Determining whether to maintain information describing a group of online system users specified by a third-party system based on revenue from content selection based on the group and objectives for presentation of selected content

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at an online system, information from a third party system describing a target group including a plurality of users of the online system;

storing, at the online system, the information received from the third party system describing the target group;

selecting content items for presentation to one or more users of the online system based at least in part on whether the one or more users are included in the target group, one or more of the content items associated with objectives, an objective associated with a content item specifying a goal for presentation of the content item;

determining a performance metric associated with the target group by:

identifying one or more objectives associated with at least one content item that uses the target group to identify users eligible to be presented with the content item;

for each of the identified one or more objectives:

determining an impression ratio of a number of times the online system presented content items to users because the users are included in the target group to a total number of times the online system presented content items to the users of the online system during a time interval;

determining an objective to impression ratio for the identified objective as a ratio of a number of received interactions with content items associated with the identified objective selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group that satisfied the identified objective during the time interval to a number of times the online system presented content items selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group during the time interval;

determining a scaling value as a ratio of a total number of times the online system presented content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval to a total number of interactions with content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval that satisfied the identified objective; and

determining a score for the identified objective as a product of the impression ratio, the objective to impression ratio, and the scaling value; and

determining the performance metric as a sum of scores for each identified objective; and

storing the performance metric in association with the target group; and

communicating the performance metric to the third party system.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the performance metric associated with the target group is based at least in part on:

one or more numbers of times the online system presented content items selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group,

one or more numbers of times the online system presented content items associated with one or more objectives,

one or more numbers of times the online system presented content items associated with the one or more objectives to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group,

a number of received interactions with content items associated with the one or more objectives satisfying at least one of the one or more objectives, and

a number of received interactions with content items associated with the one or more objectives selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group that satisfy at least one of the one or more objectives.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein determining the performance metric associated with the target group comprises:

identifying one or more objectives associated with at least one content item that uses the target group to identify users eligible to be presented with the content item;

for each of a set of the identified one or more objectives:

determining an impression ratio of a number of times the online system presented content items to users because the users are included in the target group to a total number of times the online system presented content items to the users of the online system during the time interval;

determining an objective to impression ratio for the identified objective as a ratio of a number of received interactions with content items associated with the identified objective selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group that satisfied the identified objective during the time interval to a numbers of times the online system presented content items selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group during the time interval;

determining a scaling value as a ratio of a total number of times the online system presented content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval to a total number of interactions with content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval that satisfied the identified objective; and

determining a score for the identified objective as a product of the revenue ratio, the objective ratio, and the scaling value; and

determining the performance metric as a sum of scores for each identified objective in the set.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

selecting a content item for presentation to a user because the user is included in the target group; and

determining a location for presenting the selected content item to the user based at least in part on the performance metric associated with the target group.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein a prominence of the location for presenting the selected content item is proportional to the performance metric associated with the target group.

6. A computer program product comprising a computer readable non-transitory storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

receive, at an online system, information from a third party system describing a target group including a plurality of users of the online system;

store, at the online system, the information received from the third party system describing the target group;

select content items for presentation to one or more users of the online system based at least in part on whether the one or more users are included in the target group, one or more of the content items associated with objectives, an objective associated with a content item specifying a goal for presentation of the content item;

determine a performance metric associated with the target group by:

identifying one or more objectives associated with at least one content item that uses the target group to identify users eligible to be presented with the content item;

for each of the identified one or more objectives:

determine an impression ratio of a number of times the online system presented content items to users because the users are included in the target group to a total number of times the online system presented content items to the users of the online system during a time interval;

determine an objective to impression ratio for the identified objective as a ratio of a number of received interactions with content items associated with the identified objective selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group that satisfied the identified objective during the time interval to a number of times the online system presented content items selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group during the time interval;

determine a scaling value as a ratio of a total number of times the online system presented content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval to a total number of interactions with content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval that satisfied the identified objective; and

determine a score for the identified objective as a product of the impression ratio, the objective to impression ratio, and the scaling value; and

determine the performance metric as a sum of scores for each identified objective; and

store the performance metric in association with the target group; and

communicate the performance metric to the third party system.

7. The computer program product of claim 6 , wherein the performance metric associated with the target group is based at least in part on:

one or more numbers of times the online system presented content items selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group,

one or more numbers of times the online system presented content items associated with one or more objectives,

one or more numbers of times the online system presented content items associated with the one or more objectives to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group,

a number of received interactions with content items associated with the one or more objectives satisfying at least one of the one or more objectives, and

a number of received interactions with content items associated with the one or more objectives selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group that satisfy at least one of the one or more objectives.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein determine the performance metric associated with the target group comprises:

identify one or more objectives associated with at least one content item that uses the target group to identify users eligible to be presented with the content item;

for each of a set of the identified one or more objectives:

determine an impression ratio of a number of times the online system presented content items to users because the users are included in the target group to a total number of times the online system presented content items to the users of the online system during the time interval;

determine an objective to impression ratio for the identified objective as a ratio of a number of received interactions with content items associated with the identified objective selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group that satisfied the identified objective during the time interval to a numbers of times the online system presented content items selected for presentation to the one or more users because the one or more users are included in the target group during the time interval;

determine a scaling value as a ratio of a total number of times the online system presented content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval to a total number of interactions with content items associated with the identified objective during the time interval that satisfied the identified objective; and

determine a score for the identified objective as a product of the revenue ratio, the objective ratio, and the scaling value; and

determine the performance metric as a sum of scores for each identified objective in the set.

9. The computer program product of claim 6 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable storage medium further has instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

select a content item for presentation to a user because the user is included in the target group; and

determine a location for presenting the selected content item to the user based at least in part on the performance metric associated with the target group.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein a prominence of the location for presenting the selected content item is proportional to the performance metric associated with the target group.