Systems and methods to optimize acquisition of templates for content items in news feed

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a computing system in communication with a social networking system, a plurality of templates that specify presentation of types of content items in a news feed of the social networking system from one or more publishers different from the social networking system, wherein the computer system is a client computing device;

maintaining, at the computing system, the plurality of templates, each template of the plurality of templates having a template identifier and a template version number;

receiving a content item to be presented in the news feed;

receiving from the social networking system, by the computing system, metadata associated with the content item, wherein the metadata includes a content identifier and a content version number for identifying a particular template to generate a layout for presenting the content item;

determining, by the computing system, that a template identifier of a template in the plurality of templates matches the content identifier of the content item and a template version number of the template matches the content version number provided in the metadata associated with the content item; and

presenting, by the computing system, the content item in a layout determined based at least in part on the determined template.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the types of content items includes at least one of a type of content items having text, a type of content items having a photo, and a type of content items having a video.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the maintaining the plurality of templates further comprises:

storing the plurality of templates and associated identifiers in a cache of the client computing device.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , further comprising:

obviating communication of a request for the template to a server system based on a match between the identifier of the template associated with the content item and an identifier of a template of the plurality of templates stored in the cache; and

parsing the template to present the content item in the news feed.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the template is designed in a domain specific language.

6. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to perform:

receiving, at a computing system in communication with a social networking system, a plurality of templates that specify presentation of types of content items in a news feed of the social networking system from one or more publishers different from the social networking system, wherein the computer system is a client computing device;

maintaining the plurality of templates, each template of the plurality of templates having a template identifier and a template version number;

receiving a content item to be presented in the news feed;

receiving from the social networking system metadata associated with the content item, wherein the metadata includes a content identifier and a content version number for identifying a particular template to generate a layout for presenting the content item;

determining, by the computing system, that a template identifier of a template in the plurality of templates matches the content identifier of the content item and a template version number of the template matches the content version number provided in the metadata associated with the content item; and

presenting, by the computing system, the content item in a layout determined based at least in part on the determined template.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the types of content items includes at least one of a type of content items having text, a type of content items having a photo, and a type of content items having a video.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the maintaining the plurality of templates further comprises:

storing the plurality of templates and associated identifiers in a cache of the client computing device.

9. The system of claim 8 , further comprising:

obviating communication of a request for the template to a server system based on a match between the identifier of the template associated with the content item and an identifier of a template of the plurality of templates stored in the cache; and

parsing the template to present the content item in the news feed.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a method comprising:

receiving, at a computing system in communication with a social networking system, a plurality of templates that specify presentation of types of content items in a news feed of the social networking system from one or more publishers different from the social networking system, wherein the computer system is a client computing device;

maintaining the plurality of templates, each template of the plurality of templates having a template identifier and a template version number;

receiving a content item to be presented in the news feed;

receiving from the social networking system metadata associated with the content item, wherein the metadata includes a content identifier and a content version number for identifying a particular template to generate a layout for presenting the content item;

determining, by the computing system, that a template identifier of a template in the plurality of templates matches the content identifier of the content item and a template version number of the template matches the content version number provided in the metadata associated with the content item; and

presenting, by the computing system, the content item in a layout determined based at least in part on the determined template.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the maintaining the plurality of templates further comprises:

storing the plurality of templates and associated identifiers in a cache of the client computing device.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the types of content items includes at least one of a type of content items having text, a type of content items having a photo, and a type of content items having a video.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , further comprising:

obviating communication of a request for the template to a server system based on a match between the identifier of the template associated with the content item and an identifier of a template of the plurality of templates stored in the cache; and

parsing the template to present the content item in the news feed.