INCENTIVIZING THE LINKING OF INTERNET CONTENT TO PRODUCTS FOR SALE

1 . A method comprising:

sharing a product web tag, the sharing of the product web tag including handling an invocation of an application program interface at an application executing on a server to store the product web tag on the server, the product web tag defining an association between a portion of a content item and an additional content item, the content item published by a source that is external to a network-based publication system, the additional content item published by a source that is internal to the network-based publication system; and

causing a reward to be provided based on the sharing of the product web tag.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the portion of the content item is one of an image, a portion of the image, a video, a portion of the video, and text.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the additional content item is a web page that includes information about a product that is listed for sale on the network-based publication system.

4 . A method comprising:

receiving a specification of an association between a portion of a content item and an additional content item, the content item published by a source that is external to a network-based publication system, the additional content item published by a source that is internal to the network-based publication system;

generating a product web tag based on the specification of the association, the product web tag linking the portion of the content item to the additional content item; and

sending a request to an application executing on a server to share the product web tag on the server.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the receiving includes detecting a dragging and dropping of a visual representation of the additional content item on a region of a user interface.

6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

receiving a query via the user interface;

presenting in the user interface a plurality of visual representations of candidate content items that match the query; and

receiving a selection of one of the plurality of candidate content items as the additional content item.

7 . A method comprising:

detecting an accessing of a content item published by a source that is external to a network-based publication system;

detecting that a product web tag corresponding to the content item has been shared on a server, the product web tag defining an association between a portion of the content item and an additional content item, the additional content item published by a source that is internal to the network-based publication system; and

displaying a notification that the portion of the content item is associated with the additional content item, the displaying occurring concurrently with a rendering of the content item.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

retrieving information about the product web tag via an application program interface; and

displaying a visual representation of the information.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the displaying of the visual representation of the information includes displaying a thumbnail image of the additional content item.

10 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising causing the additional content item to be displayed in response to a detecting of an interaction with the visual representation.

11 . A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a content-tagging application, implemented by the at least one processor, configured to:

share a product web tag, the sharing of the product web tag including handling an invocation of an application program interface at an application executing on a server to store the product web tag on the server, the product web tag defining an association between a portion of a content item and an additional content item, the content item published by a source that is external from a network-based publication system, the additional content item published by a source that is internal to the network-based publication system; and

cause a reward to be provided based on the sharing of the product web tag.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the portion of the content item is one of an image, a portion of the image, a video, a portion of the video, and text.

13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the additional content item is a web page that includes information about a product that is listed for sale on the network-based publication system.

14 . A system comprising:

at least one processor;

a content-association module, implemented by the at least one processor, configured to receive a specification of an association between a portion of a content item and an additional content item, the content item published by a source that is external to a network-based publication system, the additional content item published by a source that is internal to the network-based publication system;

a tag-generation module, implemented by the at least one processor, configured to generate a product web tag based on the specification of the association, the product web tag linking the portion of the content item to the additional content item; and

a communication module, implemented by the at least one processor, configured to send a request to an application executing on a server to share the product web tag on the server.

15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the receiving of the specification of the association between the portion of the content item and the additional content item includes detecting a dragging and dropping of a visual representation of the additional content item on a product web tags region of a user interface.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the content-association module is further configured to:

receive a query via the user interface;

present in the user interface a plurality of visual representations of candidate content items that match the query; and

receive a selection of one of the plurality of candidate content items as the additional content item.

17 . A system comprising:

at least one processor;

an access-detection module, implemented by the at least one processor, configured to detect an accessing of a content item published by a source that is external to a network-based publication system;

an association-detection module, implemented by the at least one processor, configured to detect that a product web tag corresponding to the content item has been shared on a server, the product web tag defining an association between a portion of the content item and an additional content item, the additional content item published by a source that is internal to the network-based publication system; and

a notification module, implemented by the at least one processor, configured to display a notification that the portion of the content item is associated with the additional content item, the displaying occurring concurrently with a rendering of the content item.

18 . The system of claim 17 , further comprising a communication module configured to retrieve information about the product web tag via an application program interface and wherein the notification module is further configured to display a visual representation of the information.

19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the displaying of the visual representation of the information includes displaying a thumbnail image of the additional content item.

20 . The system of claim 18 , further comprising a direction module to cause the additional content item to be displayed in response to a detecting of an interaction with the visual representation.

21 . A non-transitory machine readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

sharing a product web tag, the sharing of the product web tag including handling an invocation of an application program interface at an application executing on a server to store the product web tag on the server, the product web tag defining an association between a portion of a content item and an additional content item, the content item published by a source that is external to a network-based publication system, the additional content item published by a source that is internal to the network-based publication system; and

causing a reward to be provided based on the sharing of the product web tag.

22 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21 , wherein the portion of the content item is one of an image, a portion of the image, a video, a portion of the video, and text.

23 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21 , wherein the additional content item is a web page that includes information about a product that is listed for sale on the network-based publication system.

24 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a specification of an association between a portion of a content item and an additional content item, the content item published by a source that is external to a network-based publication system, the additional content item published by a source that is internal to the network-based publication system;

generating a product web tag based on the specification of the association, the product web tag linking the portion of the content item to the additional content item; and

sending a request to an application executing on a server to share the product web tag on the server.

25 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 24 , wherein the receiving includes detecting a dragging and dropping of a visual representation of the additional content item on a region of a user interface.

26 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 25 , further comprising:

receiving a query via the user interface;

presenting in the user interface a plurality of visual representations of candidate content items that match the query; and

receiving a selection of one of the plurality of candidate content items as the additional content item.

27 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

detecting an accessing of a content item published by a source that is external to a network-based publication system;

detecting that a product web tag corresponding to the content item has been shared on a server, the product web tag defining an association between a portion of the content item and an additional content item, the additional content item published by a source that is internal to the network-based publication system; and

displaying a notification that the portion of the content item is associated with the additional content item, the displaying occurring concurrently with a rendering of the content item.

28 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 27 , further comprising:

retrieving information about the product web tag via the application program interface; and

displaying a visual representation of the information.

29 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 28 , wherein the displaying of the visual representation of the information includes displaying a thumbnail image of the additional content item.

30 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 28 , further comprising causing the additional content item to be displayed in response to a detecting of an interaction with the visual representation.