U.S. patent application number 12/898662 was filed with the patent office on 2012-04-05 for providing social endorsements with online advertising.
Invention is credited to Gregory Joseph Badros, David Benjamin Fischer, Timothy Kendall, Kent Schoen, Ami Vora.
Application Number | 20120084160 12/898662 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 45890622 |
Filed Date | 2012-04-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120084160 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Badros; Gregory Joseph ; et
al. |
April 5, 2012 |
Providing Social Endorsements with Online Advertising
Abstract
Third-party publishers (such as websites) provide online
advertisements combined with social endorsement information to
users. A request for an advertisement is received from a viewing
user via a third-party publisher system. A particular advertisement
is selected in response to this request, and one or more
advertisement tags associated with the advertisement are retrieved.
The advertisement tags comprise information related to the
advertisement. Social networking system data for users related to
the viewing user is retrieved. Social endorsement information is
obtained using the social networking system data and the
advertisement tags associated with the advertisement. The social
endorsement information and the advertisement are then combined and
transmitted to the third-party publisher system, or are transmitted
individually for combination by the third-party publisher
system.
Inventors: |
Badros; Gregory Joseph;
(Palo Alto, CA) ; Vora; Ami; (San Francisco,
CA) ; Fischer; David Benjamin; (Los Altos, CA)
; Schoen; Kent; (San Francisco, CA) ; Kendall;
Timothy; (Palo Alto, CA) |
Family ID: |
45890622 |
Appl. No.: |
12/898662 |
Filed: |
October 5, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/14.73 ;
705/14.4 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0277 20130101;
G06Q 50/01 20130101; G06Q 30/0241 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/14.73 ;
705/14.4 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/00 20060101
G06Q030/00 |
Claims
1. A computer-implemented method for providing social endorsement
information with an advertisement, the method comprising: receiving
a request for an advertisement from a viewing user via a
third-party publisher system, wherein the viewing user is a social
networking system user; retrieving an advertisement from an
advertisement provider in response to the request; retrieving one
or more advertisement tags associated with the advertisement,
wherein the advertisement tags comprise information related to the
advertisement; retrieving social networking system data related to
one or more other users who are associated with the viewing user in
a social networking system; creating a social endorsement based on
the retrieved social networking system data and the advertisement
tags, the social endorsement indicating that one or more of the
other users have taken an action within the context of the social
networking system related to the one or more advertisement tags;
and transmitting the advertisement and social endorsement to the
third-party publisher system for display to the viewing user.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the
advertisement and social endorsement are combined prior to
transmitting the advertisement and social endorsement to the
third-party publisher system.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein combining
the social endorsement with the advertisement comprises overlaying
the social endorsement on the advertisement.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the social
endorsement is overlaid based on an instruction for an area of the
advertisement on which to overlay the social endorsement.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the social
endorsement is overlaid based on an algorithm for determining an
area of the advertisement on which to overlay the social
endorsement.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the
third-party publishing system comprises a website.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the
third-party publishing system comprises a software application.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the social
networking system receives the request for an advertisement from
the viewing user via the third-party publisher system and transmits
the request to the advertisement provider.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein an
advertisement server receives the request for an advertisement from
the social networking system and transmits the advertisement to the
social networking system in response to receiving the request.
10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the social
networking system receives the advertisement from the advertisement
server and transmits the social endorsement and the advertisement
to the third-party publisher system for display to the viewing
user.
11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein an
advertisement server receives the request for an advertisement from
the viewing user via the third-party publisher system and transmits
the advertisement to the third-party publisher system.
12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the
third-party publisher system, responsive to receiving the
advertisement from the advertisement server, requests the social
endorsement from the social networking system.
13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the
third-party publisher system, responsive to receiving the
advertisement from the advertisement server, requests social
networking system data related to social networking system users
associated with the viewing user from the social networking
system.
14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein an
advertisement server receives the request for an advertisement from
the viewing user via the third-party publisher system and requests
the social endorsement from the social networking system.
15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the
advertisement tags are selected by and retrieved from an
advertiser.
16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the
advertisement tags are retrieved from an advertisement server.
17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the
advertisement tags are generated by an advertisement server in
response to receiving the request for an advertisement.
18. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the
advertisement tags are retrieved from the social networking
system.
19. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least
one of the advertisement tags specify a web page within a social
networking system.
20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein the social
endorsement comprises an indication that one or more users of the
social networking system with whom the viewing user has established
a connection in the social networking system have interacted with
the web page specified by the advertisement tags.
21. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein one or more
of the advertisement tags identify a content item in the social
networking system with which users of the social networking system
can interact.
22. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein creating
social endorsement comprises selecting one or more other social
networking system users based on matching demographic criteria
specified by an advertiser.
23. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein creating
social endorsement comprises selecting one or more other social
networking system users based on having established a connection
with the viewing user in the social networking system.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] This invention relates generally to online advertising, and
in particular to providing social endorsement information in
conjunction with an online advertisement.
[0002] Online advertising has evolved into a profitable business,
allowing commercial and private entities alike to place
advertisements on websites and within native applications, which
are visible to viewing users who access these websites and
applications. The ability to analyze data associated with a
particular website, application and/or the viewing user has allowed
advertisers to provide ads that are more relevant to a viewing
user's interests. Relevant ads increase the likelihood of ad
conversion (e.g., that the viewing user will observe the ad, click
on the ad, proceed to the advertiser's website, or otherwise
respond to the ad with the intended result) and/or the likelihood
of greater demand for or awareness of the advertiser's goods or
services, thereby raising the effectiveness of the ad.
[0003] Although ad targeting attempts to increase ad conversion by
showing ads that are more relevant to the viewing user's interests,
current methods of ad targeting lack a social context. When a
person endorses a product to a friend, the friend is more likely to
purchase or use the product. However, endorsements are currently
limited to situations where the endorsing user must direct the
endorsement to specific individuals, such as when a user expressly
provides a friend's contact information. Current ad systems lack
social information about ad viewers, so they cannot take advantage
of these viewers' social connections, interests, or endorsements
that are not expressly provided. Thus, there is a need for a
comprehensive solution to providing social endorsement information
in conjunction with online ads on third-party publisher systems in
order to maximize ad relevancy and effectiveness.
SUMMARY
[0004] To address the needs of advertisers and third-party
publishers to use social networking system data to provide socially
relevant advertising to viewing users, embodiments of the invention
retrieve an ad and social endorsement information to transmit to a
third-party publisher system, where the social endorsement
information is related to one or more ad tags. The ad tags may
comprise information related to the ad, and may be provided by an
advertiser, an ad server, or any other entity, or may be embedded
within the ad itself. The ad tags specify, map to, or are otherwise
associated with a content item, user information, a user action or
any other activity or data within the social networking system. A
social networking system provides data related to users associated
with a viewing user, and social endorsement information is created
by selecting social networking system data based on the ad tags,
the social endorsement information indicating that one or more of
the other users have taken an action within the context of the
social networking system related to the ad, content item, user
information, user action, or other data specified by the one or
more advertisement tags. The social endorsement information and the
ad are then either combined or are sent individually to the
third-party publisher system.
[0005] Embodiments of the invention can provide advertisements with
social endorsements using various different arrangements. In one
embodiment, a social networking system acts as a proxy for
communication between a third-party publisher website and an ad
server. The third-party publisher website requests an ad from the
social networking system, the social networking system forwards the
request to an ad server, and the ad server transmits an ad to the
social networking system for transmission with social endorsement
information to the third-party publisher website. In an alternative
embodiment, an ad server acts as a proxy for communication between
a third-party publisher website and the social networking system.
In this embodiment, the ad server receives the request for an ad,
retrieves social endorsement information from the social networking
system and transmits the ad and the social endorsement information
to the third-party publisher website. In another embodiment, a
third-party publisher website may request and receive a web-based
ad from an ad server, and may separately request and receive social
endorsement information from the social networking system.
Alternatively, a third-party publisher website may instead request
social networking system data from the social networking system and
may create social endorsement information by selecting all or part
of the social networking data. In another embodiment, an advertiser
implants executable computer code into a web-based ad that when
executed by a third-party publisher website or any other entity
retrieves social endorsement information to be displayed in
conjunction with the web-based ad. In another embodiment, a viewing
user may request an ad through a software application, which in
turn requests the ad from a social networking system or an ad
server as discussed above.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] FIG. 1 is a diagram of the overall process for providing
social endorsement information with web-based ads for third-party
publisher websites, in accordance with an embodiment of the
invention in which the ads are provided in a website.
[0007] FIG. 2 is a high level block diagram illustrating a system
environment suitable for providing social endorsement information
with ads for third-party publisher systems, in accordance with one
embodiment of the invention.
[0008] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the
invention in which the ads are provided in a website, and where the
social networking system acts as a proxy for communication between
a third-party publisher website and the ad server.
[0009] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the
invention in which the ads are provided in a website, and where a
third-party publisher website communicates directly with the ad
server and the social networking system, which transmits social
endorsement information to the third-party publisher website.
[0010] FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the
invention in which the ads are provided in a website, and where a
third-party publisher website communicates directly with the ad
server and the social networking system, which transmits social
networking system data to the third-party publisher website to
create social endorsement information.
[0011] FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the
invention in which the ads are provided in a website, and where the
ad server acts as a proxy for communication between a third-party
publisher website and the social networking system.
[0012] FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the
invention in which the ads are provided in a website, and where the
advertiser builds code into an advertisement that obtains social
endorsement information when executed.
[0013] FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the combination of an ad
and social endorsement information to create an endorsed ad
transmitted to a third-party publisher website, wherein the
footprint of the endorsed ad is equivalent to the reserved ad
footprint of the third-party publisher website, in accordance with
one embodiment of the invention in which the ads are provided in a
website.
[0014] FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the combination of an ad
and social endorsement information into an endorsed ad transmitted
to a third-party publisher website, wherein the footprint of the
endorsed ad is equivalent to the reserved ad footprint of the
third-party publisher website, in accordance with one embodiment of
the invention in which the ads are provided in a website.
[0015] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the separate transmission
of an ad and social endorsement information to a third-party
publisher website, in accordance with one embodiment of the
invention in which the ads are provided in a website.
[0016] FIG. 11 is a flow chart of the process for providing social
endorsement information with an ad to a third-party publisher
system, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.
[0017] 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
[0018] Online social networking systems allow users to associate
themselves and establish connections with other users of the social
networking system. When two users become connected, they are said
to be "friends," "contacts," "connections," or "associates" within
the context of the social networking system. Generally being
connected in a social networking system allows connected users
access to more information about each other than would otherwise be
available to unconnected users. Likewise, becoming connected within
a social networking system may allow a user greater access to
communicate with another user, such as by email (internal and
external to the social networking system), instant message, text
message, phone, or any other communicative interface. Finally,
being connected may allow a user access to view, comment on,
download or endorse another user's uploaded content items. Examples
of content items include but are not limited to messages, queued
messages (e.g., email), text and SMS (short message service)
messages, comment messages, messages sent using any other suitable
messaging technique, an HTTP link, HTML files, images, videos,
audio clips, documents, document edits, calendar entries or events,
and other computer-related files.
[0019] Users of social networking systems may interact with content
items, user information, user actions (for instance a communication
made within the social networking system, or two users becoming
friends), or any other activity or data within the social
networking system. This interaction may take a variety of forms,
such as by communicating with or commenting on the content item,
information or action; clicking a button or link associated with
approval (such as a "like" button); sharing a content item, user
information or user actions with other users; downloading or merely
viewing a content item; or by any other suitable means for
interaction. Users of social networking systems may also interact
with other users by associating, connecting or becoming friends
with them, by viewing their profile, by communicating with them, or
by having common friends within the social networking system.
Further, a user of a social networking system may form or join
groups, or may become a fan of a fan page. Finally, a social
networking system user may interact with content items, websites,
other users or other information outside of the context of the
social networking system's web pages that are connected to or
associated with the social networking system. For instance, an
article on a news web site might have a "like" button that users of
the social networking system can click on to express approval of
the article. Likewise, a company's website may provide the ability
to join a social networking system group dedicated to the company
directly from the company's website. These interactions and any
other suitable actions within the context of a social networking
system may be recorded in social networking system data, which can
be used to generate social endorsement information. The social
endorsement information may comprise text, image, links, and/or any
suitable form necessary to convey social endorsement information to
a user.
[0020] Social endorsement information may be used to provide social
context for advertisements that are shown to a particular viewing
user. FIG. 1 is a diagram of an overall process for providing
social endorsement information with web-based ads for third-party
publisher websites, in accordance with an embodiment of the
invention in which the ads are provided in a website. As
illustrated, a web-based ad store 110 provides an ad 125 to the
ad/endorsement combination module 140. The ad tag store 105
provides one or more ad tags 105 associated with the ad 125 to the
social endorsement module 130. The ad tags specify, map to, or are
otherwise associated with a content item, user information, a user
action or any other activity or data within the social networking
system. The social networking system data store 100 also provides
social networking system data 115 to the social endorsement module
130. The social networking system data 115 may be data related to
social networking system users associated with an Internet user
160. The social endorsement module 130 selects all or part of the
social networking system data 115 based on the one or more ad tags
120 to create social endorsement information 135, which is provided
to the ad/endorsement combination module 140. The ad/endorsement
combination module 140 transmits the ad and the social endorsement
145 to a third-party web page 150, which is displayed to the
Internet user 160.
[0021] In one example, an ad 125 may advertise a specific brand of
basketball shoes. Examples of associated ad tags 120 may be the
words "basketball", "shoes", "athlete", the names of professional
basketball players, the URL of a social networking system fan page
devoted to basketball, the URL of a social networking group web
page administrated by the company who makes the specific brand of
basketball shoes, an index code identifying the particular ad 125,
the title of a movie that was popular among a targeted demographic,
or the name of a sports drink popular among a targeted demographic.
For the general example ad tag "basketball", the social endorsement
module 130 may select from social networking system data 115 social
networking system users who have joined a social networking system
group dedicated to basketball, users who have basketball listed as
an interest in their profile, or users who have communicated to
other users about basketball. Likewise, for an ad tag that
specifically identifies the brand of shoes, the social endorsement
module 130 may select users who have posted to a fan page dedicated
to the brand of shoes, who have posted a picture of a pair of the
shoes, or who have clicked the "like" button in response to another
user who posted a message about the shoes. The ad/endorsement
module 140 may combine this social endorsement information 135 with
the ad 125 into a single image or file, or may deliver the social
endorsement information 135 with the ad 125 separately for display
within the third-party publisher web page 150 to the Internet user
160. However, many other types of advertisements, ad tags, social
networking system information, selecting criteria and combination
methods may be used. The examples given are merely demonstrative,
and are not meant to limit the scope of the invention.
System Architecture
[0022] FIG. 2 is a high level block diagram illustrating a system
environment suitable for providing social endorsement information
with ads for third-party publisher systems, in accordance with one
embodiment of the invention. The system environment comprises a
third-party publisher system 210, a social networking system 220,
an ad server 230, and an advertiser 240, all of which communicate
through a connecting network 200. The connecting network may be the
Internet, a local area network, or any other network that allows
communication between modules. The connecting network 200 may use
standard communications technologies and/or protocols. In
alternative configurations, different and/or additional modules can
be included in the system.
[0023] The third-party publisher system 210 may be a website that
can display an advertisement, may comprise one or more web pages,
and may be hosted on a web server. Likewise, the system 210 may
comprise a computer, a laptop, a netbook, a tablet computer or a
mobile device, or any other suitable device which can display an
advertisement within a native application running on the device.
The ad displayed on the system 210 may comprise text, images,
video, audio, or any other ad-related content. The ad may be
static, animated, interactive, transparent, mobile, stationary,
displayed outside the initial viewing area of a website or
application, or in the case of a website, when the website is
initially accessed, the ad may constitute its own web page
altogether that is displayed when accessing the website.
[0024] The system 210 may request an ad from an ad server 230. The
system 210 may request an ad before rendering a web page or loading
an application, or may render all or part of the web page or load
the application before requesting an ad. The system 210 may reserve
a space in the body or the margins of the displayed content for the
ad, which may be referred to as the ad footprint. The system 210
may reserve the ad footprint before or after receiving the ad, and
may or may not adjust the size of the ad footprint if the received
ad is a different size than anticipated. Further, the system 210
may reserve additional space for the ad footprint to account for
the display of anticipated social endorsement information. In such
cases, the system 210 may be responsible for combining the ad and
the social endorsement information for display.
[0025] The social networking system 220 may comprise a plurality of
web pages hosted on one or more web servers. The plurality of web
pages may present social networking system information. For
example, these pages may include pages for user profiles, group
profiles, fan pages, and other social networking system-related
pages. These pages may include a variety of social networking
system data, such as personal information, user information, user
actions, group information, fan page information, endorsement
information, content items, user settings, group settings, search
results, ads, ad tags, and any other social networking
system-related data. The social networking system data is stored in
one or more social networking system databases. These databases and
all other social networking system components can communicate with
the third-party system 210, the ad server 230, the advertiser 240
or any other module through the connecting network 200 via the
social networking system web servers. The databases may provide
social networking system user data, user actions or any other
social networking system data when by requested another module.
[0026] The ad server 230 comprises at least one or more web servers
coupled to one or more databases. The databases may store a
plurality of web-based ads and a plurality of ad tags. The ads may
be received from advertiser 240 or any other entity capable of
providing web-based ads for delivery by the ad server 230. The ad
server's web servers can receive ads for storage and can serve ads
from the databases to any module which requests ads. In some
instances, the ad server 230 and the advertiser 240 are the same
entity. Likewise, in some instances, the ads and associated ad tags
may come from different sources. The ad server 230 may serve an ad
with an accompanying one or more ad tags, or the ad server 230 may
serve an ad without an accompanying ad tag. The ad server 230, in
response to receiving a request for an ad, may in turn request an
ad from the advertiser 240; likewise, the ad server 230 may request
ad tags from the advertiser 240 or any other module.
[0027] The advertiser 240 comprises at least one or more web
servers coupled to one or more databases. The databases may store
web-based ads to be delivered to the ad server 230 or any other
module, and may store ad tags for stored ads or any other ad. The
advertiser 240 may generate ad tags for an ad prior to serving the
ad to the ad server 230 or any other module. Alternatively, the
advertiser 240 may generate ad tags after the ad has been served,
for instance in response to a request for an ad tag by the ad
server 230 or any other module. In various embodiments, there are
more or fewer components performing the same or substantially
similar functions as the components of the embodiment of FIG.
2.
Operation
[0028] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the
invention in which the ads are provided in a website, and where the
social networking system acts as a proxy for communication between
a third-party publisher website and the ad server. Although this
and the following embodiments are discussed in the context of a
third-party publishing website, any details discussed herein apply
to any third-party publishing system; the examples used here are
merely for illustrative purposes. First, in response to an Internet
user accessing a third-party publisher website, the website
transmits 300 a request for an ad to the social networking system
220. The request may or may not specify a particular ad, a
particular category of ad, ad dimensions, ad keywords or any other
ad-related information. Similarly, the request may identify the
Internet user accessing the website.
[0029] The social networking system 220 then forwards 305 the ad
request to the ad server 230. The social networking system 220 may
modify the ad request to include different or additional
information. For instance, the social networking system 220 may
alter an ad request's requested ad dimensions to allow the social
networking system 220 to include social endorsement information
that when combined with the dimensions of the altered ad request is
equal to the dimensions of the original ad request. The social
networking system 220 may also request ad tags from the ad server,
may explicitly request an ad without ad tags, or may ignore or
discard any received ad tags.
[0030] The ad server 230 forwards 320 an ad to the social
networking system in response to the receipt of the ad request. In
one embodiment, the ad server selects an ad from the ad server's
databases. In an alternative embodiment, the ad server requests an
ad from the advertiser 240. If the ad request specifies a
particular ad, and the particular ad is not stored in the ad
server's databases or is otherwise not available to the ad server
230, the ad server 230 may select or request a different ad.
Likewise, if an ad meeting the requirements of requested ad
dimensions is not available, the ad server 230 may select an ad
with similar dimensions to transmit to the social networking system
220, or may alter an ad's dimensions to comply with the requested
ad dimensions prior to transmission to the social networking
system. If the ad request specifies an ad category or an ad
keyword, the ad server 230 may select an ad for transmission based
on the requested category or keyword, or may select an ad with an
alternative classification.
[0031] In some embodiments, the ad server 230 stores ad tags with
associated ads, and transmits one or more associated ad tags with
the ad to the social networking system 220. In other embodiments,
the ad server generates ad tags based on the content of ads.
Optionally, the ad server 230 may request 310 an ad tag from the
advertiser 240. In such instances, the ad server 230 may identify
the selected ad to the advertiser 240 and the advertiser 240 may
transmit 315 ad tags to the ad server 230 based on this
identification. Alternatively, the advertiser 240 may generate ad
tags in response to receiving a request for ad tags from the ad
server 230. In other embodiments, the advertiser 240 forwards ad
tags to the ad server 230 prior to the ad server's receipt of a
request for an ad from the social networking system 220. In such
instances, the advertiser 240 may transmit the ad tags to the ad
server 230 at the same time as the advertiser 240 transmits the
associated ad, or the advertiser 240 may transmit the ad tags
separate from the associated ad.
[0032] Once an ad has been selected, the ad server 230 will
transmit 320 the selected ad to the social networking system 220.
Optionally, the ad server 230 will transmit one or more ad tags in
conjunction with the ad. In one embodiment, the ad tags transmitted
with the ad are the ad keywords, associated demographics, targeting
criteria, or ad categories in the ad request transmitted by the
third-party publisher website 210 or the social networking system
220. Upon receipt of the ad from the ad server 230, the social
networking system 220 will utilize the ad tags associated with the
received ad in order to create social endorsement information. If
ad tags are not transmitted from the ad server 230, the social
networking system 220 may generate ad tags for the received ad, or
may optionally request 325 the ad tags from the advertiser 240. In
the event that the social networking system 220 requests ad tags
from the advertiser 220, the social networking system 220 may
identify the ad to the advertiser 220. In such instances, the
advertiser 240 will select or generate ad tags associated with the
social networking system's received ad and will transmit the ad
tags to the social networking system 220. The social networking
system may also utilize the ad keywords or ad categories from the
ad request received from the third-party publisher website 210 as
ad tags. Alternatively, the social networking system 220 may
generate ad tags for a received ad by parsing ad content or ad
metadata for keywords or other information capable of being matched
to a content item or other object in the social networking system
220. For example, the social networking system 220 may parse the
term "ice cream" from the ad. Then using this term as an ad tag,
the social networking system 220 may identify social networking
system users that have accessed the social networking system fan
page for "Baskin-Robbins".
[0033] The social networking system 220 will select a subset of the
social networking system data related to social networking system
users associated with the Internet user based on the received or
generated ad tags to create social endorsement information for
transmission to the website. In one embodiment, the subset of
social networking system data comprises actions that social
networking system users have taken within the context of the social
networking system 220. For instance, the subset of data may include
all social networking system users who have uploaded a photograph
to a fan page, who have sent a message to a particular social
networking system user, or who have clicked on a link uploaded to
the social networking system 220. In one embodiment, this selection
comprises selecting social networking system data related to the ad
tags. In one embodiment, the ad tag identifies a particular subject
matter, such as an object or content item within the social
networking system, and the social endorsement information is
selected based on one or more actions performed by a social
networking system user with respect to the object or content item.
For example, if an ad tag specifies a particular video uploaded to
the social networking system, users who have watched or commented
on the video are candidates for being selected by the social
networking system as social endorsement information. Alternatively,
an ad tag may specify a particular social networking system group
or fan page; social endorsement information may comprise a listing
or identification of users who have joined the group or become a
fan of the fan page. Social networking system users may be selected
as candidates for social endorsement information based on any
suitable user action, including communicating, viewing, joining,
liking, downloading, or any other suitable type of interaction with
a user, group, fan page, or content item within the context of the
social networking system. Once the social networking system selects
a list of candidate users to potentially be included within the
social endorsement information, the social networking system may
select particular users to create social endorsement information
using any suitable method. In one embodiment, users are selected
for social endorsement information based on an affinity or
prediction algorithm with the goal of maximizing the likelihood
that the viewing user will click on the ad. In another embodiment,
users are selected based on the strength of relationship between
the users and the viewing user. In addition, users may be selected
based on a having viewed a third-party publishing website or
accessed a third-party publishing system in the past. In one
embodiment, if no candidate users are available to be selected
based on the ad tags, the social networking system may use
demographic data specified by an advertiser or other entity to
select users for social endorsement information.
[0034] In some embodiments, a viewing user accessing the
third-party publisher system 210 is identified to the social
networking system 220. In these cases, social endorsement
information may be limited to social networking system users
associated with the viewing user. For instance, the social
endorsement information may comprise a friend of the viewing user
within the context of the social networking system who had recently
interacted with a social networking system user, group, fan page or
content item related to the ad tags. In one embodiment, the social
endorsement information comprises a friend of the viewing user
within the context of the social networking system who clicked a
"Like" button for a web page within the social networking system
identified by an ad tag. In another embodiment, the social
endorsement information comprises social networking system users
with similar demographic criteria to the viewing user who have
interacted with a social networking system user, group, fan page or
content item related to the ad tags.
[0035] The social networking system 220 then transmits 335 the ad
and the social endorsement information to the third-party publisher
website. In one embodiment, the social networking system combines
the social endorsement information and the ad to form an endorsed
ad for transmission to the third-party publisher system 210. This
combination to form an endorsed ad may comprise overlaying the
social endorsement information on top of the ad, or may comprise
juxtaposing the social endorsement information next to the ad. The
social networking system 220 may resize the endorsed ad to be
compatible with ad dimensions transmitted by the third-party
publisher system 210 in the ad request. In an alternative
embodiment, the social networking system 220 transmits the ad and
social endorsement information to the third-party publisher system
210 individually.
[0036] When the third-party publisher website receives the ad and
the social endorsement information from the social networking
system, the website may display the ad and the social endorsement
information to the Internet user. In one embodiment, the ad and
social endorsement information are combined by the social
networking system 220 to form an endorsed ad, which is compatible
with the dimensions of the ad footprint reserved by the third-party
publisher system 210. In one embodiment, the endorsed ad is not
compatible with the dimensions of the reserved ad footprint, and
the third-party publisher system 210 resizes the endorsed ad to be
compatible with the ad footprint. In an alternative embodiment, the
third-party publisher system 210 resizes the ad footprint in order
to be compatible with the dimensions of the endorsed ad. This may
involve shifting, altering or removing content in order to
accommodate the resized ad footprint. In one embodiment, the
third-party publisher system 210 receives the ad and the social
endorsement information individually and combines the ad and social
endorsement information to form an endorsed ad. In one embodiment,
the ad and the social endorsement information are displayed
separately. It should be noted that the features and limitations of
the embodiments discussed in conjunction with FIG. 3 apply to the
embodiments discussed in the remainder of this application.
[0037] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the
invention in which the ads are provided in a website, and where a
third-party publisher website communicates directly with the ad
server and the social networking system, which transmits social
endorsement information to the third-party publisher website.
First, the third-party publisher website sends 400 an ad request
directly to the ad server 230. The ad server 230 may optionally
request 405 and receive 410 ad tags from the advertiser 240. The ad
server 230 then transmits 415 the ad to the third-party publisher
website. If the ad server 230 receives ad tags from the advertiser,
or has ad tags stored in the ad server databases, the ad server 230
may optionally transmit ad tags to the website. The website then
requests social endorsement information from the social networking
system 220. The website may optionally transmit ad tags to the
social networking system 220 if ad tags were received from the ad
server 230. Alternatively, the social networking system 220 may
request 425 and receive 430 ad tags from the advertiser 240. Once
the social networking system 240 receives ad tags, the social
networking system 220 creates social endorsement information and
transmits 435 the social endorsement information to the third-party
publisher website for display.
[0038] FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the
invention in which the ads are provided in a website, and where a
third-party publisher website communicates directly with the ad
server and the social networking system, which transmits social
networking system data to the third-party publisher website to
create social endorsement information. The third-party publisher
website requests 500 and receives 515 an ad from the ad server 230
and requests 520 social networking system data from the social
networking system 220. The ad server 230 may optionally request 505
and receive 510 ad tags from the advertiser 240. The website
identifies the received ad to the social networking system 220, and
the social networking system 220 transmits 535 social networking
system data to the website in response. In one embodiment,
identifying the received ad comprises transmitting the ad to the
social networking system 220 in order for the social networking
system 220 to identify the ad. In another embodiment, identifying
the received ad comprises transmitting received ad tags to the
social networking system 220. The ad server 230 may identify the ad
to the social networking system 220 utilizing any suitable means
necessary for the social networking system 220 to select social
networking system data to create social endorsement information. In
one embodiment, the social networking system 220 only transmits a
subset of social networking system data to the third-party
publisher system 210. This subset of social networking system data
may be selected based on the ad identified by the third-party
publisher system 210. The social networking system 220 may request
525 and receive 530 ad tags, which may optionally be transmitted to
the third-party publisher system 210. When the third-party
publisher system 210 has received the ad, the social networking
system data and the ad tags, the third-party publisher system 210
creates social endorsement information by selecting social
networking system data based on the received ad tags. In one
embodiment, the ad is then displayed with the social endorsement
information.
[0039] FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the
invention in which the ads are provided in a website, and where the
ad server acts as a proxy for communication between a third-party
publisher website and the social networking system. The third-party
publisher website requests 600 an ad from the ad server 230.
Responsive to this, the ad server 230 selects an ad and requests
615 social endorsement information from the social networking
system 220. In one embodiment, the ad server 230 selects an ad
prior to requesting 615 social endorsement information from the
social networking system 220. In this embodiment, the ad server 230
identifies the ad to the social networking system 220. This
identification may comprise transmitting the ad to the social
networking system 220, transmitting ad tags to the social
networking system 220, or any other suitable method of
identification. The ad server 230 may optionally request 605 and
receive 610 ad tags from the advertiser 240. In an alternative
embodiment, the ad server 230 requests 615 social endorsement
information prior to selecting an ad. In this embodiment, the ad
server 230 may identify the ad category or ad keywords transmitted
in the ad request from the third-party publisher system 210 in the
request for social endorsement information from the social
networking system 220. Likewise, the ad server 230 may transmit ad
tags to the social networking system 220. Any suitable information
that the social networking system 220 can use to select social
networking system date to create social endorsement information may
be transmitted from the ad server 230 to the social networking
system 220.
[0040] In one embodiment, the social networking system 220 may
optionally request 620 and receive 625 ad tags from the advertiser
240. The social networking system 220 then selects social
networking system data to create social endorsement information
based on the ad received from the ad server 230, the ad tags
received from the ad server 230 or the advertiser 240, ad tags
generated by the social networking system 220, or any other
identifying information received from the ad server 230. If the
social networking system 220 received the ad from the ad server
230, the social networking system 220 may combine the social
endorsement information and the ad to create an endorsed ad, which
is then transmitted 630 to the ad server 230. Alternatively, the
social networking system 220 may transmit 630 only the social
endorsement information to the ad server 230. The ad server 230
then transmits 635 the social endorsement information and the ad to
the third-party publisher system 210. In one embodiment, the ad
server 230 combines the social endorsement information and the ad
to create an endorsed ad prior to transmission to the website
210.
[0041] FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the
invention in which the ads are provided in a website, and where the
advertiser builds code into an advertisement that obtains social
endorsement information when executed. First, an advertiser 240
provides 700 an ad to the ad server 230 that contains
computer-executable code that when executed, retrieves social
endorsement information. The code may require a third-party
publisher website to specifically execute the code in order for the
code to retrieve social endorsement information, or the code may
execute automatically upon display of the ad on the website.
Likewise, the website may choose not to execute the code, and may
instead seek social endorsement information independently. The code
may be written in HTML, Java, Flash, XML, or any other suitable
computer language. The code may contain information that identifies
the ad, may contain ad tags, or may contain any other information
that the social networking system 220 can utilize to select social
networking system data to create social endorsement information.
The code may identify the viewing user to the social networking
system 220. In one embodiment, the code may transmit the ad to the
social networking system 220. In one embodiment, the code may
specify the dimensions of the ad, the required dimensions of the
social endorsement information, or any other characteristic of the
ad, the third-party publisher system 210, or the viewing user.
[0042] The third-party publisher website requests 705 and receives
710 an ad from the ad server 230. In one embodiment, the
third-party publisher system 210 specifically requests an ad with
built-in social endorsement information-retrieving code.
Alternatively, the third-party publisher system 210 may not
specifically request an ad with social endorsement
information-retrieving code built in, but may still receive such an
ad. The third-party publisher system 210 then executes the code,
which requests 715 social endorsement information from the social
networking system 220. The social networking system 220 then
creates and transmits 720 the social endorsement information to the
third-party publisher system 210 for display in conjunction with
the ad.
[0043] FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the combination of an ad
and social endorsement information to create an endorsed ad
transmitted to a third-party publisher website, wherein the
footprint of the endorsed ad is equivalent to the reserved ad
footprint of the third-party publisher website, in accordance with
one embodiment of the invention in which the ads are provided in a
website. In this embodiment, the website 800 reserves a space on a
web page for an ad, the ad footprint 805. An entity other than the
website 800 receives an ad 815 and social endorsement information
820, and combines them to create an endorsed ad 810. In this
embodiment, the combination of the ad 815 and social endorsement
information 820 comprises juxtaposing the social endorsement
information 820 below the ad 815. For example, if the ad 815 and
the social endorsement information 820 were both images, the
endorsed ad 810 would be an image with the combined dimensions of
the ad 815 and the social endorsement information 820. In this
embodiment, the dimensions of the endorsed ad are equivalent or
substantially similar to the dimensions of the ad footprint 805.
The endorsed ad 810 is then transmitted to the website 800 for
display within the ad footprint 805.
[0044] FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the combination of an ad
and social endorsement information into an endorsed ad transmitted
to a third-party publisher website, wherein the footprint of the
endorsed ad is equivalent to the reserved ad footprint of the
third-party publisher website, in accordance with one embodiment of
the invention in which the ads are provided in a website. In this
embodiment, the third-party publisher website 900 reserves a space
on a web page for an ad, the ad footprint 905. The entity that
provides the ad to the website 900 selects an ad, and reserves a
space within the ad for social endorsement information, the social
endorsement information footprint 915. The entity that provides the
ad receives social endorsement information 920, combines the ad and
social endorsement information 920 by overlaying the social
endorsement information 920 over the ad's reserved social
endorsement footprint 915 to create an endorsed ad 910. In this
embodiment, the dimensions of the endorsed ad 910 are equivalent or
substantially similar to the dimensions of the ad footprint 905.
The endorsed ad 910 is then transmitted to the website 900 for
display within the ad footprint 905.
[0045] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the separate transmission
of an ad and social endorsement information to a third-party
publisher website, in accordance with one embodiment of the
invention in which the ads are provided in a website. In this
embodiment, the third-party publisher website 1000 reserves a space
on a web page for an ad, the ad footprint 1005. The website 1000
receives the ad 1010 and the social endorsement information 1015
individually, and combines them for display within the ad footprint
1005. In this embodiment, the combination of the ad 1010 and the
social endorsement information 1015 results in the display of the
ad 1010 and the social endorsement information 1015 within the
dimensions of the ad footprint 1005.
[0046] FIG. 11 is a flow chart of the process for providing social
endorsement information with an ad to a third-party publisher
system, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. First,
a request for an ad is received 1100 from an viewing user via a
third-party publisher system. Next, an ad is retrieved 1105 from an
ad server. Ad tags associated with the ad are then retrieved 1110.
Social networking system data is retrieved 1115 from a social
networking system for social networking system users associated
with the viewing user. Next, social endorsement information is
created 1120 by selecting social networking system data based on
the ad tags. Finally, the social endorsement information and ad are
transmitted 1125 to the third-party publisher system.
Summary
[0047] 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.
[0048] 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.
[0049] 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.
[0050] 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 non-transitory, tangible
computer readable storage medium, or any type of media suitable for
storing electronic instructions, which may be 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.
[0051] Embodiments of the invention may also relate to a product
that is produced by a computing process described herein. Such a
product may comprise information resulting from a computing
process, where the information is stored on a non-transitory,
tangible computer readable storage medium and may include any
embodiment of a computer program product or other data combination
described herein.
[0052] 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.
* * * * *