Splitting posts in a thread into a new thread

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9847959-B2
Application number	US-201514702490-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 1, 2015
Priority date	Oct 24, 2014
Publication date	Dec 19, 2017
Grant date	Dec 19, 2017

Abstract

A method, system and computer program product for improving social network users' interactions. The content of posts in a thread is analyzed so as to group the posts by topic. The posts directed to a specific topic are then analyzed to determine which users posted an initial post or a comment containing an ongoing question not answered. The users' profiles, liked pages and/or friends' graphs for the users involved in the analyzed posts are analyzed to determine any relationships among the users. Furthermore, past communication patterns and/or liked pages of the users are analyzed to determine the likelihood of responding to posts. The posts in the original thread are split into a new thread containing the group(s) of posts directed to a topic(s) having a group of users who would most likely participate in the new thread, where the group of users is selected based on the analysis discussed above.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for improving social network users' interactions, the method comprising:
monitoring posts in an original thread of a social networking system to determine a history of interactions by topic;
analyzing content of said monitored posts to group said monitored posts by topic, wherein a first group of said monitored posts directed to a first topic is posted by a first set of users;
analyzing one or more of users' profiles, liked pages and friends' graphs for said first set of users to determine relationships among users of said first set of users;
analyzing one or more of past communication patterns and said liked pages of said first set of users to determine a likelihood of responding to posts; and
splitting, by a processor, posts in said original thread into a new thread containing said first group of said monitored posts directed to said first topic and having a second set of users of said first set of users to participate in said new thread, wherein each of said second set of users is selected based on said analysis of one or more of said users' profiles, liked pages and friends' graphs for said first set of users and said analysis of one or more of said past communication patterns and said liked pages of said first set of users, wherein each of said second set of users has a relationship with one or more users of said second set of users and has a likelihood of responding to a post that exceeds a threshold value.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:
analyzing said first group of said monitored posts posted by said first set of users directed to said first topic to determine which users of said first set of users posted an initial post or a comment containing an ongoing question not answered or need for a follow-up response;
wherein each of said second set of users is selected based on said analysis of said first group of said monitored posts posted by said first set of users directed to said first topic, said analysis of one or more of said users' profiles, liked pages and friends' graphs for said first set of users and said analysis of one or more of said past communication patterns and said liked pages of said first set of users.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:
detecting a post from a user to said original thread.

4. The method as recited in claim 3 further comprising:
presenting said user an option to send said post to said original thread or said new thread in response to said user being a user of said second set of users.

5. The method as recited in claim 3 further comprising:
analyzing text of said post to identify a topic; and
inserting said post in said new thread in response to said topic of said post being related to said first topic and said user has a relationship with one or more users of said second set of users.

6. The method as recited in claim 3 further comprising:
inserting said post in said original thread in response to said user not having a relationship with a user of said second set of users or a topic of said post not being related to said first topic.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said analysis of said content of said monitored posts, said analysis of one or more of said users' profiles, liked pages and friends' graphs for said first set of users and said analysis of one or more of said past communication patterns and said liked pages of said first set of users uses natural language processing.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Akavaram Vikrant
• Bradley Lisa M
• Lei Lillian Y
• Louie Lawrence

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

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

• G06F40/30

  Semantic analysis · CPC title

• H04L67/306

  User profiles · CPC title

• G06Q10/107

  Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing] · CPC title

• H04L12/12

  Arrangements for remote connection or disconnection of substations or of equipment thereof · CPC title