Patent application number | Description | Published |
20140025735 | IDENTIFYING CONSUMER SEGMENTS USING A SOCIAL NETWORKING SYSTEM - Content posted to a brand page is associated with one or more tags defined by an entity associated with the brand page. Tags associated with content with which the user interacts are identified. As users of a social networking system interact with the content, the tags allow identification of user interests based on interaction with content items. Interactions with the tagged content allow the entity to use the tags to infer content in which different users have an interest. Because the tags are defined by the entity, distribution lists of users interested in content, such as content associated with business segments, may be created by the entity. The entity may also correlate user interests to aspects of user profiles, thereby developing an understanding of its consumers. | 01-23-2014 |
20140026071 | GUIDING PROGRESSIVE USER ENGAGEMENT IN AN ONLINE ENVIRONMENT - An entity having a brand page maintained by a social networking system defines a sequence of content items associated with a brand page is determined. Different content items in the sequence include different information that is dependent on interaction between a user and the sequence. For example, content items in the sequence provide increasingly more detailed or complex information when progressing from the first content item to the last content item in the sequence. When a viewing user of a social networking system interacts with the brand page, prior interactions with the sequence by the viewing user are used to classify the viewing user and to select a content item from the sequence that is communicated to the viewing user. | 01-23-2014 |
20140089780 | Customizing Content Delivery From A Brand Page To A User In A Social Networking Environment - A social networking system user's interaction with a brand page may be tailored to match the user's interests. Content providers or page administrators of a brand page associate keywords with content posted to the brand page. A keyword may define a characteristic of a social networking system user to receive the content or may describe a characteristic of the content. The keywords are compared to a user profile of a user requesting the brand page and content posted to the brand page is selected for presentation to the user based on the user profile and the keywords. For example, content is presented to a user having a characteristic defined by criteria keyword. The selected content posted to the brand page is presented to the user requesting the brand page. | 03-27-2014 |
20140149223 | Targeted Advertisements In Mobile Applications - A social networking system enables targeted advertising to its users on mobile devices, either directly in third-party applications or via an ad exchange. An application on the mobile device associated with the social networking system stores user identifying information in a shared memory location on the user's mobile device. To deliver a targeted ad to the user on the mobile device, an application executed by the mobile device retrieves the user identifying information, which is transmitted to an ad server associated with the social networking system or to the social networking system. Based on the user's profile in the social networking system, an advertisement is selected for the user (e.g., using targeting criteria and an auction model) and sent to an ad exchange or to the application on the mobile device for presentation to the user on the mobile device. | 05-29-2014 |
20140164137 | PRICING SYSTEM FOR ON-LINE ADVERTISEMENTS - Based on a request for an advertisement, a social networking system retrieves information about a user and identifies candidate advertisement (“ad”) objects having targeting criteria satisfied by the information about the user. The social networking system selects a candidate ad object based on associated bid prices and sends a description of the selected candidate ad object to an external system including a bid price for the candidate ad object. Based on bid prices of advertisements stored by the external system and bid price from the description, the external system determines an external clearing price for the candidate ad object and communicates the external clearing price to the social networking system. The social networking system determines a fee for serving an advertisement from the selected candidate ad object based on an internal clearing price for the selected candidate ad object and the external clearing price. | 06-12-2014 |
20140207793 | SPONSORED RECOMMENDATION IN A SOCIAL NETWORKING SYSTEM - A social networking system presents suggestions to a user of a social networking system to use or install one or more applications accessible in the system. The social networking system offers suggestions by ranking candidate applications for a particular user and selecting applications to recommend based on the rankings. Advertisers associated with some applications may bid to boost the rankings of an application, making it more likely to appear for a given user. | 07-24-2014 |
20140207900 | CONVERSION TRACKING FOR INSTALLATION OF APPLICATIONS ON MOBILE DEVICES - An application executing on a mobile device, such as an application associated with a social networking system provides a link to install a third-party application. The link may be presented in an advertisement, and the link is used to retrieve data comprising a client application for execution by the mobile device. To track installations, the client application stores an indication that the client application was installed in a shared memory location on the mobile device, as native applications do not have access to cookies. A social networking application executing on the mobile device retrieves the indication the client application was installed from the shared memory location and communicates it to a social networking system for storing in a user profile. | 07-24-2014 |
20140222561 | Cross-Platform Advertisement Targeting - An online system, such as a social networking system, enables targeted advertising to its users across platforms, such as mobile applications, desktop browsers, and mobile browsers. The online system stores interactions with advertisements or other content from multiple platforms with a user identifier. When an advertisement request is received including the user identifier, the stored interactions associated with the user identifier are retrieved, allowing an advertisement to be selected based on user interactions through various platforms. This improves advertisement delivery, such as advertisement retargeting, and conversion tracking. | 08-07-2014 |
20140222581 | Third-Party Sourcing Advertisements From A Social Networking System - A social networking system selects advertisements for presentation to its users on third-party websites. The social networking system receives a request for content from a widget or plug-in on the third-party website and provides content including one or more advertisements for presentation along with content from the third-party website. The third-party website may use revenue generated from users accessing advertisements presented via the social networking system to supplement or eliminate revenue from typical banner ads. | 08-07-2014 |
20140236716 | Selection of Advertisements Based on Social Networking System Login Status - An ad bidder receives a request from a user device to select an advertisement (“ad”) for presentation along with a web page. The ad bidder includes a user profile database and may be a social networking system. The ad bidder determines if the user of the user device is logged into the ad bidder and selects the advertisement based on information in the user profile database if the user is logged into the ad bidder. If the ad bidder determines the user is not logged into the ad bidder, the ad bidder retrieves a device cookie stored on the user device. The device cookie describes interactions with content from the user device, such as viewed web pages or ads. Data stored by the device cookie is then used to select the ad for presentation. | 08-21-2014 |
20140244386 | TARGETING ADVERTISEMENTS TO LOGGED OUT USERS OF AN ONLINE SYSTEM - An online system stores a plurality of browsing histories for its users, each browsing history associated with a user's user identifying information. Based on a request for an advertisement from a client device that identifies a user and indicates the user does not have an existing session with the online system, the online system compares the identified user's browsing history to other stored browsing histories. Users associated with stored browsing histories similar to the identified user's browsing history are identified and user profiles of the identified users having an established session with the online system are identified. One or more common characteristics of the identified user profiles are used to select an advertisement for presentation to the user. | 08-28-2014 |
20140330640 | CONVERSION TRACKING FOR INSTALLATION OF APPLICATIONS ON MOBILE DEVICES - An application executing on a mobile device, such as an application associated with a social networking system provides a link to install a third-party application. The link may be presented in an advertisement, and the link is used to retrieve data comprising a client application for execution by the mobile device. To track installations, the client application stores an indication that the client application was installed in a shared memory location on the mobile device, as native applications do not have access to cookies. A social networking application executing on the mobile device retrieves the indication the client application was installed from the shared memory location and communicates it to a social networking system for storing in a user profile. | 11-06-2014 |