U.S. patent application number 12/485856 was filed with the patent office on 2010-12-16 for selective content accessibility in a social network.
Invention is credited to Alok Menghrajani, Leah Pearlman, Mark Slee.
Application Number | 20100318571 12/485856 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 43307276 |
Filed Date | 2010-12-16 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100318571 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Pearlman; Leah ; et
al. |
December 16, 2010 |
Selective Content Accessibility in a Social Network
Abstract
A social networking service encourages users to post content to
a communication channel with varying levels of accessibility to
other users. Users may select how content will be published and
control the accessibility of uploaded content using a privacy
setting for each content item that the user posts. The privacy
setting defines, or identifies, the set of connections who may view
the posted content item. The posted content item is placed in a
particular communication channel in the social networking service,
such as a newsfeed or stream, where the content item can be viewed
by those who are permitted to view it according to its associated
privacy setting. Varying granularities of privacy settings provide
flexibility for content accessibility on a social networking
service.
Inventors: |
Pearlman; Leah; (Denver,
CO) ; Menghrajani; Alok; (Sunnyvale, CA) ;
Slee; Mark; (San Francisco, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Facebook/Fenwick;Silicon Valley Center
801 California Street
Mountain View
CA
94041
US
|
Family ID: |
43307276 |
Appl. No.: |
12/485856 |
Filed: |
June 16, 2009 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
707/784 ;
707/E17.005; 707/E17.032; 709/204; 709/225 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 67/306 20130101;
H04L 67/22 20130101; G06Q 50/01 20130101; H04L 63/104 20130101;
H04L 12/185 20130101; H04L 67/06 20130101; H04L 51/32 20130101;
H04L 63/10 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
707/784 ;
709/204; 707/E17.005; 707/E17.032; 709/225 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/30 20060101
G06F017/30; G06F 15/16 20060101 G06F015/16 |
Claims
1. A computer-implemented method for posting content with selective
accessibility on a social networking service, the method
comprising: receiving a content item from a user of the social
networking service; receiving a selection of a privacy setting to
be associated with the content item from the user, the privacy
setting establishing one or more connections allowed to access the
content item; placing the content item into an electronic
communication channel of the social networking service; and making
the content item accessible to one or more connections via the
communication channel, where accessibility to the one or more
connections is determined by the privacy setting selected by the
user.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: blocking access to
the content item for connections not identified by the privacy
setting.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the privacy setting allows the
content item to be searchable on the Internet.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the privacy setting identifies
all users of the social networking service.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the privacy setting identifies
all of the user's connections on the social networking service.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the privacy setting identifies a
subset of the user's connections on the social networking
service.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the privacy setting identifies
one or more connections to exclude from the one or more
connections.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the privacy setting includes a
user-defined list of connections.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the privacy setting includes an
automatic grouping of connections.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the automatic grouping includes
connections with a high affinity with the user.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein the automatic grouping includes
connections sharing a common characteristic with the user.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the privacy setting is set to a
default setting.
13. The method of claim 1, further comprising: responsive to
receiving a selection of a privacy setting to be associated with
the content item from preventing the content item from being posted
to a communication channel accessible to one or more connections,
omitting the content item from the communication channel accessible
to the one or more connections.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the selection is performed by
the user.
15. The method of claim 13, wherein the selection is dynamically
selected based on the user's affinity for the one or more
connections.
16. The method of claim 1, wherein the content item is associated
with a data item having a separate privacy setting.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the separate privacy setting
identifies one or more connections allowed to access the data
item.
18. The method of claim 16, wherein the data item comprises another
content item posted by one of the user's connections.
19. The method of claim 16, wherein the data item comprises
location information.
20. The method of claim 16, wherein the data item comprises
metadata about the content item.
21. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a new
privacy setting for the content item from the user, the new privacy
setting identifying one or more connections different from the
previously identified one or more connections; and modifying the
accessibility of the posted content item in the communication
channel according to the new privacy setting.
22. A computerized system for posting content with selective
accessibility on a social networking service, the system
comprising: a user profile store for storing profiles of users of
the social networking service, each profile comprising grouping
data of the profile's connections; and a web server comprising, a
content generation module for receiving a content item with an
associated privacy setting identifying one or more connections
allowed to access the content item, a content publishing module for
posting the content item into an electronic communication channel
of the social networking service and publishing the content item to
one or more connections via the communication channel, wherein the
content item is published subject to the privacy setting associated
with the content item, and a privacy module for managing the access
to the content item.
23. A method for managing communication of content within a social
networking service, the method comprising: maintaining in a profile
database a set of user profiles for users of the social networking
service and a set of connections among the user profiles; providing
an interface for users of the social networking service enabling
users to post content items and to specify privacy settings for
accessibility of the posted content items; maintaining in a content
database a plurality of received content items and associated
privacy settings from users posting content items via the
interface; for each of one or more of the users of the social
networking service, generating a stream of content items for the
user based on the user's connection to other users who posted the
content items and limited according to the privacy settings
associated therewith; and providing the streams of content items to
users of the social networking service via a computer display.
24. The method of claim 23, wherein the content database maintains
groupings of user profiles for users of the social networking
service according to common characteristics of the user profiles
and wherein the privacy settings are specified by selecting one or
more of the groupings via the interface.
25. The method of claim 23, wherein the content database maintains
user-defined groupings of user profiles for users of the social
networking service and wherein the privacy settings are specified
by selecting one or more of the user-defined groupings via the
interface.
26. The method of claim 23, wherein the privacy settings are
specified by selecting one or more users that are blocked from
accessing the content items associated with a particular privacy
settings.
27. The method of claim 23, wherein the users comprise entities.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] The present invention relates generally to social network
services, and more particularly to providing users of a social
network service the ability to selectively designate content with
varying levels of accessibility. As used herein, a "user" can be an
individual or an entity (such as a business or third party
application). The term "connection" refers individuals and entities
with which a user of the social networking service may form a
connection, association, or relationship.
[0002] Conventionally, users of social networking services can post
content that they wish to enable and/or encourage others to view.
The content may include text, status updates, location information,
photos, videos, groups, events, and links to external websites as
well as other pages in the social network, just to name a few.
Content posted by a user is then made available to the user's
connections via one or more of various communication channels in
the social network, such as a newsfeed or stream.
[0003] While the streams in a social network efficiently make
content available to a user's connections, the user cannot control
the accessibility of the posted content on a granular level. As a
user becomes connected with more and more people on the social
network over time, the user may wish to target certain content to a
subset of his or her connections, or may wish to specifically
exclude certain connections from viewing the uploaded content
entirely. In addition, a user may not want to inundate all of the
user's connections with numerous content items that may be
irrelevant to many of them. Conventional social networking services
lack a content upload and delivery mechanism that enables users to
control the accessibility of the content generated on the social
network on a granular level. As a result, users are reluctant to
upload certain content to the social network freely because of the
lack of granular control of the accessibility of that content.
SUMMARY
[0004] To encourage users to post content to a social network,
embodiments of the invention allow users to select how content will
be published and to control the accessibility of the uploaded
content. In one embodiment, a user may select a privacy setting for
each content item that the user posts. The privacy setting defines,
or identifies, the set of connections that may view the posted
content item. The posted content item is placed in a particular
communication channel in the social network, such as a newsfeed or
stream, where the content item can be viewed by connection
permitted to view it according to its associated privacy setting.
In this way, a user may have tremendous flexibility in who will be
able to view the user's posted content.
[0005] The privacy setting may be specified on various levels of
granularity, such as by specifying particular connections in the
social network, predefined groups of the user's connections, a
particular genre of connections, all of the user's connections, all
connections of the user's connections, the entire social network,
or even the entire Internet (e.g., to make the posted content item
indexable and searchable on the Internet). A user may choose a
default privacy setting for all content that is to be posted.
Additionally, a user may specifically exclude certain connections
from viewing a content item or a particular type of content.
[0006] In one embodiment, a user may edit the privacy setting of a
content item after it has been posted. In this manner, a user may
confine the accessibility of content to connections selected by the
user even after the content has been posted to the communication
channel in the social network.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] FIG. 1 is a high-level conceptual diagram illustrating a
user and the various groups, or subsets of connections on a social
network in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
[0008] FIG. 2 is a high-level block diagram of a system for
controlling content accessibility in a social network in accordance
with an embodiment of the invention.
[0009] FIGS. 3A-B are interaction diagrams of a process for
designating a privacy setting to a content item in accordance with
an embodiment of the invention.
[0010] FIGS. 4A-G are screenshots depicting one embodiment of the
invention, illustrating how content accessibility is controlled in
a social network.
[0011] FIG. 5 is a screenshot depicting how a post appears in a
connection's newsfeed in accordance with one embodiment of the
invention.
[0012] The figures depict various embodiments of the present
invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art
will readily recognize from the following discussion that
alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated
herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the
invention described herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Overview
[0013] A social networking service offers its users the ability to
communicate and interact with other users of the social network. In
use, users join the social network and then establish connections
to other users, individuals and entities, to whom they desire to be
connected. Connections may be added explicitly by a user, for
example, the user selecting a particular other user to be a friend,
or automatically created by the social networking site based on
common characteristics of the users (e.g., users who are alumni of
the same educational institution). Connections in social networks
are usually in both directions, but need not be. For example, if
Bob and Joe are both users and establish a connection with one
another, Bob and Joe have a two-way connection. If, on the other
hand, Bob wishes to connect to Sam to view Sam's posted content
items, but Sam does not choose to connect to Bob, a one-way
connection is formed. The connection between users may be a direct
connection; however, some embodiments of a social networking
service allow the connection to be indirect via one or more levels
of connections.
[0014] In addition to interactions with other users, the social
networking service provides users with the ability to take actions
on various types of items supported by the service. These items may
include groups or networks (where "networks" here refer not to
physical communication networks, but rather social networks of
people) to which users of the service may belong, events or
calendar entries in which a user might be interested,
computer-based applications that a user may use via the service,
transactions that allow users to buy or sell items via the service,
and interactions with advertisements that a user may perform on or
off the social network. These are just a few examples of the items
upon which a user may act on a social networking service, and many
others are possible. Though many of the embodiments/examples
provided below are directed to a social networking service, the
invention described herein is not limited to a social networking
service, but can include other environments involving social
networks, social content, or other types of websites.
[0015] User generated content enhances the user experience on the
social networking service. "Content" may include any type of media
content, such as status updates or other textual messages, location
information, photos, videos, advertisements, and links. Content
"items" represent pieces of content that are represented as objects
in the social network. In this way, users of a social network are
encouraged to communicate with each other by "posting" content
items of various types of media through various communication
channels. Using communication channels, users of a social network
increase their interaction with each other and engage with the
social network on a more frequent basis. One type of communication
channel is a "stream" in which a user is presented with a series of
content items that are posted, uploaded, or otherwise provided to
the social networking service from one or more users of the
service. The stream may be updated as content items are added to
the stream by users. Communication channels are discussed further
in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/253,149, filed on Oct. 16,
2008, which hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
[0016] However, there are instances where posting content visible
to all of a user's connections is not desirable. For example, a
user may want to post a video from a company presentation to the
social network. This video may not be appropriate to be shared with
all of the user's connections, for example, those connections
working at competing companies. Thus, the user may want to confine
the accessibility of the video to a select audience. Conventional
social networking services fail to provide a mechanism for users to
post content while also controlling the accessibility and targeting
of user generated content.
[0017] In one embodiment, a social network enables a user to modify
how content items are shared in a social network. Content items may
have a designated privacy setting. A privacy setting defines the
set of users who may view or access the content posted in the
communication channel. The privacy setting may be specified on
various levels of granularity, and a user may specifically exclude
certain connections from viewing a content item. Once a user
customizes a privacy setting, that custom setting may be saved for
subsequent content item postings, in one embodiment.
[0018] These settings may be modified for each content item a user
uploads at the time of the upload, allowing tremendous flexibility
in controlling the accessibility of posted content. Alternatively,
a user may choose a default privacy setting for all uploaded
content. A privacy setting thus enables a user to hide specific
content items from certain connections, or to target specific
content items to a particular audience, focusing content delivery
to identified individual or groups of connections chosen by the
user. A connection not identified by a privacy setting will be
blocked from viewing or otherwise accessing the content item.
Privacy settings are also described more generally in U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 12/154,886, filed on May 27, 2008, which is
hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. In one
embodiment, a user may edit the privacy setting of a content item
after it has been posted. In this manner, a user may confine the
accessibility of content to an audience selected by the user even
after the content has been posted to the communication channel in
the social network, in one embodiment. In another embodiment, the
accessibility of some content may not be edited after it has been
posted to a communication channel.
[0019] A user may have many different types of connections on a
social network. For example, FIG. 1 shows how, in one embodiment, a
user's connections in a social network may be classified by the
type of connection shared in real life. A user may expressly
designate a name for certain groups of connections created by the
user or for an automatic grouping that may be generated by the
social network according to common characteristics shared by the
connections and the user. Such automatic groupings may include
co-workers, housemates, teammates, classmates, travel companions,
relationships, relatives, random connections, or any other grouping
the social network can determine from information entered or the
actions taken by users on the social networking service. This
information may also include profile information entered by the
users as well as actions performed on the social networking
service, in one embodiment. For example, if a user speaks French
and English and wants to post a content item in French, an
automatic grouping of all French speakers may be created so that
the user may post the French content for connections that actually
understand French, in one embodiment. Thus, an automatic grouping
may also be created on the basis of language skills, or any other
common interests or characteristics as shared in the profile
information of the users or can otherwise be determined by the
system.
[0020] The system may also, in an alternative embodiment, include a
category of connections that include friends for which a high
affinity is associated with the user. Having a high affinity for a
user indicates a high level of interaction and engagement with the
user and the user's posts. Thus, a user may wish to post content
for viewing by connections that might actually engage with or
interact with the content as opposed to connections that would
ignore the post. A user may also create his or her own grouping.
Other groupings may include network-level privacy, such as
geographic networks and alumni networks as entered in the user's
profile information. A grouping or classification of a connection,
therefore, is simply a designation for organizing a set of the
user's connections. Affinities are described further in U.S.
application Ser. No. 11/503,093, filed Aug. 11, 2006, which is
hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
[0021] As depicted in FIG. 1, a user 100 has several groupings of
connections. The groupings may overlap and a connection may have
more than one classification. Random connections 110 may comprise
of connections that the user met randomly, in real life or on the
social networking service. Relationships 115 may include real life
relationships or other relationships existing on the social
networking service. High affinity friends 120 may vary at any given
time, but these connections have indicated a high affinity for the
user according to their interactions with the user, the user's
posted content, or shared content, in one embodiment. Classmates
125 may include connections that attended the same school as the
user. Relatives 130, coworkers 135, teammates 140, and housemates
145 may represent groupings of actual relatives, coworkers,
teammates, and housemates, however a real-life connection is
optional.
[0022] Exceptions 155 may be designated by a user ad hoc, meaning
that the user can designate which connections are blocked from
viewing specific content items as each content item is posted. In
other words, each time a user posts a content item, the user may
exclude a specific connection from accessing that content item at
the time of the posting. In an alternative embodiment, exceptions
155 may also include connections that have been excluded from all
content posts. Exceptions 155 may include individual connections or
entire groupings. For example, a user may wish to exclude coworkers
135 from viewing family photos, but not from viewing photos from a
sporting event. Using a content publisher 105, the user 100 may
designate the family photos (a content item 150) with different
privacy settings from the sporting event photos (another content
item 150). Thus, the user 100 can share personal photos (a content
item 150) with her high affinity friends 120 or any other grouping
of friends, while at the same time making sure that her coworkers
135 and other specified exceptions 155 don't even know about these
personal photos.
[0023] In another embodiment, a content item may be associated with
various data items. For example, a photo of a secret surfing spot
may be tagged to indicate that several connections appear in the
photo, and a location of where the photo was taken may also be
attached to the photo using GPS or other location awareness enabled
applications. In this example, the content item comprises the photo
of the secret surfing spot, but is also attached to data items
including links to the connections appearing in the photo and
location information identifying where the photo was taken. A user
posting this photo may wish to share the photo content with
everyone on the social networking service, but at the same time
hide, or exclude, the location information from a subset of
connections. A different subset of connections may be allowed to
view the location information as well as the photo content
according to the user's privacy setting. Further, data items may
also include metadata, or information about the content item. This
metadata may include, for example, the number of times the photo
has been viewed and other interactions with the photo, such as
sharing the photo or posting the photo to a connection's wall, or
posting content as a comment. Thus, one content item, such as the
photo of the secret surfing spot, may be associated with various
data items, including location information, social content, and
photo content, each with different privacy settings.
[0024] It should be noted that a connection need not be grouped.
FIG. 1 illustrates several ungrouped connections 160 that have not
been designated a group by the user 100 or by an automatic
grouping.
System Architecture
[0025] FIG. 2, in one embodiment, depicts a high-level block
diagram of the system architecture involved in controlling the
accessibility of content posted on the social networking service. A
user device 205 may include any device that allows a user of a
social networking service to interact with other users of the
social networking service. The user device 205 communicates with
the web server 215 to send and receive data. A user device 205 may
request from the web server 215 a web page comprising content
items. While accessing the web page, a user may post content to the
social networking service via the user device 205 by uploading
content. A user profile store 210 communicates with the web server
215 to provide access to a user profile object 220 for each user of
the social networking service. The user profile object 220 provides
access to grouping data 240 for each user of the social networking
service that can be used to generate automatic groupings of
connections. The grouping data 240 also comprises user-defined
groupings of connections, in one embodiment. In other embodiments,
a user device 205 interfaces directly with a web server 215 to
upload and receive content items. In another embodiment, the social
networking service is implemented on an application running on a
client device (e.g., a portable communications device) that
accesses information from the social networking service using APIs
or other communication mechanisms.
[0026] The web server 215 comprises a content generation module
225, a content publishing module 230, and a privacy module 235. The
content generation module 225 receives the content item uploaded by
a user and generates an object on the social networking service
associated with the uploaded content item. The content publishing
module 230 provides an interface for the user to select a privacy
setting for the uploaded content item. This interface determines
the content item's accessibility on the social networking
service.
[0027] The content publishing module 230 also retrieves grouping
data 240 from the user profile object 220 associated with the user
uploading the content via the user device 205. Using the grouping
data 240, the content publishing module 230 displays selectable
groupings to the user. Groupings may vary in granularity, such as
by specifying particular individual connections in the social
networking service, predefined groups of the user's connections, a
particular genre of connections, all of the user's connections, all
connections of the user's connections, all users of the social
networking service, or even the entire Internet (e.g., to make the
posted content item indexable and searchable on the Internet).
Additionally, a user may specifically exclude certain connections
from viewing a content item using the content publishing module
230. Alternatively, a user may choose a default privacy setting for
all content that is posted, and this default setting would be
stored as a preference on the user's profile object 220.
[0028] The privacy module 235 provides an interface for a user to
modify the privacy setting of a content item after it has been
posted in the communication channel. For example, suppose a user's
default setting allows all users of the social networking service
to view the all of the user's posted content. After posting a
certain content item, the user may decide to limit access to the
posted content item to a particular subset of connections by
modifying the privacy setting of the content item via the privacy
module 235. In this manner, a content item's privacy setting can be
changed easily, limiting the content's accessibility to the
connections selected by the user. The privacy module 235 enables
the accessibility of a content item posted by a user to be modified
by the user at any time.
[0029] Connection devices 250, 255, 260, and 265 represent
different devices used by groups of connections made up of
individuals, entities, or both. The content publishing module 230
delivers a content item to the communication channel and configures
the accessibility of the content by the connection devices 250,
255, 260, and 265 according to the selected groupings stored as
grouping data 240. For example, connection devices 250 may relate
to devices used by a user's relatives, while connection devices
255, 260, and 265 may relate to devices used by a user's
classmates, coworkers, and relationships. Depending on how the user
has configured the privacy setting for a content item posted to a
communication channel, the connection devices 250, 255, 260, and
265 may or may not be able to view the posted content item.
Selective Content Accessibility
[0030] FIG. 3A is an interaction diagram showing how a user may
select the level of accessibility of a content item that the user
posts. A user device 205 sends 300 a request for a web page to the
web server 215. The web server 215 requests 305 user profile
information from the user profile store 210. The user profile store
210 provides 310 the requested user's profile information. The web
server 215 then enables 315 a privacy setting interface loaded with
the user's profile information. As discussed earlier, a user's
profile information is stored as a user profile object 220
comprising, among other things, grouping data 240.
[0031] The web server 215 sends a web page 320 to the user device
205. The web server 215 receives 325 a content item from the user
device 205. At this point, the privacy setting interface indicates
330 the current privacy setting. A user may be satisfied with the
current privacy setting and decide to request 365 the web server
215 to post the content item with the current privacy setting. In
one embodiment, the current privacy setting may be the most
recently used privacy setting. In another embodiment, the current
privacy setting is the default setting as specified in the user's
profile object 220.
[0032] A user may also decide to modify the privacy setting, the
web server 215 receiving 335 a selection to modify the privacy
setting. The web server 215 generates 340 groupings from the
retrieved user profile information. These groupings can be selected
and unselected by the user after they have been presented 345 to
the user. A user may also decide to specifically exclude
connections from the candidate set of connections, as well as
specifically include additional connections. Once the web server
215 has received 350 a selection of a set of connections for the
privacy setting, a candidate set of connections is generated
355.
[0033] The web server 215 indicates 360 on the web page that the
privacy setting has been modified. At this point, the user may
change his or her mind and select 335 to modify the privacy setting
again. Otherwise, a request is received 365 to post the content
item. This content will be posted 370 by the web server 215 to the
communication channel with modified accessibility as specified in
the privacy setting. In one embodiment, the user may later modify
the privacy setting for the content item.
[0034] FIG. 3B illustrates how content items posted in a
communication channel are delivered from a web server 215 to
connection devices 250, 255, 260, and 265. As requests for web
pages are sent 375 from the different groups of connection devices
250, 255, 260, and 265 to the web server 215, a web page is sent
that may or may not comprise the posted content because of the
privacy setting selected by the user. As a result, the group of
connection devices 250 may be sent 380 web pages without the user's
generated content because the group of connection devices 250 may
correspond to connections that were excluded from viewing the
content, such as relatives for example. Another group of connection
devices 265 may also be sent 395 web pages without the user's
generated content because they may correspond to specifically
excluded connections that the user did not want to allow to access
the posted content item. Selected connections corresponding to
connection devices 255 and 260, however, will receive web pages
with the user's generated content sent 390 and 395 from the web
server 215. In other embodiments, connection devices 250, 255, 260,
and 265 interface directly with a web server 215 to receive content
items. In another embodiment, the social networking service is
implemented on an application running on a client device (e.g., a
portable communications device) that accesses information from the
social networking service using APIs or other communication
mechanisms.
[0035] FIGS. 4A-G are screenshots of one embodiment of the
invention. FIG. 4A displays a typical web page sent by a web server
215. The title bar 400 indicates that "Joe Smith" is the user of
the social networking service associated with this particular web
page. A communication channel 415 displays content items posted by
the user's connections in the social networking service. A posting
interface 405 enables the user to upload and post content to a
communication channel 415 in the social networking service for view
by other users of the social networking service. A filtering
interface 410 enables the user to filter the content of the
displayed communication channel 415. Another communications channel
420 displays "Highlights" to the user that might be of interest to
the user. Both communication channels 415 and 420 may comprise
content items generated by users on the social networking
service.
[0036] Within the posting interface 405, an input field 425 and
content submission button 435 are displayed. The communication
channel 415 comprises content items posted by users and entities on
the social networking service. For example, a connection posted a
photo 440 with an accompanying caption 430. Another connection
posted a status update 450 in the communication channel 415. Yet
another connection posted a video 455 with an accompanying caption.
And still other entities (whether connections or not) might post an
advertisement 495 to the communication channel 415, or, as
illustrated in FIGS. 4A-G, in the communication channel 420. In the
"Highlights" communication channel 420, a link to a photo album 445
is also displayed.
[0037] In FIG. 4B, content has been uploaded into the input field
425. The posting interface 405 is modified to include various links
465 to upload different types of content such as links, photos,
videos, and notes. Other applications may be included in a drop
down menu link 465 represented in FIG. 4B by an inverted triangle.
A privacy setting dialog 460 also appears within the posting
interface 405 that indicates the current privacy setting. As
illustrated in FIG. 4B, the current privacy setting is set to "All
Friends."
[0038] In FIG. 4C, the privacy setting dialog 460 has been selected
to be modified. In one embodiment, a drop down menu lists several
types of privacy settings, including "Everyone," "All Friends,"
"Close Friends," and "Custom." The "Everyone" setting may include
all users of the social networking service and may also include
anyone on the Internet, making the uploaded content indexable and
searchable by anyone on the Internet. The "All Friends" setting may
include all of the user's connections on the social networking
service. The "Close Friends" setting may, in one embodiment,
include connections on the social networking service that have a
high affinity score for the user. This means that these connections
are interested in the posts from that user due to the regular
interaction with the user, the user's posted content, or the shared
content on the social networking service. The user determines a
"Custom" setting at that moment. In another embodiment, the most
recently used "Custom" setting is stored in the user profile object
associated with the user. In yet another embodiment, choosing the
"Custom" setting allows the user to choose among custom groups
previously created by the user.
[0039] Once a user decides to customize the accessibility of the
content to be uploaded by selecting the "Custom" setting 465 from
the privacy setting dialog 460, a custom privacy setting dialog box
470 pops up as displayed in FIG. 4D. A list 475 of groupings with
checkboxes is displayed within the custom privacy setting dialog
box 470. In another embodiment, the custom privacy setting dialog
box includes an ability to add a new list, or grouping, of
connections. In addition, exceptions 480 may be entered into a text
field to specify connections to exclude from viewing the content
item being posted. As seen in FIG. 4E, two groupings have been
selected, "Best Buddies" and "Close Friends" and one exception has
been made, "Joe Smith, Sr." The user may either save or cancel 485
the custom privacy setting.
[0040] After saving the custom privacy setting, the privacy setting
dialog 460 indicates that a "Custom" setting is in use, as shown in
FIG. 4F. Of course, other displays may be used to indicate the
custom privacy setting as a matter of design choice. The content
item in the example is a status update uploaded in the text field
425, stating that the user "needs a drink." To post this status
update, the user must select the content submission button 435.
After selecting the content submission button 435, the status
update 490 appears in the communication channel 415. The status
update 490 also has a lock symbol that indicates that the content
has a modified privacy setting. In one embodiment, the lock symbol
is only visible to the user posting the content with the modified
privacy setting.
[0041] FIG. 5 is a screenshot of a typical web page of a connection
of the user in FIGS. 4A-G. The title bar 500 indicates that this
web page is associated with the user "Jared Jones." Similar to FIG.
4A, a communication channel 515 displays content items posted by
the user's connections in the social networking service. A posting
interface 505 enables the user to upload and post content to a
communication channel 515 in the social networking service for view
by other users of the social networking service. A filtering
interface 510 enables the user to filter the content of the
displayed communication channel 515. Another communications channel
520 displays "Highlights" to the user that might be of interest to
the user. Both communication channels 515 and 520 may comprise
content items generated users on the social networking service.
[0042] Within the posting interface 505, a text input field 525 and
content submission button 535 are displayed. The communication
channel 515 comprises content items posted by users of the social
networking service. For example, the user "Jared" posted a photo
540 with an accompanying caption 530. Another connection posted a
status update 550 in the communication channel 515. In the
"Highlights" communication channel 520, a link to a photo album 545
is displayed.
[0043] However, in the communication channel 515, the status update
490 posted by "Joe" appears. This is because "Jared Jones" was
included in one of the groupings selected by Joe in the custom
privacy setting dialog box 470. The status update 490 has a lock
icon next to it because it has a privacy setting narrower than
"Everyone."
Implications of Selective Content Accessibility
[0044] As a result of selective content accessibility,
communication channels on the social networking service may
comprise more relevant content items because users may direct the
content they post in a more targeted manner. Further, users may be
more willing to post content items to communication channels
because of the increased control over the accessibility of the
content by others. A posting "etiquette" may emerge on the social
networking service, meaning that users will be empowered to focus
and target the delivery of their content items to an audience of
connections that may find the content items relevant and
appropriate.
[0045] As content items become searchable, or indexable, users will
retain complete control over who may view their content on a per
object basis. In one embodiment, the privacy settings for content
items will be persistent and remain with the content item. Thus,
"per object privacy" provides tremendous flexibility and control to
users of the social networking service.
[0046] Content items may also include actions taken by users that
are delivered to communication channels on the social networking
service. For example, a user who rents a movie on a third party
website may authorize a story to be posted in a communication
channel on the social networking service. The story communicates an
interest of the user, but the user may wish to modify the privacy
setting of the story to inform only his best friends that he
enjoyed a particular movie. Other actions taken by a user, such as
interactions with an advertisement or making a new connection on
the social networking service, may be converted into a story that
is a content item posted to a communication channel with an
associated privacy setting. Users may modify the privacy settings
of these content items as well, thus selectively controlling the
accessibility of any creation of content on the social networking
service.
[0047] Unlike conventional social networking services that require
users to opt into a community of interest to consume relevant
content, the combination of various communication channels and
content accessibility control using privacy settings enables users
of a social networking service to digest highly relevant content
without the burden of seeking out or opting into a formally defined
group. To the contrary, per object privacy encourages users to be
more open in posting content to communication channels while also
targeting shared content to tremendously flexible user-defined
groups of connections in the social networking service.
[0048] Furthermore, as new communication channels are implemented
on the social networking service, per object privacy will help to
streamline and insure the privacy of user generated content posted
into these communication channels.
SUMMARY
[0049] The foregoing description of the embodiments of the
invention has been presented for the purpose of illustration; it is
not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the
precise forms disclosed. Persons skilled in the relevant art can
appreciate that many modifications and variations are possible in
light of the above disclosure.
[0050] Some portions of this description describe the embodiments
of the invention in terms of algorithms and symbolic
representations of operations on information. These algorithmic
descriptions and representations are commonly used by those skilled
in the data processing arts to convey the substance of their work
effectively to others skilled in the art. These operations, while
described functionally, computationally, or logically, are
understood to be implemented by computer programs or equivalent
electrical circuits, microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has
also proven convenient at times, to refer to these arrangements of
operations as modules, without loss of generality. The described
operations and their associated modules may be embodied in
software, firmware, hardware, or any combinations thereof.
[0051] Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein
may be performed or implemented with one or more hardware or
software modules, alone or in combination with other devices. In
one embodiment, a software module is implemented with a computer
program product comprising a computer-readable medium containing
computer program code, which can be executed by a computer
processor for performing any or all of the steps, operations, or
processes described.
[0052] Embodiments of the invention may also relate to an apparatus
for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be
specially constructed for the required purposes, and/or it may
comprise a general-purpose computing device selectively activated
or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such
a computer program may be stored in a tangible computer readable
storage medium or any type of media suitable for storing electronic
instructions, and coupled to a computer system bus. Furthermore,
any computing systems referred to in the specification may include
a single processor or may be architectures employing multiple
processor designs for increased computing capability.
[0053] Finally, the language used in the specification has been
principally selected for readability and instructional purposes,
and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the
inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope
of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but
rather by any claims that issue on an application based hereon.
Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments of the invention is
intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the
invention, which is set forth in the following claims.
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