Group recommendations based on answered questions in a social networking system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9177347-B2
Application number	US-201213606001-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 6, 2012
Priority date	Sep 6, 2012
Publication date	Nov 3, 2015
Grant date	Nov 3, 2015

Abstract

Based on information associated with users, a social networking system recommends one or more groups for a target user to join or to create. Characteristics of the target user, characteristics of users connected to the target user, characteristics of candidate groups in the social networking system may be used to identify groups for recommendation. The social networking system may provide questions to the target user and recommend a group to the target user based on received answers to the questions. For example, the answers to the provided question identify one or more characteristics of the target user, which are used to select a group for recommendation. Additionally, the social networking system may recommend additional users for the target user to add or invite to a group based on characteristics of the target user, the additional users, and/or the group.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
identifying a target user of a social networking system;
accessing a user profile in the social networking system including information about the target user;
presenting one or more questions retrieved from the social networking system to the target user, the one or more questions for identifying subject matter associated with the target user, the subject matter comprising at least one of an interest of the target user, an association of the target user, a characteristic of the target user, or an affiliation of the target user;
receiving at least one answer to a question from the target user;
determining subject matter associated with the received at least one answer;
identifying one or more groups maintained by the social networking system associated with the determined subject matter, the identified one or more groups each comprising a plurality of group members each associated with the determined subject matter; and
presenting the identified one or more groups to the target user.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more characteristics associated with the target user are selected from a group consisting of: a geographic characteristic, a biographic characteristic, a hobby, and an interest.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the biographic characteristic is selected from a group consisting of: a school, a class year, an age, a gender, an employer, and a career.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the geographic characteristic is selected from a group consisting of: a current location, a hometown, and a check-in location.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein presenting one or more questions retrieved from the social networking system to the target user comprises:
determining characteristics of the target user from the user profile in the social networking system; and
selecting the one or more questions based on the determined characteristics.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein presenting one or more questions retrieved from the social networking system to the target user comprises:
determining additional users connected to the target user from the user profile in the social networking system; and
selecting the one or more questions based on characteristics of the additional users connected to the target user.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein presenting one or more questions retrieved from the social networking system to the target user comprises:
determining one or more groups in the social networking system including the target user based on the user profile in the social networking system; and
selecting the one or more questions based on characteristics of the one or more groups in the social networking system including the target user.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein presenting one or more questions retrieved from the social networking system to the target user comprises:
retrieving answers associated with the one or more questions from the social networking system; and
presenting answers associated with a question along with the question to the target user.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein receiving at least one answer to the question from the target user comprises:
receiving a selection of an answer associated with the question and presented along with the question.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying one or more groups maintained by the social networking system associated with the determined subject matter comprises:
identifying one or more groups associated with subject matter matching the determined subject matter;
determining characteristics associated with the identified one or more groups; and
selecting at least one group based on the characteristics associated with the identified one or more groups.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the characteristics associated with the identified one or more groups are selected from a group consisting of: a group size, a group creation date, and a number of included in a group connected to the target user.

12. A method comprising:
identifying a target user of a social networking system;
accessing a user profile in the social networking system including information about the target user;
presenting a plurality of questions retrieved from the social networking system to the target user in a series ordered to identify details about subject matter associated with the target user, the subject matter comprising at least one of an interest of the target user, an association of the target user, a characteristic of the target user, or an affiliation of the target user;
receiving answers to one or more questions in the series from the target user;
determining subject matter associated with the received answers;
identifying one or more groups maintained by the social networking system associated with the determined subject matter, the identified one or more groups each comprising a plurality of group members each associated with the determined subject matter; and
presenting the identified one or more groups to the target user.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein presenting the plurality of questions retrieved from the social networking system to the target user in the series ordered to identify details about subject matter associated with the target user comprises:
determining characteristics of the target user from the user profile in the social networking system;
presenting an initial question from the plurality of questions in the series to the target user;
receiving an answer to the initial question from the target user;
identifying an additional question from the plurality of questions based at least in part on the received answer; and
presenting the additional question from the plurality of questions to the target user.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein presenting the plurality of questions retrieved from the social networking system to the target user in the series ordered to identify details about subject matter associated with the target user comprises:
determining additional users connected to the target user from the user profile in the social networking system;
presenting an initial question from the plurality of questions in the series to the target user;
receiving an answer to the initial question from the target user;
identifying an additional question from the plurality of questions based at least in part on the received answer; and
presenting the additional question from the plurality of questions to the target user.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein presenting the plurality of questions retrieved from the social networking system to the target user in the series ordered to identify details about subject matter associated with the target user comprises:
determining one or more groups in the social networking system including the target user based on the user profile in the social networking system;
presenting an initial question from the plurality of questions in the series to the target user;
receiving an answer to the initial question from the target user;
identifying an additional question from the plurality of questions based at least in part on the received answer; and
presenting the additional question from the plurality of questions to the target user.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein identifying one or more groups maintained by the social networking system associated with the determined subject matter comprises:
determining whether the social networking system maintains at least one group associated with the determined subject matter; and
responsive to determining the social networking s

Assignees

• Jackson Todd Christopher
• Maschmeyer William Russell
• Jiang Bin
• Lau Kenneth M
• Novati Michael
• Facebook Inc

Inventors

• Jackson Todd Christopher
• Maschmeyer William Russell
• Jiang Bin
• Lau Kenneth M
• Novati Michael

Classifications

• G06Q10/40 Primary

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

• H04L67/22

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G06Q50/01 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• H04L67/306

  User profiles · CPC title

• H04L67/535

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