Methods and apparatus for selecting updates to associated records to publish on an information feed in an on-demand database service environment

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving an indication of an update to a first data record at a first level in a hierarchy of records, the first data record having a hierarchical relationship with a second data record at a second level in the hierarchy of records;

applying one or more criteria to the update;

determining, based on application of the one or more criteria, a score associated with the update;

determining that the score traverses a designated threshold; and

providing the update as a candidate for publication on an information feed capable of being displayed on a display device.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

selecting a number of the candidates for publication on the information feed.

3. The method of claim 2 , the selected number of candidates being ranked based on the score.

4. The method of claim 1 , the one or more updates being stored in the database within a designated time.

5. The method of claim 1 , the candidates being published responsive to an indication of an update to the data record.

6. The method of claim 1 , the candidates being published responsive to a determination that the associated one or more scores meet or exceed a further designated threshold.

7. The method of claim 1 , the criteria including one or more items selected from the group consisting of: an identified field of the data record, an identified action on the data record, an identified name of the data record, an identified keyword associated with the data record, and an identified user associated with the data record.

8. A system comprising:

a hardware processor;

a database configured to store one or more updates associated with a data record; and

a server configured to:

receive an indication of an update to a first data record at a first level in a hierarchy of records, the first data record having a hierarchical relationship with a second data record at a second level in the hierarchy of records;

apply one or more criteria to the update;

determine, based on application of the one or more criteria, a score associated with the update;

determine that the score traverses a designated threshold; and

provide the update as a candidate for publication on an information feed capable of being displayed on a display device.

9. A hardware computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions configured to be executed by a processor to cause one or more servers to:

receive an indication of an update to a first data record at a first level in a hierarchy of records, the first data record having a hierarchical relationship with a second data record at a second level in the hierarchy of records;

apply one or more criteria to the update;

determine, based on application of the one or more criteria, a score associated with the update;

determine that the score traverses a designated threshold; and

provide the update as a candidate for publication on an information feed capable of being displayed on a display device.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a first update and a second update associated with a data record, the data record being a parent record at a first level of hierarchy of records, the first and second updates stored in a database, the first and second updates related to one or more child records associated with the parent records, the child records at a second level of hierarchy of the hierarchy of records;

determining the first update is associated with a first update type and the second update is associated with a second update type;

applying one or more criteria to the updates;

generating, based on application of the one or more criteria, a score associated with each update including a first score corresponding to the first update type and a second score corresponding to the second update type;

comparing the scores with a designated threshold; and

when one or more scores are identified as meeting or exceeding the designated threshold, providing the one or more updates associated with the identified one or more scores as one or more candidates for publication on an information feed associated with the data record, the information feed capable of being displayed on a display device.

11. The method of claim 10 , the update type including one or more items selected from the group consisting of: creation of a record, update of a field of a record, and a post to a record.

12. A computer-implemented method comprising:

accessing one or more updates associated with a data record, the one or more updates stored in a database, the data record being a parent record, the one or more updates related to one or more child records associated with the parent record, the parent record being at a first level of a hierarchy of records, the child records being at a second level of the hierarchy of records; and

providing the one or more updates as one or more candidates for publication on an information feed associated with the data record, the information feed capable of being displayed on a display device.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

applying one or more criteria to the one or more candidates.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

selecting a number of candidates for publication on the information feed based on the one or more criteria.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

publishing the candidates on the information feed.

16. The method of claim 13 , the criteria including one or more items selected from the group consisting of: an identified field of the data record, an identified action on the data record, an identified name of the data record, an identified keyword associated with the data record, and an identified user associated with the data record.

17. The method of claim 13 , the criteria including one or more items selected from the group consisting of: an identified time of the one or more updates, an identified number of the one or more updates, an identified type of the one or more updates, an identified author of the one or more updates, a number of published comments associated with the one or more updates, a number of further publishings of the one or more updates, and a number of user inputs associated with the one or more updates.

18. The method of claim 13 , the criteria including a maximum number of the candidates.

19. The method of claim 13 , the one or more child records being of a first type, the parent record being of a second type.

20. A system comprising:

a hardware processor;

a database configured to store one or more updates associated with a data record, the data record being a parent record, the one or more updates related to one or more child records associated with the parent record, the parent record being at a first level of a hierarchy of records, the child records being at a second level of the hierarchy of records; and

a server configured to:

access the one or more updates stored in the database, and

provide the one or more updates as one or more candidates for publication on an information feed associated with the data record, the information feed capable of being displayed on a display device.