Facebook, Inc.

Google Inc.

Friendster, Inc.

Meta Platforms, Inc.

Timecove Corporation

Christopher Lunt

Nicholas Galbreath

Jeffrey B Winner

Xiao Ming Zhu

Andrew Halliday

Jonathan H Abrams

Samuel Sanchez

Dean Pfutzenreuter

In one embodiment, one or more computing devices receives, from a first user, a request to search for compatible users, wherein the first user is associated with a set of first expressed interests, accesses one or more sets of second expressed interests of one or more second users, respectively, normalizes the set of first expressed interests and the sets of second expressed interests to obtain a set of first normalized interests and one or more sets of second normalized interests, respectively, calculates, for each set of second expressed interests, an interest compatibility score based at least in part on a probability that a user will express one or more pairs of a first normalized interest and a second normalized interest, and sends, to the first user, information associated with one or more of the second users based on the calculated interest compatibility scores.

Compatibility scoring of users

The compatibility score of members of a social network is based on the compatibility of their expressed interests. The compatibility score between any two interests is calculated as the log of the estimated probability that a member of the social network will express both interests divided by the product of: (i) the estimated probability that a member of the social network will express the first of the two interests and (ii) the estimated probability that a member of the social network will express the second of the two interests. The compatibility score between two individuals is calculated as the sum of the compatibility scores between each interest appearing in a set of interests expressed by the first of the two individuals and each interest appearing in a set of interests expressed by the second of the two individuals.

In particular embodiments, a method includes receiving, from a client device associated with a first entity of a communication service, a search query from the first entity, identifying one or more content items matching the search query, the one or more content items being associated with one or more second entities of the communication service, and sending, to the client device responsive to the search query, one or more search results corresponding to one or more of the content items, respectively, each content item of the search results being associated with a second entity that does not correspond to an entity on a gray list, wherein the gray list is based on a black list.

Authorization and authentication based on an individual's social network

In particular embodiments, a method comprises accessing, from a first user of an online social network, profile information of the first user comprising personal information of the first user and a visibility preference specified by the first user, wherein the visibility preference specifies a degree of separation preference and determines a flow of the first user's profile information to users of the online social network and a flow of information to the first user, identifying relationships between the first user and one or more second users of the online social network based on the personal information and the visibility preference of the first user, and further based on personal information of the one or more second users, and updating a member database with the identified relationships between the first user and one or more of the second users.

Identifying relationships in an online social network

Systems and methods for modifying a social timeline are described. A method for modifying a social timeline includes generating data to display a timeline graphic. The time graphic includes a chronology bar that is associated with at least two dates. The method further includes associating image data with the at least two dates to display images along the timeline graphic. The images describe a life story of an account holder. The method includes generating data to allow the account holder to post a comment to the life story along the timeline graphic.

Graphical user interfaces for supporting collaborative generation of life stories

Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) support the collaborative generation of life stories by helping the user view the development of the life stories of other users and facilitating interaction with them through these GUIs. A GUI according to a first type helps the user keep track of recent life stories and comments posted by other users of the collaborative system, and a GUI according to a second type helps the user view life stories of any user in a chronological manner.

In particular embodiments, a computing system may receive a search query from a first user of an online social network, identify one or more second users of the online social network that match the search query, where each identified second user may have a visibility setting specifying which other users of the online social network can view information from the online social network associated with the second user, and send to the first user information associated with each second user having a relationship within the online social network to the first user such that the visibility setting of the second user specifies that the first user can view the information associated with the second user.

Controlling access of user information using social-networking information

Particular embodiments access a search query submitted by a first user of a social-networking system; identify one or more web pages in response to the search query; for each of the one or more web pages, determine a value indicating a number of user clicks associated with the web page by one or more second users of the social-networking system who are connected to the first user within the social-networking system; and send a set of hyperlinks for the one or more web pages, wherein hyperlinks for web pages where the value is greater than zero are visually emphasized over other hyperlinks.

Ranking search results based on the frequency of access on the search results by users of a social-networking system

In particular embodiments, a method includes receiving, from a client device associated with a first entity of a communication service, a request by the first entity to access the communication service, the request comprising an entity identifier (ID) of the first entity, determining whether the first entity is authorized to access the communication service based at least in part on a gray list comprising entity IDs of the entities who are not authorized to access the communication service, wherein the gray list is based on a black list, and prohibiting, by one or more of the computing devices, access to the communication service by the first entity if the first entity is not authorized to access the communication service based on the gray list.

In particular embodiments, a method comprises maintaining a database of connections between a plurality of members of an online social network, creating a new entry for a new user in the database responsive to the new user joining the online social network, determining whether the new user joined the online social network in response to a request from an existing user of the online social network, and if the new user joined the online social network in response to a request from the existing user, then sending a prompt to the new user to confirm the relationship between the new user and the existing user.

Relationship confirmation in an online social network

An online social network is provided in which members of the online social network control who may view their personal information and who may communicate with them. The members control who may view their personal information by setting a visibility preference. A member may not view another member's full personal profile if the measure of relatedness between the two is greater than the visibility preference of the other member. The members also control who may communicate with them by setting a contactability preference. A member may not communicate with another member if the measure of relatedness between the two is greater than the contactability preference of the other member.

System and method for managing information flow between members of an online social network

In particular embodiments, a method includes accessing a graph data structure comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes, receiving, a request to send content relating to the first user to the second user, and prohibiting sending of the content to the second user if the node corresponding to the first user and the second user are connected to each other in the graph data structure through a series of edges and nodes that comprises an unauthorized node.

Particular embodiments receive, at a first computing device associated with a social-networking system and from a second computing device associated with a third-party system, a query comprising a first identifier corresponding to a user of the third-party system, wherein the first identifier is computed by applying a hash algorithm to a user credential associated with the user of the third-party system; determine, by the first computing device, whether the user of the third-party system matches any member of the social-networking system; and if the second identifier corresponding to a member of the social-networking system matches the first identifier, then send, by the first computing device to the second computing device, social-network information of the member of the social-networking system in response to the query.

Growing community of inventors

Mountain View, CA, United States of America

Christopher Lunt