receiver user for the subject matter; and computer usable code for selecting the delay period from the profile according to the delay preference.

13 . The computer usable program product of claim 11 , further comprising:
computer usable code for determining whether the receiver user has published a second social media message containing the subject matter prior to the first time, wherein delaying the publishing by the delay period is responsive to the receiver user not having published the second social media message prior to the first time.

14 . The computer usable program product of claim 11 , further comprising:
computer usable code for determining, by analyzing a second social media message at a second time after sending by the sender user and prior to publishing on the social media page of the receiver user, a second subject matter of the second social media message; computer usable code for determining that the receiver user has published a third social media message on the social media page of the receiver user prior to the second time, the third message containing the second subject matter; and computer usable code for publishing the second social media message on the social media page of the receiver user without adding the delay period to the publishing of the second social media message.

15 . The computer usable program product of claim 11 , further comprising:
computer usable code for prompting the receiver user with a prompt, the prompt comprising the subject matter; computer usable code for receiving, responsive to the prompting, an input from the receiver user; and computer usable code for selecting the delay rule according to the input.

16 . The computer usable program product of claim 15 , further comprising:
computer usable code for modifying the delay rule, wherein the modifying changes a second delay period configured in the delay rule to the delay period.

17 . The computer usable program product of claim 11 , further comprising:
computer usable code for locating a different user in the social media environment, wherein the different user and the receiver user have at least one parameter common between a profile of the different user and a profile of the receiver user; computer usable code for determining that the different user has selected the delay rule for a second subject matter; and computer usable code for selecting the delay rule for delaying the publishing of the social media message on the social media page of the receiver user.

18 . The computer usable program product of claim 11 , wherein the computer usable code is stored in a computer readable storage device in a data processing system, and wherein the computer usable code is transferred over a network from a remote data processing system.

19 . The computer usable program product of claim 11 , wherein the computer usable code is stored in a computer readable storage device in a server data processing system, and wherein the computer usable code is downloaded o

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Bank Judith H
• Bradley Lisa M
• Quirk Aaron J
• Sun Lin

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

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

• H04L51/32 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L51/14

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L51/52 Primary

  for supporting social networking services · CPC title

• H04L51/214

  using selective forwarding · CPC title