Techniques to promote filtered messages based on historical reply rate

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving an incoming message addressed to a recipient account from a sender account at a messaging system;

determining one or more connection categories between the sender account and the recipient account;

determining a predicted reply rate for the incoming message based on the one or more connection categories, a recipient reply history for the recipient account, and a sender reply history for the sender account; and

choosing a delivery mailbox for the incoming message based on the predicted reply rate;

identifying a most-prominent connection category of the one or more connection categories;

configuring the incoming message with a banner message indicating the most-prominent connection category; and

transmitting the incoming message to the chosen delivery mailbox on a client device associated with the recipient account;

wherein the recipient reply history is based on the historic reply rate of the recipient for messages received from unknown contacts and wherein the sender reply history is the historic reply rate for receiving replies to messages sent to unknown contacts.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the one or more connection categories, determining the predicted reply rate, configuring the delivery mailbox for the incoming message based on the predicted reply rate, and configuring the incoming message with the banner message indicating the most-prominent connection category are in response to determining that the incoming message is a first message sent from the sender account to the recipient account.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the one or more connection categories, determining the predicted reply rate, and configuring the delivery mailbox for the incoming message based on the predicted reply rate are in response to determining that the sender account is not on a friends list for the recipient account and is not on a contacts list for the recipient account.

4. The method of claim 1 , the one or more connection categories comprising one or more of a shared social networking group category, a shared calendar event category, a physical-proximity category, and an unconnected category.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining one or more category-specific predicted reply rates, wherein each of the one or more category-specific predicted reply rates is associated with one of the one or more connection categories; and

determining the predicted reply rate based on the one or more category-specific predicted reply rates.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein each of the one or more category-specific predicted reply rates is a combination of a recipient historic reply rate for a connection category and a sender historic reply rate for the connection category.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

configuring the delivery mailbox for the incoming message as a primary mailbox where the predicted reply rate meets a predefined threshold; and

configuring the delivery mailbox for the incoming message as a request-to-chat mailbox where the predicted reply rate falls below the predefined threshold.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting a message notification to the client device in association with the incoming message in response to the predicted reply rate meeting a predefined threshold.

9. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor circuit on a device;

a network interface controller on the device;

a messaging interface component operative on the processor circuit to receive an incoming message addressed to a recipient account from a sender account at a messaging system; and transmit the incoming message to a chosen delivery mailbox on a client device associated with the recipient account using the network interface controller; and

a destination mailbox configuration component operative to determine one or more connection categories between the sender account and the recipient account; determine a predicted reply rate for the incoming message based on the one or more connection categories, a recipient reply history for the recipient account, and a sender reply history for the sender account; choose the delivery mailbox for the incoming message based on the predicted reply rate; identify a most-prominent connection category of the one or more connection categories; and configure the incoming message with a banner message indicating the most-prominent connection category;

wherein the recipient reply history is based on the historic reply rate of the recipient for messages received from unknown contacts and wherein the sender reply history is the historic reply rate for receiving replies to messages sent to unknown contacts.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein determining the one or more connection categories, determining the predicted reply rate, configuring the delivery mailbox for the incoming message based on the predicted reply rate, and configuring the incoming message with the banner message indicating the most-prominent connection category are in response to determining that the incoming message is a first message sent from the sender account to the recipient account.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , the one or more connection categories comprising one or more of a shared social networking group category, a shared calendar event category, a physical-proximity category, and an unconnected category.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising:

the destination mailbox configuration component operative to determine one or more category-specific predicted reply rates, wherein each of the one or more category-specific predicted reply rates is associated with one of the one or more connection categories, wherein each of the one or more category-specific predicted reply rates is a combination of a recipient historic reply rate for a connection category and a sender historic reply rate for the connection category; and determine the predicted reply rate based on the one or more category-specific predicted reply rates.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising:

the destination mailbox configuration component operative to configure the delivery mailbox for the incoming message as a primary mailbox where the predicted reply rate meets a predefined threshold; and configure the delivery mailbox for the incoming message as a request-to-chat mailbox where the predicted reply rate falls below the predefined threshold.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising:

the messaging interface component operative to transmit a message notification to the client device in association with the incoming message in response to the predicted reply rate meeting a predefined threshold.

15. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a system to:

receive an incoming message addressed to a recipient account from a sender account at a messaging system;

determine one or more connection categories between the sender account and the recipient account;

determine a predicted reply rate for the incoming message based on the one or more connection categories, a recipient reply history for the recipient account, and a sender reply history for the sender account; and

choose a delivery mailbox for the incoming message based on the predicted reply rate;

identify a most-prominent connection category of the one or more connection categories;

configure the incoming message with a banner message indicating the most-prominent connection category; and

transmit the incoming message to the chosen delivery mailbox on a client device associated with the recipient account;

wherein the recipient reply history is based on the historic reply rate of the recipient for messages received from unknown contacts and wherein the sender reply history is the historic reply rate for receiving replies to messages sent to unknown contacts.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein determining the one or more connection categories, determining the predicted reply rate, configuring the delivery mailbox for the incoming message based on the predicted reply rate, and configuring the incoming message with the banner message indicating the most-prominent connection category are in response to determining that the incoming message is a first message sent from the sender account to the recipient account.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , the one or more connection categories comprising one or more of a shared social networking group category, a shared calendar event category, a physical-proximity category, and an unconnected category.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , comprising further instructions that, when executed, cause a system to:

determine one or more category-specific predicted reply rates, wherein each of the one or more category-specific predicted reply rates is associated with one of the one or more connection categories, wherein each of the one or more category-specific predicted reply rates is a combination of a recipient historic reply rate for a connection category and a sender historic reply rate for the connection category; and

determine the predicted reply rate based on the one or more category-specific predicted reply rates.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , comprising further instructions that, when executed, cause a system to:

configure the delivery mailbox for the incoming message as a primary mailbox where the predicted reply rate meets a predefined threshold; and

configure the delivery mailbox for the incoming message as a request-to-chat mailbox where the predicted reply rate falls below the predefined threshold.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , comprising further instructions that, when executed, cause a system to:

transmit a message notification to the client device in association with the incoming message in response to the predicted reply rate meeting a predefined threshold.