Systems and methods to facilitate searches based on social graphs and affinity groups

1. A system for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information, the system comprising:

one or more network interfaces accessible from a network;

one or more databases to retain one or more of:

business information;

social graph information;

user preference information relating to the business information; and/or

affinity group information;

one or more servers coupled to at least one of the one or more network interfaces and to at least one of the one or more databases, the one or more servers to execute instructions to:

aggregate, via the one or more network interfaces, the social graph information, the user preference information relating to the business information, and the affinity group information from one or more remote data sources;

identify a first user having a first user profile stored in the one or more databases, the first user profile associated with a first set of business information for a first set of businesses previously selected by the first user for saving in association with the first user profile;

determine a location corresponding to the first user;

search for one or more additional businesses relevant to the location, to identify at least one of the one or more additional businesses to the first user with an option to add the at least one of the one or more additional businesses to the first set of businesses previously selected by the first user, the searching comprising:

processing the social graph information relating to a set of users to identify information about one or more networks of social relationships between two or more users of the set of users, the one or more networks of social relationships being associated with one or more social networking websites, wherein the set of users comprises the first user;

processing the user preference information relating to a second set of businesses, the user preference information indicating that, for one or more businesses of the second set of businesses, one or more users of the set of users have indicated one or more preferences for the one or more businesses of the second set of businesses;

process the affinity group information to identify whether the one or more users of the set of users correspond to one or more affinity groups; and

selecting the at least one of the one or more additional businesses based at least in part on the location, the processing the social graph information, the processing the user preference information, and the processing the affinity group information;

transmit, via the one or more network interfaces, to an end-user device an indication of the at least one of the one or more additional businesses, causing a user-selectable option to add the at least one of the one or more additional businesses to the first set of businesses previously selected by the first user; and

responsive to a selection of the user-selectable option, saving additional business information corresponding to the at least one of the one or more additional businesses in association with the first user profile in the one or more databases.

2. The system for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information of claim 1 , wherein the aggregating the social graph information, the user preference information relating to the business information, and the affinity group information from one or more remote data sources comprises:

interfacing with one or more social networks via one or more application programming interfaces and aggregating, via the one or more application programming interfaces, at least some of: the social graph information, the user preference information relating to the business information, and/or the affinity group information.

3. The system for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information of claim 1 , wherein the aggregating the social graph information, the user preference information relating to the business information, and the affinity group information from one or more remote data sources comprises:

processing transmissions from user devices, the transmissions indicative of user selections of businesses via browser-enabled options facilitated by browser plug-ins.

4. The system for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information of claim 1 , wherein the determining the location corresponding to the first user is based at least in part on: a search query; a default location from the first user profile; or an automatically determined location of the end-user device gathered via a position determining apparatus integrated into or communicatively coupled with the end-user device.

5. The system for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information of claim 1 , wherein the selecting the at least one of the one or more additional businesses based at least in part on the location, the processing the social graph information, the processing the user preference information, and the processing the affinity group information, comprises:

ranking the second set of businesses based at least in part on distance from the location, at least some of the social relationship graph information, at least some of the user preference information relating to the business information, and at least some of the affinity group information.

6. The system for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information of claim 5 , wherein the ranking the second set of businesses comprises determining numbers of users of the set of users that have indicated the one or more preferences for one or more of the second set of businesses, and wherein a representation indicating one or more of the numbers of users of the set of users that have indicated the one or more preferences is transmitted to the end-user device.

7. The system for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information of claim 6 , wherein the ranking the second set of businesses comprises differentiating between degrees of relation to the first user, and wherein a representation indicating one or more of the degrees of relation to the first user is transmitted to the end-user device.

8. A method for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information, the method comprising:

aggregating, via one or more network interfaces of a server system, social graph information, user preference information relating to the business information, and affinity group information from one or more remote data sources;

identifying a first user having a first user profile stored in one or more databases of the server system, the first user profile associated with a first set of business information for a first set of businesses previously selected by the first user for saving in association with the first user profile;

determining a location corresponding to the first user;

searching for one or more additional businesses relevant to the location, to identify at least one of the one or more additional businesses to the first user with an option to add the at least one of the one or more additional businesses to the first set of businesses previously selected by the first user, the searching comprising:

processing the social graph information relating to a set of users to identify information about one or more networks of social relationships between two or more users of the set of users, the one or more networks of social relationships being associated with one or more social networking websites, wherein the set of users comprises the first user;

processing the user preference information relating to a second set of businesses, the user preference information indicating that, for one or more businesses of the second set of businesses, one or more users of the set of users have indicated one or more preferences for the one or more businesses of the second set of businesses;

process the affinity group information to identify whether the one or more users of the set of users correspond to one or more affinity groups; and

selecting the at least one of the one or more additional businesses based at least in part on the location, the processing the social graph information, the processing the user preference information, and the processing the affinity group information;

transmitting, via the one or more network interfaces, to an end-user device an indication of the at least one of the one or more additional businesses, causing a user-selectable option to add the at least one of the one or more additional businesses to the first set of businesses previously selected by the first user; and

responsive to a selection of the user-selectable option, save additional business information corresponding to the at least one of the one or more additional businesses in association with the first user profile in the one or more databases.

9. The method for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information of claim 8 , wherein the aggregating the social graph information, the user preference information relating to the business information, and the affinity group information from one or more remote data sources comprises:

interfacing with one or more social networks via one or more application programming interfaces and aggregating, via the one or more application programming interfaces, at least some of: the social graph information, the user preference information relating to the business information, and/or the affinity group information.

10. The method for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information of claim 8 , wherein the aggregating the social graph information, the user preference information relating to the business information, and the affinity group information from one or more remote data sources comprises:

processing transmissions from user devices, the transmissions indicative of user selections of businesses via browser-enabled options facilitated by browser plug-ins.

11. The method for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information of claim 8 , wherein the determining the location corresponding to the first user is based at least in part on: a search query; a default location from the first user profile; or an automatically determined location of the end-user device gathered via a position determining apparatus integrated into or communicatively coupled with the end-user device.

12. The method for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information of claim 8 , wherein the selecting the at least one of the one or more additional businesses based at least in part on the location, the processing the social graph information, the processing the user preference information, and the processing the affinity group information, comprises:

ranking the second set of businesses based at least in part on distance from the location, at least some of the social relationship graph information, at least some of the user preference information relating to the business information, and at least some of the affinity group information.

13. The method for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information of claim 12 , wherein the ranking the second set of businesses comprises determining numbers of users of the set of users that have indicated the one or more preferences for one or more of the second set of businesses, and wherein a representation indicating one or more of the numbers of users of the set of users that have indicated the one or more preferences is transmitted to the end-user device.

14. The method for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information of claim 13 , wherein the ranking the second set of businesses comprises differentiating between degrees of relation to the first user, and wherein a representation indicating one or more of the degrees of relation to the first user is transmitted to the end-user device.

15. One non-transitory, machine-readable media having machine-readable instructions thereon for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information, which instructions, when executed by one or more processing devices, causes the one or more instructions to:

aggregate, via one or more network interfaces of a server system, social graph information, user preference information relating to the business information, and affinity group information from one or more remote data sources;

identify a first user having a first user profile stored in one or more databases of the server system, the first user profile associated with a first set of business information for a first set of businesses previously selected by the first user for saving in association with the first user profile;

determine a location corresponding to the first user;

search for one or more additional businesses relevant to the location, to identify at least one of the one or more additional businesses to the first user with an option to add the at least one of the one or more additional businesses to the first set of businesses previously selected by the first user, the searching comprising:

processing the social graph information relating to a set of users to identify information about one or more networks of social relationships between two or more users of the set of users, the one or more networks of social relationships being associated with one or more social networking websites, wherein the set of users comprises the first user;

processing the user preference information relating to a second set of businesses, the user preference information indicating that, for one or more businesses of the second set of businesses, one or more users of the set of users have indicated one or more preferences for the one or more businesses of the second set of businesses;

process the affinity group information to identify whether the one or more users of the set of users correspond to one or more affinity groups; and

selecting the at least one of the one or more additional businesses based at least in part on the location, the processing the social graph information, the processing the user preference information, and the processing the affinity group information;

transmit, via the one or more network interfaces, to an end-user device an indication of the at least one of the one or more additional businesses, causing a user-selectable option to add the at least one of the one or more additional businesses to the first set of businesses previously selected by the first user; and

responsive to a selection of the user-selectable option, save additional business information corresponding to the at least one of the one or more additional businesses in association with the first user profile in the one or more databases.

16. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable media for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information of claim 15 , wherein the aggregating the social graph information, the user preference information relating to the business information, and the affinity group information from one or more remote data sources comprises:

interfacing with one or more social networks via one or more application programming interfaces and aggregating, via the one or more application programming interfaces, at least some of: the social graph information, the user preference information relating to the business information, and/or the affinity group information.

17. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable media for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information of claim 15 , wherein the aggregating the social graph information, the user preference information relating to the business information, and the affinity group information from one or more remote data sources comprises:

processing transmissions from user devices, the transmissions indicative of user selections of businesses via browser-enabled options facilitated by browser plug-ins.

18. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable media for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information of claim 15 , wherein the determining the location corresponding to the first user is based at least in part on: a search query; a default location from the first user profile; or an automatically determined location of the end-user device gathered via a position determining apparatus integrated into or communicatively coupled with the end-user device.

19. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable media for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information of claim 15 , wherein the selecting the at least one of the one or more additional businesses based at least in part on the location, the processing the social graph information, the processing the user preference information, and the processing the affinity group information, comprises:

ranking the second set of businesses based at least in part on distance from the location, at least some of the social relationship graph information, at least some of the user preference information relating to the business information, and at least some of the affinity group information.

20. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable media for managing user profiles stored in association with business information for user-selected businesses and for identifying additional businesses at least partially based on social graph information and affinity group information of claim 19 , wherein the ranking the second set of businesses comprises determining numbers of users of the set of users that have indicated the one or more preferences for one or more of the second set of businesses, and wherein a representation indicating the one or more of the numbers of users of the set of users that have indicated the one or more preferences is transmitted to the end-user device.