Sponsored stories unit creation from organic activity stream
View Patent ↗Methods, apparatuses and systems directed to sponsored story generation from an organic activity stream in a social networking site. A user wishing to promote an entry from an organic activity stream may, using a sponsor user interface, specify the types of stories to promote to a portion of the home page displayed to a member of a social network.
1. A method comprising, by one or more computing systems:
receiving sponsor specifications designating a set of story characteristics for promoting a story as a sponsored story, the story characteristics comprising an object and one or more action types;
accessing a database of permissions for the object;
determining if the object permissions permit sponsored stories;
in response to a positive determination:
generating a set of modified story characteristics based on the object permissions;
monitoring an organic activity stream for one or more stories describing an action on an object matching the designated object and one or more action types;
upon finding a match, promoting the one or more stories to be displayed as a sponsored story;
monitoring the one or more stories for changes in visibility of the one or more stories; and
updating the visibility of the sponsored story in accordance with the visibility of the one or more stories.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the set of modified story characteristics comprising: for each of the one or more actions in the story characteristics further comprises:
determining if the object permissions permit sponsored stories based on the action;
in response to a positive determination, including the action in the modified story characteristics; and
in response to a negative determination, excluding the action from the modified story characteristics.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of story characteristics further comprises one or more object instances.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein generating the set of modified story characteristics further comprises: for each of the one or more object instances:
determining if the object permissions permit sponsored stories for the object instance;
in response to a positive determination, including the instance in the modified story characteristics;
for each of the one or more actions in the story characteristics:
determining if the object permissions permit sponsored stories based on the action;
in response to a positive determination, including the action/instance pair in the modified story characteristics; and
in response to a negative determination, excluding the action/instance pair from the modified story characteristics;
in response to a negative determination, excluding the instance from the modified story characteristics.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
periodically re-generating the set of modified story characteristics.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a change in visibility comprises deletion of the entry, and the sponsored story is deleted to reflect the change.
7. A method comprising, by one or more computing systems:
receiving sponsor specifications designating a set of story characteristics for promoting a story as a sponsored story, the story characteristics comprising an object and one or more action types;
monitoring an organic activity stream for one or more stories describing an action on an object matching the designated object and one or more action types; and
upon finding a match, accessing a database of permissions for the object;
determining if the object permissions permit sponsored stories for the story characteristics;
promoting the one or more stories to be displayed as a sponsored story;
monitoring the one or more stories for changes in visibility of the one or more stories; and
updating the visibility of the sponsored story in accordance with the visibility of the one or more stories.
8. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising instructions operable, when executed by one or more computing systems, to:
receive sponsor specifications designating a set of story characteristics for promoting a story as a sponsored story, the story characteristics comprising an object and one or more action types;
access a database of permissions for the object;
determine if the object permissions permit sponsored stories;
in response to a positive determination:
generate a set of modified story characteristics based on the object permissions;
monitor an organic activity stream for one or more stories describing an action on an object matching designated object and one or more action types;
upon finding a match, promoting the one or more stories to be displayed as a sponsored story;
monitor the one or more stories for changes in visibility of the one or more stories; and
update the visibility of the sponsored story in accordance with the visibility of the one or more stories.
9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , generating the set of modified story characteristics comprising: for each of the one or more actions in the story characteristics:
determining if the object permissions permit sponsored stories based on the action;
in response to a positive determination, including the action in the modified story characteristics; and
in response to a negative determination, excluding the action from the modified story characteristics.
10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the set of story characteristics further comprises one or more object instances.
11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , generating the set of modified story characteristics comprising: for each of the one or more object instances:
determining if the object permissions permit sponsored stories for the object instance;
in response to a positive determination, including the instance in the modified story characteristics;
for each of the one or more actions in the story characteristics:
determining if the object permissions permit sponsored stories based on the action;
in response to a positive determination, including the action/instance pair in the modified story characteristics; and
in response to a negative determination, excluding the action/instance pair from the modified story characteristics;
in response to a negative determination, excluding the instance from the modified story characteristics.
12. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , the instructions further operable, when executed, to:
periodically re-generate the set of modified story characteristics.
13. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein a change in visibility comprises deletion of the entry, and the sponsored story is deleted to reflect the change.
14. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the object types and instances may be user-defined.
15. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the action types may be user-defined.
16. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the organic activity stream includes actions performed on external systems.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the visibility of the one or more stories is with respect to a viewing user.
18. The method of claim 7 , wherein the visibility of the one or more stories is with respect to a viewing user.
19. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the visibility of the one or more stories is with respect to a viewing user.