| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20090024548 | Compatibility Scoring of Users in a Social Network - The compatibility score of individuals in a social network is computed based on the compatibility of interests expressed by these individuals. The compatibility score between any two interests is calculated as the log of the estimated probability that a member of the social network will express both interests as his or her interests divided by the product of: (i) the estimated probability that a member of the social network will express the first of the two interests as his or her interest and (ii) the estimated probability that a member of the social network will express the second of the two interests as his or her interest. The compatibility score between two individuals is calculated as the sum of the compatibility scores between each interest appearing in a set of interests expressed by the first of the two individuals and each interest appearing in a set of interests expressed by the second of the two individuals. | 01-22-2009 |
| 20100180032 | AUTHORIZATION AND AUTHENTICATION BASED ON AN INDIVIDUAL'S SOCIAL NETWORK - An individual's social network is used to authorize information flow to the individual and to authenticate the individual for access to certain information or services. Information flow to the individual is authorized if the source of the information is a member of the individual's social network who is connected to the individual along a path that does not traverse through anyone on a gray list of the individual. The black list identifies those members who previously sent unwanted communication to the individual or posted content that was deemed offensive by the individual. The gray list identifies those members who are one degree separated from any black list member. The individual is authenticated for access to certain information or services if a member of the individual's social network already has access and this member is connected to the individual along a path that does not traverse through anyone on a gray list of the individual, or if members of the individual's social network who are connected to the individual along a path that does not traverse through anyone on a gray list of the individual have an average authentication rating that is at least a minimum value. | 07-15-2010 |
| 20100185580 | COMPATIBILITY SCORING OF USERS IN A SOCIAL NETWORK - The compatibility score of individuals in a social network is computed based on the compatibility of interests expressed by these individuals. The compatibility score between any two interests is calculated as the log of the estimated probability that a member of the social network will express both interests as his or her interests divided by the product of: (i) the estimated probability that a member of the social network will express the first of the two interests as his or her interest and (ii) the estimated probability that a member of the social network will express the second of the two interests as his or her interest. The compatibility score between two individuals is calculated as the sum of the compatibility scores between each interest appearing in a set of interests expressed by the first of the two individuals and each interest appearing in a set of interests expressed by the second of the two individuals. | 07-22-2010 |
| 20100185610 | VISUAL TAGS FOR SEARCH RESULTS GENERATED FROM SOCIAL NETWORK INFORMATION - Search results, including sponsored links and algorithmic search results, are generated in response to a query, and are marked based on frequency of clicks on the search results by members of social network who are within a predetermined degree of separation from the member who submitted the query. The markers are visual tags and comprise either a text string or an image. | 07-22-2010 |
| 20110087658 | Ranking Search Results Based on the Frequency of Access on the Search Results by Users of a Social-Networking System - Particular embodiments access a search query submitted by a first user of a social-networking system; identify one or more web pages in response to the search query; for each of the one or more web pages, determine a value indicating a number of user clicks associated with the web page by one or more second users of the social-networking system who are connected to the first user within the social-networking system; and send a set of hyperlinks for the one or more web pages, wherein hyperlinks for web pages where the value is greater than zero are visually emphasized over other hyperlinks. | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110093346 | Ranking Seach Results Using Social-Networking Information - Particular embodiments access a search query submitted by a first user; identify one or more sponsored web pages in response to the search query, wherein each sponsored web page is associated with a hyperlink; determine whether one or more of the sponsored web pages has been accessed by one or more second users, wherein the one or more second users are connected in a graph structure to the first user within a threshold degree of separation; and send a response comprising a hyperlink for at least one of the sponsored web pages in response to the search query, wherein the response further includes a visual tag or a reference to the visual tag for the hyperlink if the sponsored web page has been accessed by at least one of the one or more second users. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110093460 | Ranking Search Results Based on the Frequency of Access on the Search Results by Users of a Social-Networking System - Particular embodiments access a search query submitted by a first user of a social-networking system; identify one or more web pages in response to the search query; retrieve, from the social-networking system, social-networking information of the first user to identify one or more second users of the social-networking system who are connected to the first user within a predetermined degree of separation within the social-networking system; for each of the one or more web pages, determine a value indicating a number of times that the web page has been accessed by the one or more second users; rank the one or more web pages based on the value determined for each web page; and send a ranked set of hyperlinks for the one or more web pages to a second computing device associated with the first user. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110093498 | Clarifying Search Results Using Social-Networking Information - Particular embodiments access a query from a first user, the query comprising a first user attribute; identify a plurality of candidate users sharing the same first user attribute; retrieve one or more members of a social-networking system who are connected to the first user within a threshold degree of separation; compare each candidate user with each member who is connected to the first user within the threshold degree of separation; and if a candidate user matches a member who is connected to the first user within the threshold degree of separation, then identify the matching candidate user as a match result to the query. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110093506 | Controlling Access of User Information Using Social-Networking Information - Particular embodiments access a query submitted by a first user; retrieve information concerning one or more second users; retrieve a degree of separation between the first user and each second user within a social-networking system; and for each second user, if the degree of separation between the first user and the second user is less than or equal to a threshold degree of separation, then send the information concerning the second user to the first user in response to the query. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110093709 | Providing Social-Network Information to Third-Party Systems - Particular embodiments receive, at a first computing device associated with a social-networking system and from a second computing device associated with a third-party system, a query comprising a first identifier corresponding to a user of the third-party system, wherein the first identifier is computed by applying a hash algorithm to a user credential associated with the user of the third-party system; determine, by the first computing device, whether the user of the third-party system matches any member of the social-networking system; and if the second identifier corresponding to a member of the social-networking system matches the first identifier, then send, by the first computing device to the second computing device, social-network information of the member of the social-networking system in response to the query. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110119335 | RELATIONSHIP CONFIRMATION IN AN ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORK - An online social network is provided in which members of the online social network control who may view their personal information and who may communicate with them. The members control who may view their personal information by setting a visibility preference. A member may not view another member's full personal profile if the measure of relatedness between the two is greater than the visibility preference of the other member. The members also control who may communicate with them by setting a contactability preference. A member may not communicate with another member if the measure of relatedness between the two is greater than the contactability preference of the other member. | 05-19-2011 |
| 20110145931 | System and Method for Managing Information Flow Between Members of an Online Social Network - An online social network is provided in which members of the online social network control who may view their personal information and who may communicate with them. The members control who may view their personal information by setting a visibility preference. A member may not view another member's full personal profile if the measure of relatedness between the two is greater than the visibility preference of the other member. The members also control who may communicate with them by setting a contactability preference. A member may not communicate with another member if the measure of relatedness between the two is greater than the contactability preference of the other member. | 06-16-2011 |
