Expanding activity channels in an online network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020004887-A1
Application number	US-201816024755-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 30, 2018
Priority date	Jun 30, 2018
Publication date	Jan 2, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

Techniques for expanding activity channels in an online network are provided. In one technique, one or more search criteria associated with a first user are determined. Based on the one or more search criteria, a search of a first set of users is performed. As a result of the search, a subset of the first set of users is identified. A second set of users that have responded to messages from users in the subset is identified. Instances of attribute values of an attribute of the second set of users are aggregated to generate aggregated values, each of which corresponds to a different attribute value of the attribute values. Based on one or more of the aggregated values, content that is related to one or more attribute values that correspond to the one or more aggregated values is determined and presented to the first user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
determining one or more search criteria associated with a first user; based on the one or more search criteria, performing a search of a first plurality of users that do not include the first user; as a result of the search, identifying a subset of the first plurality of users; identifying a second plurality of users that have responded to messages from users in the subset; aggregating instances of a plurality of attribute values of an attribute of the second plurality of users to generate a plurality of aggregated values, each of which corresponds to a different attribute value of the plurality of attribute values; based on one or more aggregated values in the plurality of aggregated values, determining content, that is related to one or more attribute values that correspond to the one or more aggregated values, to present to the first user; causing the content to be presented to the first user; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the content comprises:
performing a second search of entities based on the one or more attribute values: identifying one or more entities that are associated with the one or more attribute values; wherein the content comprises data about the one or more entities.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the attribute of the second plurality of users is one of a geographic region, an industry, or a seniority level.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the content comprises data about one or more particular geographic regions, one or more particular industries, or one or more particular seniority levels.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
for each user in the first plurality of users, storing response data that indicates zero or more users that have responded to one or more first messages from said each user and zero or more users that have not responded to one or more second messages from said each user; based on the response data, identifying a third plurality of users that have not responded to messages from users in the subset; aggregating second attribute values of the attribute of the third plurality of users to generate a second plurality of aggregated values; wherein the content is also determined based on one or more aggregated values in the second plurality of aggregated values.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more search criteria are specified by the first user.

7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
receiving, from a computing device of the first user, input that comprises one or more keywords; wherein performing the search comprises comparing the one or more keywords to data found in user profiles of the first plurality of users.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to aggregating the instances of the plurality of attribute values:
identifying a third plurality of users that have received a message from a user in the subset; for each user in the third plurality of users, generating an engagement score that reflects how engaged said each user is with a user in the subset; based on the engagement score for each user in the third plurality of users, filtering the third plurality of users to generate the second plurality of users, wherein the second plurality of users is a subset of the third plurality of users.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to determining the content:
for each user of one or more users in the second plurality of users:
determining a weight for said each user,
identifying an attribute value that is associated with said each user,
generating a weighted instance of the attribute value based on the weight;
wherein at least one aggregated value in the plurality of aggregated values is based on the weighted instance.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the content identifies the one or more attribute values.

11 . One or more storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause:
determining one or more search criteria associated with a first user; based on the one or more search criteria, performing a search of a first plurality of users that do not include the first user; as a result of the search, identifying a subset of the first plurality of users; identifying a second plurality of users that have responded to messages from users in the sub set; aggregating instances of a plurality of attribute values of an attribute of the second plurality of users to generate a plurality of aggregated values, each of which corresponds to a different attribute value of the plurality of attribute values; based on one or more aggregated values in the plurality of aggregated values, determining content, that is related to one or more attribute values that correspond to the one or more aggregated values, to present to the first user; causing the content to be presented to the first user.

12 . The one or more storage media of claim 11 , wherein determining the content comprises:
performing a second search of entities based on the one or more attribute values: identifying one or more entities that are associated with the one or more attribute values; wherein the content comprises data about the one or more entities.

13 . The one or more storage media of claim 11 , wherein the attribute of the second plurality of users is one of a geographic region, an industry, or a seniority level.

14 . The one or more storage media of claim 13 , wherein the content comprises data about one or more particular geographic regions, one or more particular industries, or one or more particular seniority levels.

15 . The one or more storage media of claim 11 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause:
for each user in the first plurality of users, storing response data that indicates zero or more users that have responded to one or more first messages from said each user and zero or more users that have not responded to one or more second messages from said each user; based on the response data, identifying a third plurality of users that have not responded to messages from users in the subset; aggregating second attribute values of the attribute of the third plurality of users to generate a second plurality of aggregated values; wherein the content is also determined based on one or more aggregated values in the second plurality of aggregated values.

16 . The one or more storage media of claim 11 , wherein the one or more search criteria are specified by the first user.

17 . The one or more storage media of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause:
receiving, from a computing device of the first user, input that comprises one or more keywords; wherein performing the search comprises comparing the one or more keywords to data found in user profiles of the first plurality of users.

18 . The one or more storage media of claim 11 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause, prior to aggregating the instances of the plurality of attribute values:
identifying a third plurality of users that have received a message from a user in the subset; for each user in the third plurality of users, generating an engagement score that reflects how engaged said each user is with a user in the subset; based on the engagement score for each user in the third plurality of users, filtering the third plur

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Huang Shen
• Wang Hu
• Jin Zhou
• Zhang Yongzheng

Classifications

• H04L67/306

  User profiles · CPC title

• G06F16/9535 Primary

  Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation · CPC title

• G06F16/248

  Presentation of query results · CPC title

• G06F16/24578

  using ranking · CPC title

• G06F17/30867 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic