Managing shareable content in a social network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9870579-B2
Application number	US-201615390243-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 23, 2016
Priority date	Aug 19, 2013
Publication date	Jan 16, 2018
Grant date	Jan 16, 2018

Abstract

Methods are presented for managing shareable content articles in a social network. One of the methods includes receiving a plurality of articles from a publisher for access to selected users in the social network. In one example, the received articles are identified as having premium content. Each of the received articles is assigned a sharing parameter that includes a sharing threshold. The method further includes receiving a request from a first user, who is identified from the selected users of the social network, to share an article identified from the plurality of received articles with a second user in the social network, and providing the second user with access to the article when the sharing threshold is satisfied. The article is presented to the second user with supplemental content.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving an article comprising content from a publisher, wherein the article is accessible by a first user of a social network, wherein the article is not accessible by one or more second users of the social network before being shared with the second users in the social network, and wherein the second users are friends of the first user in the social network;
assigning a sharing parameter to the article, wherein the sharing parameter comprises a sharing threshold;
receiving, by a processing device, a request from the first user to share the article with the friends of the first user in the social network;
determining a number of generations that the article has been shared in the social network; and
in response to the receipt of the request from the first user to share the article with the friends of the first user, providing, by the processing device, the second users with access to the article based on a comparison of the sharing threshold with the number of generations that the article has been shared.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising integrating supplemental content comprising advertising along with the article when presented to the second users.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
limiting further sharing of the article when the number of generations that the article has been shared exceeds the sharing threshold assigned to the article.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein limiting the further sharing of the article comprises making the article non-shareable.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein limiting the further sharing of the article comprises allowing the article to be further shared in a form of a truncated version.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein limiting the further sharing of the article comprises allowing the article to be further shared in a form of an abstract of the article.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
recording use data of the article as the article is being shared among users in the social network; and
providing the use data to the publisher.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
assigning rewards to the first user based on the use data.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the use data of the article comprises names of the users in the social network among whom the article is being shared and use impressions associated with the article for each of the users among whom the article is being shared.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the use data of the article further comprises use impressions associated with supplemental content integrated with the article.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein each of the use impressions associated with the article for each of the users among whom the article is being shared comprises a use activity or a combination of use activities for the article.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein each of the use impressions is adjustable for relevance based on assigned weightings.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second users are prevented from accessing other articles from the publisher except for the article shared by the first user.

14. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second users comprise a second user, wherein one or more third users are friends of the second user in the social network, and wherein the method further comprises:
receiving a request from the second user to share the article with the friends of the second user in the social network, wherein the article is not accessible by the third users before being shared with the third users in the social network; and
in response to the receipt of the request from the second user to share the article with the friends of the second user, providing the third users with access to the article based on a comparison of the sharing threshold with the number of generations that the article has been shared, wherein the article is presented to the third users with more supplemental content than the supplemental content presented to the second users.

15. A system comprising:
at least one memory that stores instructions; and
at least one processing device configured to execute the instructions to:
receive a plurality of articles comprising content from a publisher, wherein the plurality of articles is accessible by a first user of a social network, wherein the plurality of articles is not accessible by one or more second users of the social network before being shared with the second users in the social network, and wherein the second users are friends of the first user in the social network;
identify a shareable article from the plurality of articles;
assign a sharing parameter to the shareable article, wherein the sharing parameter comprises a sharing threshold;
identify the first user as having a user account with the publisher, wherein the user account enables access to the plurality of articles by the first user and enables sharing of the shareable article by the first user with the friends of the first user in the social network;
receive a request from the first user to share the shareable article with the friends of the first user in the social network;
integrate a first portion of supplemental content with the shareable article in response to a determination that the friends of the first user do not have access to the shareable article;
determine a number of generations that the shareable article has been shared in the social network;
in response to the receipt of the request from the first user to share the shareable article with the friends of the first user, provide the second users with access to the shareable article comprising the first portion of the supplemental content based on a comparison of the sharing threshold with the number of generations that the shareable article has been shared;
record use data of the shareable article; and
provide the use data to the publisher.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the processing device is further configured to execute the instructions to:
limit further sharing of the shareable article when the number of generations that the shareable article has been shared exceeds the sharing threshold assigned to the shareable article.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the second users comprise a second user, wherein one or more third users are friends of the second user in the social network, and wherein the processing device is further configured to execute the instructions to:
receive a request from the second user to share the shareable article with the friends of the second user in the social network, wherein the plurality of articles is not accessible by the third users before being shared with the third users in the social network;
integrate a second portion of the supplemental content with the shareable article in response to a determination that the third users do not have access to the shareable article, further comprising integration of more of the supplemental content in the second portion than the first portion in response to a determination that the shareable content has been shared more generations for the third users than for the second users; and
in response to the receipt of the request from the second user to share the shareable article with the friends of the second user, provide the third users with access to the shareable article comprising the second portion of the supplemental content based on a comparison of the sharing threshold with the number of generations that the shareable article has been shared.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the processing devi

Assignees

• Google Inc
• Google Llc

Inventors

• Zuccarino Scott
• Moody Paul
• Galfi Rudolf Michael

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

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

• H04L67/306

  User profiles · CPC title

• G06Q30/0277 Primary

  Online advertisement · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• H04L51/32

  Electricity · mapped topic