Generating a summary of social media content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9299059-B1
Application number	US-201213490789-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jun 7, 2012
Priority date	Jun 7, 2012
Publication date	Mar 29, 2016
Grant date	Mar 29, 2016

Abstract

A method includes receiving, using one or more processing devices, one or more search terms; searching, in a social network using the one or more processing devices, for items of social media content with at least a predefined amount of relevance to the one or more search terms; identifying, based on searching using the one or more processing devices, the items of social media content with at least the predefined amount of relevance to the one or more search terms; and generating, using the one or more processing devices, a summary of content in the identified items of social media content; wherein the summary comprises a subset of the content in the identified items of social media content.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, by one or more processing devices from a client device of a user, one or more search terms specified by the user;
searching, in a social network, for items of social media content that (i) are posted by one or more other users socially connected in the social network within one degree of separation to the user who specified the one or more search terms, and (ii) have at least a predefined amount of relevance to the one or more search terms;
identifying, based on searching, a plurality of different items of social media content that (i) are posted by the one or more other users socially connected in the social network within one degree of separation to the user who specified the one or more search terms, and (ii) have at least the predefined amount of relevance to the one or more search terms;
identifying, in the plurality of different items of social media content, one or more terms having at least the predefined amount of relevance to at least one of the one or more search terms;
identifying one or more previously executed search queries that comprise at least one of the one or more terms identified;
re-executing at least one of the one or more previously executed search queries;
identifying, based on re-executing, one or more additional items of social media content that (i) are posted by the one or more other users socially connected in the social network within one degree of separation to the user who specified the one or more search terms, and (ii) have at least the predefined amount of relevance to the one or more search terms; and
generating, by the one or more processing devices, a summary of (i) content of the plurality of different items of social media content identified based on searching, and (ii) content of the one or more additional items of social media content identified based on re-execution;
wherein the summary provides a description of content in at least a subset of the one or more additional items of social media content and the plurality of different items of social media content that are posted by the one or more other users socially connected in the social network within one degree of separation to the user who specified the one or more search terms, and wherein the summary differs from the content in the subset of the plurality of different items of social media content.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the summary comprises:
identifying one or more terms that are occur with increased frequency in the plurality of different items of social media content identified, relative to a frequency with which other terms occur in the plurality of different items of social media content identified;
wherein the summary comprises at least one of the one or more terms identified.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
generating information that qualifies the one or more terms identified;
wherein the summary further comprises the information generated.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the summary comprises:
identifying, in the plurality of different items of social media content identified, an item of social media content authored by an authoritative source;
wherein the summary comprises at least the item of social media content authored by the authoritative source.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating, based on the one or more search terms, a search query;
wherein searching comprises:
searching based on the search query.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
selecting one or more terms occurring in the plurality of different items of social media content associated with at least the predefined amount of relevance to the one or more search terms; and
expanding the search query to include the one or more terms selected.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting, to the client device, the summary for display in a content stream rendered in a graphical user interface.

8. One or more machine-readable hardware storage devices storing instructions that are executable by one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from a client device of a user, one or more search terms specified by the user;
searching, in a social network, for items of social media content that (i) are posted by one or more other users socially connected in the social network within one degree of separation to the user who specified the one or more search terms, and (ii) have at least a predefined amount of relevance to the one or more search terms;
identifying, based on searching, a plurality of different items of social media content that (i) are posted by the one or more other users socially connected in the social network within one degree of separation to the user who specified the one or more search terms, and (ii) have at least the predefined amount of relevance to the one or more search terms;
identifying, in the plurality of different items of social media content, one or more terms having at least the predefined amount of relevance to at least one of the one or more search terms;
identifying one or more previously executed search queries that comprise at least one of the one or more terms identified;
re-executing at least one of the one or more previously executed search queries;
identifying, based on re-executing, one or more additional items of social media content that (i) are posted by the one or more other users socially connected in the social network within one degree of separation to the user who specified the one or more search terms, and (ii) have at least the predefined amount of relevance to the one or more search terms; and
generating a summary of (i) content of the plurality of different items of social media content identified based on searching, and (ii) content of the one or more additional items of social media content identified based on re-execution;
wherein the summary provides a description of content in at least a subset of the one or more additional items of social media content and the plurality of different items of social media content that are posted by the one or more other users socially connected in the social network within one degree of separation to the user who specified the one or more search terms, and wherein the summary differs from the content in the subset of the plurality of different items of social media content.

9. The one or more machine-readable hardware storage devices of claim 8 , wherein generating the summary comprises:
identifying one or more terms that are occur with increased frequency in the plurality of different items of social media content identified, relative to a frequency with which other terms occur in the plurality of different items of social media content identified;
wherein the summary comprises at least one of the one or more terms identified.

10. The one or more machine-readable hardware storage devices of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:
generating information that qualifies the one or more terms identified;
wherein the summary further comprises the information generated.

11. The one or more machine-readable hardware storage devices of claim 8 , wherein generating the summary comprises:
identifying, in the plurality of different items of social media content identified, an item of social media content authored by an authoritative source;
wherein the summary comprises at least the item of social media content authored by the authoritative source.

12. The one or more machine-readable hardware storage devices of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:
generating, based on the one or

Assignees

• Marra Gregory M
• Haugen Frances B
• Google Inc

Inventors

• Marra Gregory M
• Haugen Frances B

Classifications

• G06F17/30864

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06Q10/10 Primary

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title

• G06F16/9535

  Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation · CPC title

• G06F16/951

  Indexing; Web crawling techniques · CPC title

• G06F16/9536

  Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering · CPC title