Method and system for providing recommendations using location information
The present invention is directed to system and method for providing recommendation to users using location information. In various embodiments, the present invention provides system that integrates information from user profiles and user-generated content, which can be obtained from a number of social networks, and merchants, to generate recommendations using location information in conjunction with the context of user profiles from various data sources and/or social networks. In certain embodiments, user generated-contents, user profiles and relationships thereof are collected, integrated, analyzed, and stored to allow them to be useful and usable in making recommendations. There are other embodiments as well.
1. A method for providing information to a merchant, the method comprising:
receiving a request for user information from a merchant over a data communication network;
determining a location of the merchant;
identifying a plurality of users within a proximity of the location of the merchant;
determining whether one or more servers comprise the user information obtained within a predetermined time period, wherein the user information comprises a location of the plurality of users and interest information associated with the plurality of users, and wherein the one or more servers comprises geo-tagged contents retrieved from social network services, the geo-tagged contents being organized according to a geo-hash hierarchy;
requesting the user information from one or more data sources if the one or more servers has no user information obtained within the predetermined time period, the one or more data sources comprising user data information, the one or more data sources being associated with one or more social networks;
requesting the user information from the one or more servers if the one or more servers has the user information obtained within the predetermined time period;
processing the user information based on the merchant request and user relationship information related to the merchant;
determining a relevance value associated with the user information, wherein the relevance value is based on one or more factor weights, the one or more factor weights being configured dynamically;
generating recommendations for the merchant based on the relevance value; and
sending the recommendations to the merchant.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more servers include three levels of storage modules.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more servers comprises a caching server.
4. The method of claim 1 further comprising sending discount information to a first user of the plurality of users, the discount information being associated with the merchant.
5. The method of claim 1 where in the one or more data source includes Facebook server, Google+server, Foursquare, and/or Twitter.