Methods and apparatus for selecting updates to associated records to publish on an information feed in an on-demand database service environment

1. A method comprising:

accessing one or more updates associated with a data record, the one or more updates stored in a database, the data record being a parent record, the one or more updates related to one or more child records associated with the parent record, the parent record being at a first level of a hierarchy of records, the child records being at a second level of the hierarchy of records;

providing the one or more updates as one or more candidates for publication on an information feed associated with the data record, the information feed capable of being displayed on a display device; and

selecting a number of the candidates for publication on the information feed based on one or more criteria.

2. The method of claim 1 , the criteria including one or more items selected from the group consisting of: an identified field of the data record, an identified action on the data record, an identified name of the data record, an identified keyword associated with the data record, and an identified user associated with the data record.

3. The method of claim 1 , the criteria including one or more items selected from the group consisting of: an identified time of the one or more updates, an identified number of the one or more updates, an identified type of the one or more updates, an identified author of the one or more updates, a number of published comments associated with the one or more updates, a number of further publishings of the one or more updates, and a number of user inputs associated with the one or more updates.

4. The method of claim 1 , the criteria including a maximum number of the candidates.

5. The method of claim 1 , the criteria including one or more names of the child records.

6. The method of claim 1 , the one or more child records being of a first type, the parent record being of a second type.

7. The method of claim 6 , the first type being an account, the second type being an item selected from the group consisting of: an opportunity, a case, a contact, a task, and an event.

8. The method of claim 1 , the hierarchical relationship including one or more further records situated between the one or more child records and the parent record.

9. The method of claim 1 , a user accessing the information feed being designated as following the data record.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

displaying the information feed to include the selected number of candidates.

11. A system comprising:

a database configured to store one or more updates associated with a data record, the data record being a parent record, the one or more updates related to one or more child records associated with the parent record, the parent record being at a first level of a hierarchy of records, the child records being at a second level of the hierarchy of records; and

a server configured to:

access the one or more updates stored in the database,

provide the one or more updates as one or more candidates for publication on an information feed associated with the data record, the information feed capable of being displayed on a display device, and

select a number of the candidates for publication on the information feed based on one or more criteria.

12. The system of claim 11 , the criteria including one or more items selected from the group consisting of: an identified field of the data record, an identified action on the data record, an identified name of the data record, an identified keyword associated with the data record, and an identified user associated with the data record.

13. The system of claim 11 , the criteria including one or more items selected from the group consisting of: an identified time of the one or more updates, an identified number of the one or more updates, an identified type of the one or more updates, an identified author of the one or more updates, a number of published comments associated with the one or more updates, a number of further publishings of the one or more updates, and a number of user inputs associated with the one or more updates.

14. The system of claim 11 , the criteria including a maximum number of the candidates.

15. The system of claim 11 , the criteria including one or more names of the child records.

16. The system of claim 11 , the server configured to access the one or more updates in the database at a designated time interval.

17. The system of claim 11 , further comprising:

a display device configured to display the information feed including the selected number of candidates.

18. A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions executable by a processor to:

access one or more updates associated with a data record, the one or more updates stored in a database, the data record being a parent record, the one or more updates related to one or more child records associated with the parent record, the parent record being at a first level of a hierarchy of records, the child records being at a second level of the hierarchy of records;

provide the one or more updates as one or more candidates for publication on an information feed associated with the data record, the information feed capable of being displayed on a display device; and

select a number of the candidates for publication on the information feed based on one or more criteria.