Methods and apparatus for targeting communications using social network metrics
View Patent ↗A method for a computer system includes receiving a first user communication, determining a first group of users, determining a target number of users, determining whether the first group of users includes the target number of users, and if not, providing the communication to the first group of users, determining a hierarchal mapping of groups of users in response to user memberships, determining a second group of users from the hierarchal mapping, determining a plurality of social network relationship factors for the second group of users with respect to the first user, and providing the communication to at least a subset of users in the second group of users in response to the first plurality of social network relationship factors.
1. A method of filtering electronic communications based on a trust-metric, the method comprising:
receiving , over a network on a server using an interface communicatively coupled to the network, an electronic communication directed to a first user, the electronic communication sent by a second user, and the first and second users belonging to a social network operated on a system remote from the server;
accessing a trust-metric associated with the second user, the trust-metric based at least in part on information obtained from the social network; and
determining, based at least in part on the trust-metric, whether to transmit the electronic communication to the first user.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether to transmit the electronic communication includes determining that the trust-metric exceeds a pre-defined threshold.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein accessing the trust-metric includes accessing a trust-metric specific to the social relationship between the first user and the second user on the social network.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the trust-metric includes a measure of the social distance between the first user and the second user.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining whether to transmit the electronic communication is further based on a reliability factor associated with the second user.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the determining whether to transmit the electronic communication includes combining the trust-metric and the reliability factor using a weighting factor, wherein the weighting factor determines the relative importance of the trust-metric versus the reliability factor.
7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the reliability factor is a measure of one or more of the following:
characteristics associated with a quality of service in which the second user was involved;
data reflective of participation in a network forum in which the second user was involved; and
data reflective of a delivery of goods by the second user.
8. The method of claim 5 , wherein calculation of the second user's reliability factor includes aggregating ratings from other users in the social network of the second user.
9. The method of claim 5 , wherein calculation of the second user's reliability factor includes aggregating feedback associated with the second user extracted from a site external to the social network.
10. A system comprising:
a network interface;
a memory device; and
a processor communicatively coupled to the memory device, wherein the processor, the memory device, and the network interface cooperate such that the system performs operations comprising:
receiving , over a network on a server using an interface communicatively coupled to the network, an electronic communication directed to a first user, the electronic communication sent by a second user, and the first and second users belonging to a social network operated on a system remote from the server;
accessing a trust-metric associated with the second user, the trust-metric based at least in part on information obtained from the social network; and
determining, based at least in part on the trust-metric, whether to transmit the electronic communication to the first user.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein determining whether to transmit the electronic communication includes determining that the trust-metric exceeds a pre-defined threshold.
12. The system of claim 10 , wherein accessing the trust-metric includes accessing a trust-metric specific to the social relationship between the first user and the second user on the social network.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the trust-metric includes a measure of the social distance between the first user and the second user.
14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the determining whether to transmit the electronic communication is further based on a reliability factor associated with the second user.
15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the determining whether to transmit the electronic communication includes combining the trust-metric and the reliability factor using a weighting factor, wherein the weighting factor determines the relative importance of the trust-metric versus the reliability factor.
16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the reliability factor is a measure of one or more of the following:
characteristics associated with a quality of service in which the second user was involved;
data reflective of participation in a network forum in which the second user was involved; and
data reflective of a delivery of goods by the second user.
17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions for filtering electronic communications based on a trust-metric that, when executed on a computing device including one or more processors, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
receive, over a network using an interface communicatively coupled to the network, an electronic communication directed to a first user, the electronic communication sent by a second user, and the first and second users belonging to a social network operated on a system remote from the computing device;
access a trust-metric associated with the second user, the trust-metric based at least in part on information obtained from the social network; and
determine, based at least in part on the trust-metric, whether to transmit the electronic communication to the first user.
18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the instructions that cause the computing device to determine whether to transmit the electronic communication include instructions to determine whether to transmit based additionally on a reliability factor associated with the second user.
19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the instructions that cause the computing device to determine whether to transmit the electronic communication include instructions to combine the trust-metric and the reliability factor using a weighting factor, wherein the weighting factor determines the relative importance of the trust-metric versus the reliability factor.
20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the reliability factor is a measure of one or more of the following:
characteristics associated with a quality of service in which the second user was involved;
data reflective of participation in a network forum in which the second user was involved; and
data reflective of a delivery of goods by the second user.