Presenting and ordering content items within a scrollable content unit to a social networking system user
A social networking system provides content items to a user via a feed that may include one or more sponsored content items. Multiple sponsored content items may be included in a set that is presented in the feed via a scrollable content unit that presents a sponsored content item from the set and presents additional sponsored content items from the set when user interaction is received. To place sponsored content items in the feed, the social networking system scores a set of sponsored content items based on prior user interactions with content presented via scrollable content units and a bid amount of a sponsored content item in the set. The set of sponsored content items is ranked among other sponsored content items based on its score. If the set of sponsored content items is selected for inclusion in the feed, the social networking system orders the sponsored content items in the set for presentation via the scrollable content unit.
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving a request for displaying a feed of content in a graphical user interface of a social networking system for a mobile device for a user of the social networking system, the feed of content comprising multiple slots and scrollable in a first direction for displaying multiple content items;
identifying candidate advertisement requests (“ad requests”) eligible for inclusion in the feed of content, each candidate ad request including an advertisement and a bid amount;
selecting, from the candidate ad requests, a set of two or more advertisements eligible to be included in a scrollable content unit for presentation in the feed of content, the scrollable content unit including a display area fit to occupy one of the multiple slots in the feed of content, the display area being a first portion of an entire area occupied by the feed of content, the entire area of the feed of content comprising a second portion occupied by one or more other slots in the feed of content, wherein the display area of the scrollable content unit (i) is configured to initially display advertisements fewer than all advertisements in the set, (ii) is scrollable in a second direction to modify display of advertisements selected from the set, the second direction different from the first direction, (iii) is scrollable while the second portion of the entire area occupied by the feed of content remains spatially stationary;
computing an expected amount of interaction by the user with the scrollable content unit, wherein an entire order of advertisements in the scrollable content unit in which the advertisements are spatially arranged in the scrollable content unit is undetermined when the expected amount of interaction is computed;
selecting a slot of the multiple slots in the feed of content for displaying the scrollable content unit based at least in part on the expected amount of interaction;
selecting other content items to occupy other slots in the feed of content for display;
determining a score associated with each advertisement in the set to be included in the scrollable content unit based at least in part on the bid amounts of the candidate ad requests associated with the advertisements in the set to be included in the scrollable content unit;
determining the entire order of the advertisements in the set in which the advertisements are spatially arranged in the scrollable content unit based at least in part on the scores associated with the advertisements in the set; and
presenting the feed of content in the graphical user interface with the scrollable content unit positioned at the selected slot and with the advertisements arranged in the scrollable content unit in the order determined,
wherein selecting the slot of the multiple slots in the feed of content for displaying the scrollable content unit is further based on one or more advertising policies, the one or more advertising policies comprise (i) preventing presentation of scrollable content unit in one or more specific slots in the feed of content, (ii) setting a minimum number of non-advertisement content items presented in the feed of content between the scrollable content unit and another advertisement, and (iii) setting a minimum distance of slots between the scrollable content unit and another advertisement.
2. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
receive a request for displaying a feed of content in a graphical user interface of a social networking system for a mobile device for a user of the social networking system, the feed of content comprising multiple slots and scrollable in a first direction for displaying multiple content items;
identify candidate advertisement requests (“ad requests”) eligible for inclusion in the feed of content, each candidate ad request including an advertisement and a bid amount;
select, from the candidate ad requests, a set of two or more advertisements eligible to be included in a scrollable content unit for presentation in the feed of content, the scrollable content unit including a display area fit to occupy one of the multiple slots in the feed of content, the display area being a first portion of an entire area occupied by the feed of content, the entire area of the feed of content comprising a second portion occupied by one or more other slots in the feed of content, wherein the display area of the scrollable content unit (i) is configured to initially display advertisements fewer than all advertisements in the set, (ii) is scrollable in a second direction different from the first directions, (iii) is scrollable while the second portion of the entire area occupied by the feed of content remains spatially stationary;
compute an expected amount of interaction by the user with the scrollable content unit, wherein an entire order of advertisements in the scrollable content unit in which the advertisements are spatially arranged in the scrollable content unit is undetermined when the expected amount of interaction is computed;
select a slot of the multiple slots in the feed of content for displaying the scrollable content unit based at least in part on the expected amount of interaction;
select other content items to occupy other slots in the feed of content for display;
determine a score associated with each advertisement in the set to be included in the scrollable content unit based at least in part on the bid amounts of the candidate ad requests associated with the advertisements in the set to be included in the scrollable content unit;
determine the entire order of the advertisements in the set in which the advertisements are spatially arranged in the scrollable content unit based at least in part on the scores associated with the advertisements in the set; and
present the feed of content in the graphical user interface with the scrollable content unit positioned at the selected slot and with the advertisements arranged in the scrollable content unit in the order determined,
wherein selecting the slot of the multiple slots in the feed of content for displaying the scrollable content unit is further based on one or more advertising policies, the one or more advertising policies comprise (i) preventing presentation of scrollable content unit in one or more specific slots in the feed of content, (ii) setting a minimum number of non-advertisement content items presented in the feed of content between the scrollable content unit and another advertisement, and (iii) setting a minimum distance of slots between the scrollable content unit and another advertisement.