Implicit contacts in an online social network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9794359-B1
Application number	US-201414231201-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 31, 2014
Priority date	Mar 31, 2014
Publication date	Oct 17, 2017
Grant date	Oct 17, 2017

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes accessing a social graph including a number of nodes and a number of edges connecting the nodes. Each of the edges between two of the nodes represent a single degree of separation between them. The nodes include a first node corresponding to a first user associated with an online social network and a number of second nodes that each correspond to a concept or a second user associated with the online social network. The method also includes generating a user-list containing references to a number of second users. A contact-score for each second user may be calculated based on interactions between the first user and second user on the online social network, or interactions not on the online social network but accessed by the online social network. A user-list is generated containing references to second users with contact-scores above a threshold contact-score.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising, by a computing device:
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 a first user associated with an online social network; and
a plurality of second nodes corresponding to a plurality of second users associated with the online social network, respectively;

receiving, from a social-networking application of the online social network on a client device of the first user, a request for a user-list comprising one or more of the second users;
calculating, for each of 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, the social interactions being interactions on the online social network, each social interaction being represented as an edge in the social graph connecting the first node and a second node corresponding to the second user, wherein the one or more social interactions are visible to the first user based on privacy settings associated with the second node or with the edge representing the respective social interaction; and
one or more non-social interactions between the first user and the second user, the non-social interactions comprising at least one or more interactions between the first user and the second user on a third-party application on the client device and being accessed by the social-networking application of the online social network from the third-party application on the client device, wherein the non-social interactions are shared with the social-networking application based on a privacy setting associated with the third-party application;

generating the user-list comprising references to one or more second users having a contact-score with respect to the first user above a threshold contact-score; and
sending, to the social-networking application on the client device responsive to the request, the user-list for display to the first user.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user-list is displayed on a user interface of a native application associated with the online social network.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user-list is displayed on a webpage associated with the online social network accessed by a browser client.

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

5. The method of claim 4 , 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; or
view additional information about the referenced second user.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-social interactions are recorded by a third-party application of the social-networking system.

7. 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.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user-list is an ordered list of one or more second users based on the contact-score for each second user.

9. The method of claim 1 , 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.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user-list comprises references to one or more second users who are not connected to the first user within the social graph.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user-list contains information about the contact-score for each second user.

12. The method of claim 1 , 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, and generating a new version of the user-list based on the updated contact-scores; and
sending a revised user-list to the first user for display.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first user may remove one or more second users from the user-list.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein references to one or more second users comprise:
an image associated with the referenced second user;
the name of the referenced second user;
an email address associated with the reference second user;
contact information associated with the referenced second user;
a user ID associated with the referenced second user; or
user-profile information on the social-networking system associated with the referenced second user.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contact-score for each second user is 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.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contact-score for each second user is 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.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an input from the first user to filter the user-list by a particular time period;
re-calculating, for each of one or more second users, a contact-score between the first user and the second user based on interactions between the first user and the second user within the particular time period;
updating the user-list comprising references to one or more second users having a re-calculated contact-score above a threshold contact-score; and
sending, in response to the input, the updated user-list to the first user for display.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the particular time period extends to the current time of the input by the first user.

19. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:
access 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 a first user associated with an online social network; and
a plurality of second nodes corresponding to a plurality of second users associated with the online social network, respectively;

receive, from a social-networking application of the online social network on a client device of the first user, a request for a user-list comprising one or more of the second users;
calculate, for each of one or more second users, a contact-score between the first user and the second user, wherein the contact-score for each se

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

• G06Q10/00

  Administration; Management · CPC title

• G06Q10/10

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title

• H04L67/22 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L51/32

  Electricity · mapped topic