U.S. patent application number 17/454771 was filed with the patent office on 2022-03-03 for social platform with enhanced privacy and integrated customization features.
The applicant listed for this patent is SGROUPLES, INC.. Invention is credited to Mark Weinstein, Jonathan Wolfe.
Application Number | 20220070131 17/454771 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000005970927 |
Filed Date | 2022-03-03 |
United States Patent
Application |
20220070131 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wolfe; Jonathan ; et
al. |
March 3, 2022 |
SOCIAL PLATFORM WITH ENHANCED PRIVACY AND INTEGRATED CUSTOMIZATION
FEATURES
Abstract
Embodiments provide a social networking platform offering
various services, such as, facilitating aggregation and management
of a user's interaction on one or more social networking platforms,
offering enhanced control over the level of privacy associated with
the flow of user data, offering tools to customize the user's
exposure to advertisement-related content on the social networking
platform(s), integrating features to control aspects of how
data/content is presented to and visualized by the user, empowering
the user to multicast direct messages to other users without the
other users having to meet certain constraints, empowering the user
to create and/or join a group based on messaging threads, and the
like. One or more of these enhanced services/features are
associated with a powerful framework of authentication/permission
model for access control.
Inventors: |
Wolfe; Jonathan; (N.E.
Albuquerque, NM) ; Weinstein; Mark; (Mountain View,
CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
SGROUPLES, INC. |
Mountain View |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
1000005970927 |
Appl. No.: |
17/454771 |
Filed: |
November 12, 2021 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
17349490 |
Jun 16, 2021 |
11196699 |
|
|
17454771 |
|
|
|
|
17231412 |
Apr 15, 2021 |
11075876 |
|
|
17349490 |
|
|
|
|
16904322 |
Jun 17, 2020 |
11159474 |
|
|
17231412 |
|
|
|
|
16734267 |
Jan 3, 2020 |
10701025 |
|
|
16904322 |
|
|
|
|
16695032 |
Nov 25, 2019 |
10652199 |
|
|
16734267 |
|
|
|
|
16529642 |
Aug 1, 2019 |
10491559 |
|
|
16695032 |
|
|
|
|
14400723 |
Nov 12, 2014 |
|
|
|
PCT/US2013/041032 |
May 14, 2013 |
|
|
|
16529642 |
|
|
|
|
61646736 |
May 14, 2012 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 67/10 20130101;
H04L 51/16 20130101; G06Q 30/0257 20130101; G06Q 30/02 20130101;
H04L 51/32 20130101; G06Q 50/01 20130101; G06Q 20/04 20130101; H04L
29/08072 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04L 12/58 20060101
H04L012/58; G06Q 50/00 20060101 G06Q050/00; G06Q 30/02 20060101
G06Q030/02; H04L 29/08 20060101 H04L029/08 |
Claims
1. A platform server system for targeted content delivery having
access to a privacy-controlled user data store, the system
comprising: a non-transitory memory; and a processor coupled to the
non-transitory memory and configured to read instructions from the
non-transitory memory to cause the platform server system to
perform operations comprising: receiving user identity information
corresponding to a user of an interactive service and storing the
user identity information in the privacy-controlled user data
store; providing one or more interactive privacy selectors for
selection of user customized privacy settings; storing the selected
user customized privacy settings as user privacy settings
associated with the user identity information in a non-transitory
memory, wherein one or more default privacy settings are saved as
the user privacy settings if no corresponding user customized
privacy setting is selected by the user; creating a content filter
associated with the user identity information and based on one or
more user content viewing preferences; receiving, by the
interactive service, a plurality of third-party content from
third-party content providers; presenting selected third-party
content to the user, the presented third-party content being
selected based on the created content filter, wherein the third
party associated with the presented third-party content is
precluded access to one or both of the user identity information
and user content viewing preferences at the option of the user,
based on the user privacy settings associated with the user
identity information; receiving user content input responsive to
user interaction with the presented third-party content;
communicating either anonymized or user-identifiable user content
input to the third party, the anonymization of the user content
input being at the option of the user based on the user privacy
settings, wherein the user-identifiable user content input is
associated with user identity information from the
privacy-controlled user data store.
2. The system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the
user content viewing preferences is based on user interaction with
the interactive service.
3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising: providing
one or more interactive content viewing selectors for user
selection of content viewing preferences, and storing the selected
user selected content viewing preferences as viewing preferences
associated with the user identity information in a non-transitory
memory, wherein a default viewing preference is associated with the
user identity information if no corresponding user selection of a
content viewing preference is selected by the user, and wherein at
least one of the one or more user content viewing preferences is
based on the stored viewing preferences.
4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the user content
viewing preferences are based on both the stored viewing
preferences and user interaction with the interactive service.
5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the user identity
information comprises one or both of user identity and device
identification.
6. The system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the
interactive privacy selectors correspond to a user selection of
user information transmitted to third parties selected from one or
more of the following: location ID; user content; identity
information; usage data; purchases; and contact information.
7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the interactive privacy
selectors correspond to a user selection of user data used to track
the user across applications and sites of other interactive sites
selected from one or more of the following: user identifiers; usage
data; usage data; data scraping and tracking cookies.
8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the content filter is
updated based on the user content input.
9. In a platform server system having access to a
privacy-controlled user data store, a computer-implemented method
comprising: receiving user identity information corresponding to a
user of an interactive service and storing the user identity
information in the privacy-controlled user data store; providing
one or more interactive privacy selectors for selection of user
customized privacy settings; storing the selected user customized
privacy settings as user privacy settings associated with the user
identity information in a non-transitory memory, wherein one or
more default privacy settings are saved as the user privacy
settings if no corresponding user customized privacy setting is
selected by the user; creating a content filter associated with the
user identity information and based on one or more user content
viewing preferences; receiving, by the interactive service, a
plurality of third-party content from third-party content
providers; presenting selected third-party content to the user, the
presented third-party content being selected based on the created
content filter, wherein the third party associated with the
presented third-party content is precluded access to one or both of
the user identity information and user content viewing preferences
at the option of the user, based on the user privacy settings
associated with the user identity information; receiving user
content input responsive to user interaction with the presented
third-party content; communicating either anonymized or
user-identifiable user content input to the third party, the
anonymization of the user content input being at the option of the
user based on the user privacy settings, wherein the
user-identifiable user content input is associated with user
identity information from the privacy-controlled user data
store.
10. The computer-implemented method according to claim 9, wherein
at least one of the user content viewing preferences is based on
user interaction with the interactive service.
11. The computer-implemented method according to claim 9, further
comprising: providing one or more interactive content viewing
selectors for user selection of content viewing preferences, and
storing the selected user selected content viewing preferences as
viewing preferences associated with the user identity information
in a non-transitory memory, wherein a default viewing preference is
associated with the user identity information if no corresponding
user selection of a content viewing preference is selected by the
user, and wherein at least one of the one or more user content
viewing preferences is based on the stored viewing preferences.
12. The computer-implemented method according to claim 11, wherein
the user content viewing preferences are based on both the stored
viewing preferences and user interaction with the interactive
service.
13. The computer-implemented method according to claim 9, wherein
the user identity information comprises one or both of user
identity and device identification.
14. The computer-implemented method according to claim 9, wherein
at least one of the interactive privacy selectors correspond to a
user selection of user information transmitted to third parties
selected from one or more of the following: location ID; user
content; identity information; usage data; purchases; and contact
information.
15. The computer-implemented method according to claim 9, wherein
the interactive privacy selectors correspond to a user selection of
user data used to track the user across applications and sites of
other interactive sites selected from one or more of the following:
user identifiers; usage data; usage data; data scraping and
tracking cookies.
16. The computer-implemented method according to claim 9, wherein
the content filter is updated based on the user content input.
17. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising
instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of a
platform server system having access to a privacy-controlled user
data store, cause the one or more processors to execute a method
comprising: receiving user identity information corresponding to a
user of an interactive service and storing the user identity
information in the privacy-controlled user data store; providing
one or more interactive privacy selectors for selection of user
customized privacy settings; storing the selected user customized
privacy settings as user privacy settings associated with the user
identity information in a non-transitory memory, wherein one or
more default privacy settings are saved as the user privacy
settings if no corresponding user customized privacy setting is
selected by the user; creating a content filter associated with the
user identity information and one or more user content viewing
preferences; receiving, by the interactive service, a plurality of
third-party content from third-party content providers; presenting
selected third-party content to the user, the presented third-party
content being selected based on the created content filter, wherein
the third party associated with the presented third-party content
is precluded access to one or both of the user identity information
and user content viewing preferences at the option of the user,
based on the user privacy settings associated with the user
identity information; receiving user content input responsive to
user interaction with the presented third-party content;
communicating either anonymized or user-identifiable user content
input to the third party, the anonymization of the user content
input being at the option of the user based on the user privacy
settings, wherein the user-identifiable user content input is
associated with user identity information from the
privacy-controlled user data store.
18. The computer readable medium according to claim 17, wherein at
least one of the user content viewing preferences is based on user
interaction with the interactive service.
19. The computer readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the
method further comprises: providing one or more interactive content
viewing selectors for user selection of content viewing
preferences, and storing the selected user selected content viewing
preferences as viewing preferences associated with the user
identity information in a non-transitory memory, wherein a default
viewing preference is associated with the user identity information
if no corresponding user selection of a content viewing preference
is selected by the user, and wherein at least one of the one or
more user content viewing preferences is based on the stored
viewing preferences.
20. The computer readable medium according to claim 19, wherein the
user content viewing preferences are based on both the stored
viewing preferences and user interaction with the interactive
service.
21. The computer readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the
user identity information comprises one or both of user identity
and device identification.
22. The computer readable medium according to claim 17, wherein at
least one of the interactive privacy selectors correspond to a user
selection of user information transmitted to third parties selected
from one or more of the following: location ID; user content;
identity information; usage data; purchases; and contact
information.
23. The computer readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the
interactive privacy selectors correspond to a user selection of
user data used to track the user across applications and sites of
other interactive sites selected from one or more of the following:
user identifiers; usage data; usage data; data scraping and
tracking cookies.
24. The computer readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the
content filter is updated based on the user content input.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 17/349,490, filed Jun. 16, 2021, which is a
continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/231,412, filed
on Apr. 15, 2021, which is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 16/904,322, filed on Jun. 17, 2020, which is a
continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/734,267, filed
on Jan. 3, 2020 (now U.S. Pat. No. 10,701,025 issued on Jun. 30,
2020), which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.
16/695,032, filed on Nov. 25, 2019 (now U.S. Pat. No. 10,652,199
issued on May 12, 2020), which is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 16/529,642, filed on Aug. 1, 2019 (now U.S.
Pat. No. 10,491,559 issued on Nov. 26, 2019), which is a
continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/400,723 (now
U.S. Publication No. 2015-0149282), filed on Nov. 12, 2014, which
is a U.S. national phase of PCT Application No. PCT/US2013/041032
filed on May 14, 2013, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
Application No. 61/646,736 filed on May 14, 2012, the disclosures
of which are incorporated in their entirety by reference
herein.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to computer networks, and more
particularly systems and methods related to social networking with
enhanced control over privacy and customization based on user
preference.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Conventional social networks (such as Facebook.RTM. and
LinkedIn.RTM.) provide a variety of features, sometimes free of
charge and often on a "freemium" model, to attract users to their
site, but almost all of the social network platform providers
retain a level of control on user content which may compromise a
user's privacy. In an attempt to commercially monetize data
extracted from the user's interaction on their sites, the platform
providers make the data available to advertisement
services/retailers/wholesalers. Currently, users almost have no
choice to enjoy the social networking experience without having to
endure undesirable exposure to advertisement and/or breach of
privacy, resulting in a lot of potential users avoiding social
networking altogether. This shortcoming may actually hurt
businesses who would want to reach out to potential customers in a
meaningful way where the user's attention is not diluted by an
overwhelming amount of un-curated data.
[0004] Furthermore, a user has to log on separately to various
social networks to interact on a particular platform with a
particular group of people. Often, user has no flexibility in
aggregating contents from various networks as personal
bookmarking/archival. The users are also not empowered to create
`groups` according to their preference to enjoy focused and perhaps
higher-quality interaction within a group with a level of privacy
that the user is comfortable with.
[0005] To address many of the shortcomings discussed above, what is
needed is a social networking platform with customizable level of
privacy and enhanced features to empower the users to control the
flow of data that they share. In many aspects, what is needed is an
antidote to the conventional social networking experience.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] Embodiments of the present invention a social networking
platform offering various services, including, but not limited to:
facilitating aggregation and management of a user's interaction on
one or more social networking platforms, offering enhanced control
over the level of privacy associated with the flow of user data,
offering tools to customize the user's exposure to
advertisement-related content on the social networking platform(s),
integrating features to control aspects of how data/content is
presented to and visualized by the user, empowering the user to
multicast direct messages to other users without the other users
having to meet certain constraints, empowering the user to create
and/or join a group based on messaging threads, and the like. One
or more of these enhanced services/features are associated with a
powerful framework of authentication/permission model for access
control. Therefore, the platform can be inherently made safe for
certain demographics (e.g., minors) by design. The platform also
can also be made to serve businesses/enterprises by empowering
nuanced levels of access to individual employees.
[0007] It is to be noted that the words `user` and `member` has
sometimes been used interchangeably in the specification. However,
the word `user` has mostly been used to describe individuals who
interact on the social network platform of the present invention,
irrespective of whether they are part of a group or not. When a
`user` becomes part of a group, s/he is frequently described as a
`member.` Also, the term `group` does not necessarily mean a
formalized group. The word `group` encompasses a collection of
people who may be deemed as a part of an existing or potential
group. In other words, a group can be an ad hoc group within the
social networking platform of the present invention.
[0008] The social networking platform is available to be accessed
via various computing/electronic devices, such as a desktop
computer, a laptop computer, a mobile smartphone, a tablet
computer, a set-top box connected to a television set, a personal
computer for media (media PC), a gaming console etc. It may be
available to be integrated with other smart mobile devices, such
as, a positioning/navigational device, a health management device,
a portable gaming/entertainment device, a wearable electronic
device etc.
[0009] The social networking platform of the present invention can
be a public platform, a semi-private platform, or a private
platform. The level of privacy may be customizable according to
member preference.
[0010] According to certain aspects of the invention, a method of
implementing a multi-network interaction is implemented, where the
method comprises: identifying a plurality of users to form a group
within the first social network; enabling members of the group to
connect to a second social network from within the first social
network, wherein the second social network is external to the first
social network; enabling members of the group to access contents
posted by at least some of the other members of the group to the
second social network; and, displaying, within the first social
network, contents posted by the members of the group to the second
social network. The members of the group who are connected within
the first social network do not have to be connected with one
another on the second social network.
[0011] According to certain other aspects, a computer-implemented
method for dynamically creating a formalized group on a social
network platform, the method comprising: enabling users to directly
exchange messages within the social network with one or more other
users of the social network; storing a thread of messages between
the users of the social network; providing at least one of the
users an ability to formally create a group as an initial group
owner within the social network based on the stored thread of
messages; and, providing the ability to one or more members of the
formalized group to manage aspects of the formalized group.
[0012] According to yet additional aspects, a computer-implemented
method of presenting multi-format information to a user of a social
networking platform, the method comprising: enabling the user to
control the relative proportion of various formats of information
embedded within a stream of information being visualized by the
user within the social network platform.
[0013] According to additional aspects, a computer-implemented
method of globally associating identification indicia in the form
of a universal tag wherein the universal tag spans across different
service types and different information types available within the
social network, the method comprising for an individual member
and/or for members of formalized groups within the social network
to sort, organize, or otherwise categorize items using the
universal tag within several distinct formats of services and
information which may include text posts, graphics, photos, video
clips, calendar events, contact information, documents, and other
media; and, archiving the universal tag and its associated content
in a database of the social network The universal tag spans across
a plurality of groups within the social network.
[0014] According to additional aspects of the present invention, a
computer-implemented method of serving advertisements to a user
within a social network platform, wherein the user's personal
identification information is anonymized, the method comprising:
providing an interface on the social network platform for the user
to enter information specific to the user's advertisement viewing
preference, thereby setting up an advertisement filter, and,
anonymizing the user's personal identification information from the
provider of the social network platform; and, placing a proxy
server or other anonymization method between an advertisement
provider and the social network platform server, wherein the proxy
server blocks access to user's personal identification information
by the advertisement provider, and, selectively presents the
advertisements to the user that are passed through the
advertisement filter based on the user's advertisement viewing
preference.
[0015] Coupons are placed within the social network based on the
user's advertisement viewing preference. In the context of the
present application, "coupons" are considered to be encompassed by
the broad term of "advertisement."
[0016] According to certain aspects, embodiments of the invention
provide an all-in-one dashboard that offers user groups, social
network aggregation and free personal cloud storage, and much more.
The user groups can be private/semi-private/public. Embodiments of
the invention are designed for those who are overwhelmed by their
many social networks as well as those concerned about how their
online activities and personal information are tracked, stored and
shared. The invention's Privacy Bill of Rights, transparent privacy
policy and permission tool "GroupAuth.TM.," provide an augmented
level of privacy assurances for users.
[0017] According to certain additional aspects, an embodiment of
the invention is a web and mobile based application that allows
users to upload and manage their digital content, and also to
control how their content is shared with others in their social
networks, via email, and in private group environments that they
can create or be invited into. Many aspects of the service are
novel and specific to the platform of the present invention, while
certain other aspects of the service are customized to be
facilitate/harness user's interaction on other social networking
platforms by providing seamless integration with the other social
networking platforms.
[0018] In a user's private group environment, in addition to
sharing their own content, they can also receive content from other
group members who have enabled them to see it, and "re-share" it
with others. The whole system is built on a powerful permissions
and sharing model that gives the owner of a piece of content the
ability to selectively share it with individuals or groups of
members, and to control the permissions that those viewers of the
content have. This complex permission and sharing model is woven
into all of the various services in the application, including
"What's New" text posts, Photos, Videos, Calendar Events,
Documents, Direct Messages, and much more. Additionally, the user
has his own personal document storage area sometimes called the "My
Cloud" area which serves as a general repository and permissions
manager for all the content they own, of whatever type. From My
Cloud, the user may choose to share their content with others, to
revoke the sharing of their content that they have previously
shared, to change what they allow others to do with their content,
to download it from the site, and if they wish, delete it entirely.
Users may also receive content from and share content to external
social networks that are accessible from within the social platform
environment.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0019] These and other aspects and features of the present
invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the
art upon review of the following description of specific
embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying
figures, which describe various implementation examples of
embodiments of the invention in a service accessed by a browser
application on any known or future computing device. Those skilled
in the art will understand how to implement the invention after
being taught by the foregoing descriptions and drawings.
[0020] FIG. 1 illustrates a welcome screen for a social network,
according to one embodiment of the present invention;
[0021] FIG. 2 illustrates a page view within the general
environment of the social network platform of the present
invention, showing user groups an gateways to external
networks;
[0022] FIG. 3 illustrates a custom view of an integrated calendar
for an individual user belonging to multiple groups within the
social network of the present invention;
[0023] FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate process flowcharts for a feature
described as "Group Tweet", according to embodiments of the present
invention;
[0024] FIG. 6 illustrates an example process flow for creation of a
forma group from direct message threads, according to embodiments
of the present invention;
[0025] FIGS. 7-10 illustrate wireframe views depicting how an
information density slider works, according to embodiments of the
present invention;
[0026] FIG. 11 illustrates a system implementing an information
density slider, according to embodiments of the present
invention;
[0027] FIG. 12 illustrates a logic flow for the global tagging
feature, according to embodiments of the present invention;
[0028] FIGS. 13 and 14 illustrate system implementation of an
advertisement serving model, according to embodiments of the
present invention;
[0029] FIGS. 15-21 illustrate wireframe views depicting various
features of the advertisement (and coupon) serving model, according
to embodiments of the present invention;
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0030] The present invention will now be described in detail with
reference to the drawings, which are provided as illustrative
examples of the invention so as to enable those skilled in the art
to practice the invention. Notably, the figures and examples below
are not meant to limit the scope of the present invention to a
single embodiment, but other embodiments are possible by way of
interchange of some or all of the described or illustrated
elements. Moreover, where certain elements of the present invention
can be partially or fully implemented using known components, only
those portions of such known components that are necessary for an
understanding of the present invention will be described, and
detailed descriptions of other portions of such known components
will be omitted so as not to obscure the invention. Embodiments
described as being implemented in software should not be limited
thereto, but can include embodiments implemented in hardware, or
combinations of software and hardware, and vice-versa, as will be
apparent to those skilled in the art, unless otherwise specified
herein. In the present specification, an embodiment showing a
singular component should not be considered limiting; rather, the
invention is intended to encompass other embodiments including a
plurality of the same component, and vice-versa, unless explicitly
stated otherwise herein. Moreover, applicants do not intend for any
term in the specification or claims to be ascribed an uncommon or
special meaning unless explicitly set forth as such. Further, the
present invention encompasses present and future known equivalents
to the known components referred to herein by way of
illustration.
[0031] In general, embodiments of the invention provide a number of
different features and advantages that advance the state of the art
of computer-networking-based social sharing. These features and
advantages are provided via a combination of one or more services,
implemented in software and appropriate hardware interface to
execute the software, while honoring users' preferred level of
privacy in regard to content ownership and advertisement-related
interactions on the social platform.
[0032] Example aspects of these and other features and advantages
will be described in more detail below. These descriptions will
refer to an example platform referred to herein as "Sgrouples," in
which all of the above services and features are integrated.
However, the invention is not limited to this particular example
platform and/or combination of services and features, as will be
appreciated by those skilled in the art after being taught by the
following examples.
[0033] FIG. 1 shows an illustration of a welcome page for the
example social networking platform of the present invention
Sgrouples. This page shows some of the features and services
offered by the platform, which are laid out as the `tabs` listed
horizontally (e.g., "Groups", "What's New", "My Cloud" etc.) at the
top and also, on the left panel of the webpage (e.g., "Create New
Groups", "Social Networks" etc.
[0034] FIG. 2 shows the another example of how a page within the
general environment of the social platform of the present invention
may look like, once a user has created groups and/or entered data
to indicate their preference. This view is known as "World View"
within the example social network Sgrouples. Users can select which
contents are displayed at what level of priority on a specific
page. This example page shows a collection of panels each showing
various groups that the user is interested in (such as Playschool
group, Camera Club, etc.) and also gateways to other social
networking sites (such as Facebook, Twitter etc.) Note that users
can selectively post content to a group/remove content posted to a
group/change permission level of who sees the content, but still
maintain the content in his/her personal storage space. The
personal storage space is sometimes referred to as "My Cloud," also
shown in FIG. 2 in the left hand panel.
[0035] As a pivotal feature of the social networking platform of
the present invention, user has the ability to create/join a group
based on a variety of criteria of interest to the user, such as
certain themes, certain types of content, appropriateness of the
content for certain demographics, existing and/or potential members
of the group etc.
[0036] As an easy visual cue to associate relevant
content/activities to a particular group, a special distinctive
color may be chosen, from a color palette provided to the user by
the platform provider. For example, on FIG. 2, the distinctive
color of choice for the group "Camera Club" is purple. So the
member names are all shown in that color, and the page pertaining
to that group predominantly use the color purple, for example in
tagging the content, framing/highlighting a content etc.
[0037] For integrated view presented to an user, where data related
to different groups that the user is a member of are all shown on a
single screen, the color distinction offers ease of data
visualization/interpretation. For example, in FIG. 3, a calendar
view is shown where different calendar entries are framed with a
corresponding color of the group to which the entry pertains.
[0038] Contents on the social networking platform may be tagged by
one or more users, who may or may not be the original owner of the
content based on the set permission level. For example, any member
with posting permission may tag other members of a group in a
picture. Members of a group may also tag items, and the tags may be
globally searchable within a group. In one example, tags may
reflect characteristic of a group, such as a pre-assigned color for
a group may be reflected in the tag. By designing the proper level
of permission control, tagging may be disabled for users who may be
within the social networking platform, but are not necessarily part
of a particular group where the content is posted. Removal of tag
can be the privilege of the owner of the content, the group
owner/moderator, or the tagged person. When a group member tags
another member of the group, an appropriate notification is sent to
the member who is being tagged. The tagging and universal tagging
features are elaborated later in the specification.
[0039] The contents shared/tagged within the social networking
platform of the present invention may be suitable for lightweight
communication or content-rich communication. For example, graphics
and audio-visual clips may be embedded in a posting. Photo albums
may be created from posted/shared photographs. Photo albums bay be
used as a source of images to create a collage with photos of
various aspect ratios within an outline. Other related options, for
example, printing options may be integrated with the album or the
collage. When graphical content, e.g., an album or a photo/collage,
is shared with a group, a notification may be received by all
members of the group at the "What's new" panel of the screen.
Content can be shared from "My Cloud" to one or more email
addresses or phone numbers too instead of or in addition to being
shared on the group page.
[0040] Embodiments of the invention provide a unique suite of
privacy protections that it calls its privacy bill of rights. The
privacy protections are enforced through the technological design,
and are what is called "privacy by design."
[0041] A user's personal information is private and it is theirs
rather than the social platform provider's. Users own their content
and all of their data, and share according to their level of
comfort with privacy issues. Users are in control of who can see
information about them and posted by them. The social platform
provider will by default refrain from making user data being
available for searching, advertisement placement etc. unless the
user wants that. The platform provider typically will not suggest
contacts, friends, or "people you might know", to users.
Permissions and privacy are considered as user rights. Embodiments
of the invention make it easy for users to deny or give access to
any content they create. Embodiments of the invention ensure
tracking, profiling, sharing of personal information are disabled
without specific content from the user. Furthermore, users decide
the type of advertisements they want and the social platform
provider will cater to the user's preference. Users will also have
a "No Ads" option. If a user leaves the social platform providers'
service, there are clear and easy instructions on how to delete
anything and everything of that user at the platform if they
desire.
[0042] With an overarching principle of customizable privacy
settings defining user experience, the social networking platform
of the present invention does offer certain enhanced communication
and sharing features that are elaborated in greater detail below.
Persons skilled in the art will appreciate
Integration with Other Social Network Platforms
[0043] In one embodiment of the present invention, a user enjoys
the ability to interact with multiple other users at once without
the multiple other users having to individually meet certain
constraints, such as individually being members of a social network
external to the social networking platform of the present
invention. As an example, let us assume that at least sonic of the
multiple other users are using a second social networking platform,
such as Twitter, which is separate from and external to the social
networking platform of the present invention. Twitter is a popular
lightweight communication platform that allows users to follow
other people and view what those people are posting. Twitter users
can follow large numbers of users, and some Twitter users are
followed by many people. Because of the large number of posts that
flow through Twitter, users often fail to see the posts by the
people they particularly are interested in following. Furthermore,
Twitter itself lacks the ability to communicate in groups, and it
lacks the ability to share and archive data of various types,
including documents and calendar events. Virtually all Twitter
functions are public, with the exception of a private Direct
Message function, but it only enables users to communicate
privately to one member at a time, and does not support
multiple-person messaging.
[0044] To address these shortcomings, the social networking
platform of the present invention provides a service, referred here
as "Group Tweets," that allows users (who may be members of a
group) to see one another's Twitter posts, without having to follow
those people on Twitter itself. Persons skilled in the art will
understand that though Twitter is being used as an illustrative
example, the scope of the invention encompasses other social
networking platforms too, such as Facebook, My Space, LinkedIn
etc., and the term `tweet` is being used in a somewhat generic
sense to include the form of posting. This service can be used by
groups of people who share common interests and desire a more
powerful and private communication platform not subject to the
constraints of Twitter. By offering the Group Tweets service to
users of the social platform of the present invention, the effect
is to create a deeper sense of community among that group of users
inside the platform, who then also have access to more powerful
social sharing tools, such as photo albums, document sharing and
collaboration, event calendars, and multi-person direct
messaging.
[0045] The Group Tweets feature differs fundamentally from existing
Twitter lists because Twitter users can not add a set of people at
once to create a private/semi private group. The groups within the
social platform of the present invention have customizable privacy
levels, and users can join by invitation. Although Twitter lists
come in "Public" and "Private" varieties, this distinction only
determines if the world at large can see the list, or if only the
creator can see the list. There is no ability for a selected group
of people to share that list. Furthermore, the Twitter list has no
actual connection between the members of the list, each of whom has
no control over being in a given list. By contrast, members of a
group on the social platform of the present invention are invited
to join the group, and they can leave the group at any time. The
Group Tweets service provides a mechanism to create a carefully
curated list of Twitter users who all are members of the group. In
addition to seeing one another's Twitter posts, these group members
can also share and archive rich content not available via Twitter,
including documents, events, calendars etc. The individual group
members are also able to directly and/or privately message the
entire group or subsets of it. This service can potentially be
extended to users of the social networking platform in general who
are not necessarily members of a formal group yet.
[0046] From an `user experience` standpoint, a non-limiting
illustrative flow can be as follows (using Sgrouples as the example
social networking private embodying the present invention): 1) A
user registers at Sgrouples; 2) The user creates a private group
and invites others to join; 3) Invited users register/login at
Sgrouples and join the group; 4) One or more of the users also
connect to Twitter from within the Sgrouples environment. The Group
Tweets service is only displayed in the menu inside the group (for
example in the horizontal menu, or elsewhere inside the group) when
at least one member of the group is connected to Twitter. 5) When
the service is active, it displays (in chronological order or based
on other prioritization criteria) all the tweets posted to Twitter
by members of the current group who are connected to Twitter,
whether or not the other members of the group follow them, or even
are connected to Twitter themselves. 6) If one or more of the group
members don't want to see Group Tweets, there is an optional field
in the group preferences allowing the member to disable the `Group
Tweets` feature in that user's view of the group activities, or the
feature can be disabled for the whole group based on group
consent.
[0047] The platform of the present invention provides, among other
things, means to archive the content posted to Twitter by a group
of people who may not be mutually connected via the Twitter
service; means for users/group members to view the content posted
to Twitter by members of their group who may not be mutually
connected via the Twitter service; means to provide a group of
Twitter users with additional social sharing tools, including
archived photos, events and documents; means to provide a group of
Twitter users with the ability to send direct messages to more than
one recipient in the group.
[0048] Technically, this service can be implemented in several
ways. In one example way, we identify the Twitter IDs of each
member in the group (this can be a group prior to formalization,
i.e. can be an ad hoc group) who is also a Twitter member, then
query the Twitter service through its public `User Streams` API,
requesting the content associated with each identified Twitter
user, then store those tweets in the database of the social
platform of the present invention, such as Sgrouples database. In
this implementation, the Group Tweets service then loads past
set(s) of group tweets without having to re-query the Twitter
service. In this way, when another group member accesses the Group
Tweets service, the data is already stored in the Sgrouples
database and doesn't have to be reloaded from Twitter. This
solution saves load-time and minimizes the requests to the Twitter
service. Another way to implement Group Tweets is to re-query the
Twitter service every time any member accesses Group Tweets. This
solution provides the freshest and most complete data set, but is
slower and requires the most requests to the Twitter servers. An
intermediate solution can also be implemented, where the number of
queries sent to the Twitter server is limited within a specific
period of time.
[0049] Group Tweets is built around Twitter API's using OAuth, HTTP
and JSON technologies to gather data. There are three main Twitter
API's used: REST API v1.1, User Streams and Site Streams. User must
first authenticate Sgrouples as a trusted application with Twitter
using OAuth algorithm.
[0050] After authenticating successfully with Twitter, two API's
are used simultaneously. First, the REST API is used to download
user data and display the Twitter feed. At the same time, "User
Stream" API is launched to start listening for tweets from Twitter
asynchronously. After User Stream is launched all tweets from the
followed accounts are asynchronously pushed to Sgrouples servers
and stored in database to be used in Group Tweet functionality
later.
[0051] With the addition of a third Twitter API "Site Streams,"
users are able to see real-time updates from other group members in
Group Tweets, which is not possible with the User Stream API alone.
Using the Site Stream API also allows the Group Tweets service to
listen for Twitter data asynchronously even when the initiating
user goes offline.
[0052] FIG. 4 shows an example situation, where user A logs in to
Sgrouples in step 402 (the Sgrouples environment is shown as
element 400). User A creates a group with Twitter connected members
in step 404. Through the Group Tweet feature (element 406), the
twitter postings of the group members are displayed in Sgrouples.
Twitter is shown as the external network 450. The Group Comet Actor
408 in the Groups Tweets service is an entity that exists outside
the standard http request cycle that allows for asynchronous
communication from the server to the members of the group, such
that the information they receive is automatically updated without
requiring a manual request. FIG. 5 shows a further implementation
of the Group Tweet service where a local database 504 (such as a
MongoDB) coupled to Sgrouples archive Sgrouples group tweets 502.
Here user A is a Twitter member as well as Sgrouples member, but
user B is not a Twitter member, just a Sgrouples group member, but
can still can see tweets from Twitter users who are also Sgrouples
group members.
[0053] Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that though
specifically not disclosed here, the social platform provider
possesses copyrighted data model and rendering code, streaming API
implementation code, service load code (e.g. code to load Twitter
service from within Sgrouples platform) etc.
Direct Messaging and Group Creation
[0054] Users of the social networking platform of the present
invention have the option to send direct messages (DM) to other
users. The message exchange does not necessarily have to be between
members of a formalized group. In other words, the platform offers
message exchange between an ad hoc collection of users who may
eventually formalize a group. As a special feature, the platform
can provide a mechanism to create a group (ad hoc or formalized) by
storing a thread of exchanged messages between the users of the
social network.
[0055] The Direct Messaging feature can be accessed in several
ways, including, but not limited to: from the "Direct Message" link
in the posting bar; from the "New Message" link inside the Direct
Message Service; from the standard Post or Share dialog, when users
select "Individual Members" as a destination; from a Member's Page,
by clicking the "Send a Direct Message" link, etc.
[0056] The messages a member sends and receives are stored on the
Message Area. Messages may be sorted/grouped by conversation, with
the most recently exchanged conversation at the top. When the user
clicks one of the messages in the main messages area, the detailed
view of the conversation opens, and they see a collection of
messages back and forth, with the oldest at the top, and the newest
at the bottom. Below the most recent message is a Reply function,
allowing the user to add to the conversation.
[0057] Each message may have text as well as inline images, does,
and active links, video clips, sound files, calendar events or
other formats of information. The user can add a photo or doe (or
other file) in a reply, or they can start a new conversation by
sharing a photo or doe with a member as a direct message. Photos
may be shown in the message stream at thumbnail format, and they
can be clicked on and seen at large resolution in a fancybox format
(without comments). From the Message area, a user may start a
direct message and add multiple recipients. The recipients may be
part of a single group or different groups, or may be individual
users of the social networking platform. An auto-complete function
may suggest names of members from various groups, color-coded with
their group colors.
[0058] Once a user starts a conversation thread, an additional
option becomes available to create a group. For example of message
like may appear: "Enjoying this conversation? Start a Sgrouple
(private group) with these members." In other words, the platform
provides tools for group creation from message/conversation
threads.
[0059] Clicking on the Start a Sgrouple (private group) link pops
up a dialog allowing the person who clicks the link to start a new
Sgrouple (private group). They get to choose the name, color, etc,
and they become the owner of the group. Ownership and management of
the group can start with one user, can be a shared responsibility,
and/or can be delegated. Once a group is created, the other
recipients (in addition to the initial group creator) receive a
notification onsite and/or by email, allowing them to join the new
group. They also see in the direct message thread a note, e.g.,
"Jessica formed a new Sgrouple (private group) from this
conversation" and a button to Join the Sgrouple (private
group).
[0060] The group may be created by importing a communication
exchange thread from an external social network (for example a
Twitter feed); and, integrating the imported communication exchange
thread within the social network platform.
[0061] FIG. 6 shows a flowchart 600, which shows the example
primary steps, 602 (enabling users to directly exchange messages
within the social network), 604 (storing a thread of messages), 606
(providing at least one user to formally create a group based on
the stored thread of messages), and 608 (providing the ability to
one or more group members to manage aspects of the formalized
group).
Information Visualization
[0062] The social networking platform of the present invention
provides users a great deal of flexibility in terms of how they
want to visualize data. Specifically, the social networking
platform can present multi-format information to a user based on
user's visualization/browsing/information-absorption preference,
because the platform provider recognizes that different users
process information differently, and also, different formats of
contents are displayed differently at different aspect ratios of
the visualization device's screen. In short, the platform has
features that enable the user to control the relative proportion of
various formats of information embedded within a stream of
information being visualized by the user within the social network
platform.
[0063] As an illustrative example, in the "What's New" feed in a
user's "My Cloud", in any of their groups, and in any external
social media feed (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, etc), the
user typically sees a chronological aggregation of postings having
various types of contents that the user has permission to see. As
mentioned above, different people process information differently
(e.g., some prefer a lot of text, and some prefer a lot of images),
and different devices (ranging from the smallest mobile device to
the largest desktop computer) are best suited to display different
amounts of data. Also, different groups/group members/users share
different types/formats of information.
[0064] To accommodate these differences, the social networking
platform provides a feature by which the user can adjust the
density of the data in his feed via a slider or similar graphic
user interface (GUI) mechanism (e.g. knob, switch, buttons, etc).
This mechanism controls the visual layout of the data stream, and
how much graphic information is presented, versus how much textual
information. On one end of the range of possible values is "All
Text", which is the highest text data density, and the data stream
includes no images. At the other end of the range, the user can
select "All Images", in which case they do not see any content
items that do not have a graphical component--the stream is
literally all pictures with no text. The user may dynamically
change the setting of the slider while browsing a data stream.
Also, with this feature, the user may control how much contextual
information they want to see. In an example, clicking or hovering
over the images may trigger appearance of hidden information
associated with each picture, such as its owner, caption, comments,
date, etc.
[0065] There may be a range of intermediate values on the slider
that the user may select, which provide a customized balance of
text to images. In addition to the ratio of images to text, the
scale of the images can also vary, from nonexistent to small to
maximal for the device display at the extremes. The setting of the
information slider may also change the amount of text displayed,
for example truncating what is displayed and providing the user the
ability to click to see more, or hiding and showing comments
associated with each post.
[0066] This mechanism can be set by each individual user in each of
their groups. The site keeps track of the user's settings of the
Data Density Slider for each of the user's groups and feeds across
sessions. The information slider setting can also be set globally
for all of a user's groups and feeds. The owner or creator of the
group may also customize the information slider settings based on
how they wish the group to appear and the specific nature of the
information shared within the group, and this setting may define
the appearance of the group, or serve as a customizable default
setting for each user in the group.
[0067] FIGS. 7-10 show the slider moving from one and to the other
end (locations shown as 702, 802, 902 and 1002), and the proportion
of graphics with respect to text is increasing as the slider moves
towards the right.
[0068] FIG. 11 shows the information slider 1102 as a service
available to the user who browses a "What's new" feed in the
computer 1101. Information slider data is stored in local database
coupled to the social network platform provider. Database may
comprise multiple replicas, as shown in FIGS. 11 (1110, 1112, and
1114).
Advertisement Model within Social Networking Platform
[0069] The social networking platform of the present invention
integrates an advertisement model within the platform with user
privacy at the core of its philosophy. To that cause, the platform
provider may choose to concentrate on only the data provided by a
user that is related to his advertisement preference, while all
other personal data, provided by the user, or recognized by the
system, even if available, are not utilized for fine-tuning other
automated suggestion mechanisms provided by the platform. In any
event, the social networking platform at least ensures that the
user's identity is protected from the third-party advertisement
provider. In other words, the user, only interacts with the
advertisement provider in an anonymous manner. User anonymity is
protected during the entire advertisement-related interaction,
starting from setting advertisement viewing preference, all the way
to actually purchasing something based on advertisement served on
the social networking platform, if a user chooses to do so. This
emphasis on user privacy sets the social networking platform of the
present invention apart from other currently available
advertisement models.
[0070] Currently advertising models rely on varying intensities of
ascertaining details about the individual that the advertisement is
being served to. There are many ways this is done, even in
advertising systems where individuals can refine their advertising
choices. All current systems and models rely on data determined
about the individual that is based on either data scraping,
tracking cookies, other means and mechanisms, and/or analysis of
the uniquely identifiable information provided by the individual to
a company. Often that data is also aggregated by, shared with,
and/or re-shared with one or many third parties.
[0071] Sgrouples' advertising model is based on the functional
foundation of individuals being and remaining entirely anonymous
during the advertising selection and delivery process in which
advertisements are determined what to be and
delivered/served/displayed/provided to the individual by any and
all means.
[0072] Individuals remain anonymous to advertisers during the
entire process in which they are selecting the advertisements they
would like to receive and/or are then displayed in all of the
individual's mobile devices, desktop computers, televisions,
phones, portable, any and all personal electronics, etc. At no time
is anything about the individual revealed to the advertiser during
the selection process and the delivery of the advertisements that
the individual selects during the ad selection process (prior to
and not related to "clicking" on a specific served advertisement)
and in any manner indicates a willingness to receive.
[0073] Optionally, if and when an individual takes a definitive
action to click on an advertisement that they have received, which
is received by the individual based on their inputs into the
advertisement selection process, then information about that
individual may be transmitted, revealed, acquired or otherwise
determined or provided to the advertiser.
[0074] An alternate method for ensuring the individual is not
tracked involves creating a proxy standard feature or a proxy
option for the individual to hide their identity from the
Advertiser, so that even when they click on or otherwise indicate a
definitive interest in a specific advertisement that the individual
has received, the identity and details/information about the
individual remains anonymous and not discoverable; there is no way
to link the identity of the individual to the ad they clicked on.
This protection of the individual's identity may also optionally
continue through the purchase cycle with the exception of data that
must be collected in order to fulfill on the individual's
purchasing desires. Here too, a third party system can optionally
be enacted for fulfillment to further protect the individual's
identity from the advertiser.
[0075] By fully participating in the selection of the
advertisements they receive, the individual gives the Advertiser a
uniquely and significantly more relevant opportunity to generate
interest and sales from the individual; and also gives the
individual protection from advertising systems that rely on
tracking, spying, profiling and other data scraping/data
sharing/data acquisition methods.
[0076] There are many benefits to this model, including, but not
limited to the following.
[0077] By choosing their advertisements using some or all of the
methods described above or those extrapolated from the descriptions
below, the individual is demonstrably the highest value example of
one-to-one correspondence between product and the consumer, as the
ads provided to the individual are exactly what the individual
desires. There is a much higher likelihood that the individual will
"click" on their Ads and/or Coupons, generating a significantly
higher "click-through rate" than current expectations and
standards. Individuals are expected to make significantly more
purchases though the advertisements they receive.
[0078] This model is anticipated to generate higher CPMs due to its
unique relevancy to the individual and the trust that the system
generates between the individual, the company, and the
Advertiser.
[0079] There are many ways that such a system can function, and all
have the fundamentals above as prerequisite. One exemplary way the
Advertiser/Advertisement selection process is envisioned to operate
is the following:
[0080] The individual can choose from a selection of consumer goods
and services, for example, by starting at a top/gross level ad
categories, and then optionally drilling down to select sub
categories. Alternatively or additionally, the selection may be
from specific companies and the sub categories, from specific
products and/or services offered by the companies etc., as selected
by the user. The product, service, and vendor or company selections
may be based on several different types of criteria, including, but
not limited to: the geographic location of the user as provided by
the user or chosen by the user (and to be determined by the
company); proximity of availability of location of service,
location-specific pricing etc. Users may further refine their
selections in many different ways, for example, the individual may
enable a geolocation service or may enter their zip code or
country, state, city, etc., to identify their location, and/or from
a mobile or portable device they may permit the advertising service
to detect their location.
[0081] An Advertisement Selector system is available within the
social network platform. Advertisers may purchase a
sponsorship/Advertiser position to be placed in the ad selector
system.
[0082] Another example of the way the individuals can select their
Ad Preferences is via a preference, ranking, or other means of
creating a measurable quantity reflecting the level of preference
such that as a slider or other type of GUI mechanism can be set to
establish the preferential hierarchy of a user's desired or
selected ad categories or choices they would like to be served.
Frequency of ad serving, relative relationship of the desired
categories etc. can be selected by the user, or determined by the
system.
[0083] For example, for each advertising or coupon category, the
user may set the slider from 0 (left) to 100 (right). The values
may default to 100 (right) for each category, and the individual
may then adjust certain categories downward. The values selected by
the individual provide a preference coefficient for each category,
allowing the algorithm to bias the frequency of displaying ads in
different categories based on the User's preferences.
[0084] This same mechanism can be extended to adjusting the
preference values for subcategories of Ads as well. A user may not
assign the values of all the Ad preferences sliders to 0. When a
user attempts to assign all the values to 0 (left), one or more of
the sliders will automatically be set to 100, to allow the service
to continue to serve ads.
[0085] This is simply one example/illustration, and there are
several ways to implement an Ad Preference mechanism to establish
the preferences and/or frequency and/or relative relationship of a
user's desired or selected ad categories or choices they would like
to be served as selected by the User.
[0086] For a premium level of service, a user may choose to select
a "no advertisement" option while enjoying the other features of
the social networking platform.
[0087] The individual may refine their ad preferences dynamically
by providing feedback about any of ads they see. There are several
potential ways to do this. For example, one way is that without
having to revisit the ad preferences selection page, the individual
can register a `+` or `-` vote for an ad that is served to them,
and the algorithm will adjust the proportion of similar ads the
member receives. There are many ways for a user to register their
opinions/input/feedback about the ads they see; some ways could be
by using numerical, qualitative, gradient, contextual, and other
measuring/input/feedback mechanisms, etc.
[0088] The user also has the option to explore coupon offerings
that are generated based on the criteria and/or choices they have
entered for their ad preferences. In the context of the present
application, "coupons" are considered to be encompassed by the
broad term of "advertisement." Therefore, the advertisement filter
can be thought of a system that is configured to serve coupons
intelligently to the users, i.e. potential buyers. In other words,
coupons offered to the user can use all the same methods for their
selection and delivery as the ones for advertisements that have
been described herein. Whenever a user selects or purchases a
coupon, it could also be counted as a positive vote for that
category in the preferential measurement system.
[0089] There can be other benefits of this Advertising/Couponing
service by ensuring that the individual is anonymous and/or
protected from other types of data gathering. For example, the lack
of ability for tracking or information gathering of any kind on
users by Advertisers can be designed into the service. In an
example of one way to ensure this is enforceable, the ads are
procured from an ad partner, but may actually be served to the
users from the servers that belong to the social network platform
provider. This is distinct from the traditional model of
advertisement presentation to the users of a social network in
which ads are actually served directly by a third party and
included in the page that is served to the user.
[0090] FIGS. 13 and 14 show two implementations of the ad serving
system, the only difference being that the implementation in FIG.
14 has an additional component 1407, which is a Sgrouples ad
database prior to the filter 1308. In both FIGS. 13 and 14, user
creates or edits personal ad filter preference in step 1302, which
is stored in database 1304. Third party ad service 1306 can only
interact with the user on the social network platform through proxy
server 1312 or other anonymization methods. The proxy server 1312
receives the third party ads and serves them to the user
selectively (i.e. only the ads that pass the filtering criteria).
Another optional proxy server 1318 may be placed between the user
and the ad server when the user indicates a definitive intension by
clicking on the ad (or even purchasing the advertised product).
Relevant coupons may also be displayed to the user, as shown in
step 1314.
[0091] FIGS. 15-21 are wireframe diagrams showing different
features of the ad model as described. Element 1502 highlights the
premium option of having to see no ad at all. Element 1504
highlights an optional field associated with geolocation, if the
user wants geographically relevant information, as shown in greater
detail in FIG. 17 with geolocation-related information set 1700.
FIG. 15 shows broad categories 1500, FIG. 16-19 show how broad
categories can be broken down to sub-categories.
[0092] FIGS. 20 and 21 show how instead of checking boxes, ad
preferences can be set by using a slider, whose two positions are
shows as 2000 and 2100. Persons skilled in the art will understand
the slider can be moved continually or in steps.
Tagging and Organizing
[0093] Users can tag, or categorize, items of interest within the
social networking platform, within a group or even outside of a
group. This allows searching for content associated with any tag or
tags, and also allows the viewers to understand the relevance of a
given post, and to associate it with other items with the same tag.
Sgrouples provides a means for tagging any kind of information,
from any service or device, and the same set of tags is used for
the different information types including text posts, photos,
videos, events, documents, etc. While each of these types of posts
is sorted into its own service, such as photo albums or an event
calendar, the tag categories apply across services, allowing the
users to easily search for relevant items regardless of the type of
information. This concept is sometimes referred to as "universal
tagging."
[0094] The tag categories span the various types of information
within a group, and they can also span across groups. In this case
a user can add the same tag to different pieces of information in
several of their groups, and they can also search by tags and find
information in any of their groups. This also implies that some
users may not be able to see all the pieces of content associated
with a given tag, as they may not be members of all the groups with
that tag, and consequently they lack permission to see some of the
tagged items.
[0095] Embodiments of the present invention provides means to
identify and associate information shared within a group that may
be of different types (e.g. text, photos, videos, documents, etc),
means to identify and associate information shared among different
groups that may be of different types (e.g. text, photos, videos,
documents, etc), means to search for items that are tagged,
regardless of what type of info they are (text, photo, video,
document, etc) and whether they are in a single group or in several
groups.
[0096] Persons skilled ion the art will easily recognize that
tagging is a very efficient and versatile way to organize content
for easy retrieval. This can be done during the upload process, or
afterward, and any member of a group with posting permissions can
assign tags to any shared documents in their group. The owner of a
doe may also assign their own private tags to the doc in their My
Cloud. In one way to do this, these tags are not shared with the
groups; another way to do this is to share private tags in My Cloud
with the owners groups. The tags in one group are not visible to
the members of another group. While viewing their does, the user
may sort and filter based on one or more tags, as well as by owner,
date uploaded, date modified, etc.
[0097] Tags may also be presented in a simpler fashion, in which
the does appear organized into folders, or categories, instead of
tags, but the underlying architecture is similar. This is
equivalent to sorting documents based on one tag at a time. This is
similar to the functioning of the photo service, in which photos
are sorted into albums, and they can also be sorted by tags. It is
also analogous to the functioning of tags/categories for
"Discussions" posts in Sgrouples.
[0098] After a post is uploaded, it may be edited and tagged with
one or more global tags that are shared by the group. Clicking the
"Tag" link opens a small widget that contains any existing tags
used by the group, as well as a "New Tag" input field. By default,
only the poster may tag a post, but in some permissions
configurations, other members may add tags, including tags of
member names, to associate a post with a specific person in the
group.
[0099] A "Discussions" post may also be directed to specific,
individual members of one or more groups via the Direct Message
mechanism. Viewing by Tag is possible. Choosing a selection from
the select box at the top of the viewing window filters the stream
and only shows the posts from that tag category. The select box
starts with "All," and also contains an "Add Tag" option, which is
an entry field for user to enter a new tag.
[0100] Another way to implement this would be as a subset of the
full set of available tags, and only allowing one tag per item,
which can then be considered as a "Category". Users can select a
category to assign to a given post, and then they can filter the
stream of Discussions posts by category.
[0101] Another mechanism for utilizing smart tagging is "sorting."
In the Maxi widget view, the user can sort the stream of posts by
Date, Alphabetical (based on link title, which may not always
exist), Member name, and Most Popular (defined by a combination of
most commented on, most clicked on and most shared.)
[0102] The user's shared Discussions posts also show up in their My
Cloud. In My Cloud, the posts are shown with dots to indicate which
groups they've been shared with. A post that has been tagged in one
group does not necessarily reflect that tag in another group it may
be shared with. In My Cloud, the item may display different tags in
the different groups it is shared with. In this way tags are
conceptually distinct from shared albums or folders.
[0103] In the present invention the global tagging mechanism can be
implemented as shown in FIG. 12, in which a post of any data type
is added in 1202. The list of existing tags that the user has
access to is retrieved from the Database in 1206 and displayed to
the user in 1214. Alternatively, the user may create a new tag in
1204 that is then added to the DB for future retrieval. The posted
content is then associated with the tag and this relationship is
captured in the DB in 1208. When any user who has access to that
content views the content, the tag is attached to it. Finally, when
any user who has access to that tag and searches for content
matching the specific tag, all post items that the user has access
to, of all content types, are displayed in 1212.
[0104] Although the present invention has been particularly
described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it
should be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art
that changes and modifications in the form and details may be made
without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is
intended that the invention encompasses such changes and
modifications.
* * * * *