Methods For Presenting Online Advertising At A Social Network Site Based on Tracking User Actions At Other Websites

1 . A method of presenting advertising content to a user with a computing system comprising:

(a) identifying first content reviewed by a user at a first website with the computing system;

(b) identifying first advertising content presented to the user at said first website with the computing system;

(c) processing and storing data relating to actions taken by the user concerning said first content and said first advertising content with the computing system to create a user set of topics and/or items associated with interests of the user;

(d) identifying a set of user advertisements with the computing system that are correlated to said user set of topics and/or items of interest to the user identified at said first website and which can be presented in an interface at a second website;

(e) processing a search query from the user at said second website directed to a first topic;

(f) presenting a list of items in search results within said interface at said second website responsive to said search query;

wherein at least some items in said list of items in said search results are included based on the user's actions made in step (c) prior to said search query concerning content related to said first topic;

(g) presenting one or more of said set of user advertisements to the user at said second website including along with said list of items in said search results.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein said first content is presented in response to a search query made to a first keyword by said user at said first website.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein at least some advertisements taken from said set of one or more user advertisements are included in said advertising for said search results based on the user's actions made in step (c) prior to said search query concerning content related to said first topic.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein at least some of said one or more of said set of user advertisements are based on keywords presented in said search query.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein at least some of said one or more of said set of user advertisements are based on a recommender system prediction of content or items determined to be likely of interest to said user.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein a topic is determined for keywords presented explicitly in said search query by matching said keywords to one or more mapped topic(s), and said set of user advertisements presented includes advertisements correlated to said topic(s).

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein a topic is determined implicitly from text postings made by said user by matching said text postings to one or more mapped topic(s), and said set of user advertisements presented includes advertisements correlated to said topic(s).

8 . The method of claim 1 wherein a topic is determined explicitly from item selections within an interface made by said user by matching said item selections to one or more mapped topic(s), and said set of user advertisements presented includes advertisements correlated to said topic.

9 . The method of claim 1 wherein a topic is determined implicitly from actions made by said user by matching said actions to one or more mapped topic(s), and said set of user advertisements presented includes advertisements correlated to said topic.

10 . The method of claim 1 wherein a topic is determined implicitly from content consumed by said user by matching said content to one or more mapped topic(s), and said set of user advertisements presented includes advertisements correlated to said topic.

11 . The method of claim 1 wherein semantic matching is performed at least during step (c).

12 . The method of claim 1 wherein at least some of said one or more of said set of user advertisements are selected based on said user belonging to a common self-selected group at a social networking site.

13 . The method of claim 1 further wherein portions of said one or more of said set of user advertisements are derived from content consumed by said user from a source of said first content.

14 . The method of claim 1 wherein at least some of said one or more of said set of user advertisements are presented on a topic based on a frequency of adoption by said user of content related to said topic.

15 . The method of claim 1 wherein at least some of said one or more of said set of user advertisements are presented on a topic based on a length of time of adoption by said user of content related to said topic.

16 . The method of claim 1 wherein said second website is a social networking site and said one or more of said set of user advertisements are presented to the user at said second website including along with a recommendation list members of said social networking site predicted to be adopted as friends by the user.

17 . The method of claim 1 wherein said one or more of said set of user advertisements are based on a user designation of a favorite website.

18 . The method of claim 1 wherein said one or more of said set of user advertisements are based on a prior user selection of second advertisements presented at the second website.

19 . A method of presenting advertising content to a user with a computing system comprising:

(a) identifying first search content requested by a first user in a query made at a first website with the computing system;

(b) identifying first advertising content presented to the first user at said first website with the computing system;

(c) repeating steps (a) and (b) for a plurality of second users designated as social network friends by the first user;

(d) processing and storing data relating to actions taken by the first user and plurality of second users concerning said first search content and said first advertising content with the computing system to create a user set of topics and/or items associated with interests of the user and said plurality of second users;

(d) identifying a set of user advertisements with the computing system that are correlated to said user set of topics and/or items of interest to the first user and said plurality of second users identified at said first website and which can be presented in an interface at a second website for said social network;

(e) processing a search query from the first user at said second website directed to a first topic;

(f) presenting a list of items in search results within said interface at said second website responsive to said search query;

wherein at least some items in said list of items in said search results are included based on the first user's and plurality of second user actions made in step (c) prior to said search query concerning content related to said first topic;

(g) presenting one or more of said set of user advertisements to the first user at said second website along with said list of items in said search results.