Patent Application
20170116627
This application relates generally to online polling, and more specifically to user-generated polling questions.
Within Internet and online venues and digital properties, what are known to many as Web 2.0 and Big Data services, we are now transitioning to a new level of understanding that information built and shared via social and professional networks needs to be more credible and representative in order to be useful. In particular, there is unmet demand to obtain accurate, quantifiable and comprehensive data on what people really think about various topics in their life and issues in their world. As an example, to optimally plan development and sales for any product or service it is imperative for merchandisers and marketers to best understand customers' views on product features, service appeal, trends, pricing, as well as have reliable, measurable insight into consumer interests and their decision-making processes. The same is true for analysts in every other area of human life, including politics, culture, sports, entertainment, estimates of geographical, educational and vocational trends, etc.
Traditional analysis relies on the content provider or a third-party poll provider to determine which questions to ask users. This runs the risk of “missing the mark” if the questions asked do not best reflect user interests and concerns. A need therefore exists to provide a way of generating poll questions that better reflect users' viewpoints and can harness the “wisdom of the crowd.”
The present invention relates to a method and system to allow for users to provide, not only responses to existing poll questions, but also new poll questions. These poll questions may be made available to other users on a question generator's network, and may also be made available to the content or poll provider for broader distribution.
In one embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method comprising the steps of, in response to a client request for content, selecting from a repository of poll questions at least one poll question associated with the requested content and providing to the requesting client the requested content and a poll allowing a user to respond to the at least one selected question; receiving from the client a poll question generated by the user, the poll question including at least a question associated with the content and a plurality of answers responsive to the question; storing the received user-generated question in the repository of poll questions; and, in response to a subsequent request by a different client for the same content, selecting the user-generated question and providing to the different requesting client the requested content and a poll including the user-generated question.
In accordance with other aspects of this embodiment, the method may further include receiving from the user permission for the user-generated question to be published; submitting to a provider associated with the content the user-generated question; and receiving from the provider approval to associated the user-generated question with the content in the repository; wherein the user-generated question is provided to the different client based on it being associated with the content in the repository.
In accordance with other aspects of this embodiment, the method may further include providing to the client a reference uniquely designating the user-generated question. The user-generated question can be provided to the different client based on the client providing the reference as part of the request for the content.
In accordance with further aspects of this embodiment, the method may further include, before providing the user-generated question, determining that the different client is associated with a different user that is connected on a social network to the user that generated the question.
In accordance with other aspects of this embodiment, the method may further include, before providing the user-generated question, determining that the different client associated with a different user that is connected on a social network to the user that generated the question; and providing the identity of the user that generated the question to the different client.
In accordance with other aspects of this embodiment, the method may further include providing, along with the poll provided to the client, a reference to a form for submitting a poll question associated with the content. The user-generated poll question can be received from the user selecting the reference and completing the form
In accordance with another embodiment, the techniques may be realized as an article of manufacture including at least one processor readable storage medium and instructions stored on the at least one medium. The instructions may be configured to be readable from the at least one medium by at least one processor and thereby cause the at least one processor to operate so as to carry out any and all of the steps in the above-described method.
In accordance with another embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a system comprising one or more processors communicatively coupled to a network; wherein the one or more processors are configured to carry out any and all of the steps described with respect to any of the above embodiments.
The present disclosure will now be described in more detail with reference to particular embodiments thereof as shown in the accompanying drawings. While the present disclosure is described below with reference to particular embodiments, it should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Those of ordinary skill in the art having access to the teachings herein will recognize additional implementations, modifications, and embodiments, as well as other fields of use, which are within the scope of the present disclosure as described herein, and with respect to which the present disclosure may be of significant utility.
Better understanding of the present invention may be obtained by reference to the accompanying drawings, when considered in conjunction with the subsequent, detailed description.
The present invention relates to a method and system to allow for content users to generate their own poll questions associated with particular internet content. The system allows the user to spread their own poll questions to members of their social network as well as submitting the question to be included more generally on the content provider's site.
In some implementations, the link 104 may appear only selectively to some viewers of the content page 100. A server managing a poll widget disposed within the section 1A of the page 100 may selectively provide the link 104 to some users based, for instance, on demographic data which show particular users to be good candidates for value-added questions. For example, users known to be well-positioned in social networks, users with a history of viewing articles associated with the topic of the content page 100, or users already engaged with polling systems may be selected. Some implementations may include the link 104 for all users or for a random selection of users.
Upon selecting the link 104, a user may be taken to a series of windows which allow the user to create a custom poll question as illustrated in
First, if the user is not registered, a registration page 200 may be provided as shown in
Once the user is registered and logged in, a question creation screen 210 shown in
Screen 220 allows for the user to input poll answers. As shown, the user can choose the number of actors with the buttons 222 and then enter the answers themselves into text entry boxes 224. Selecting the button 226 publishes the poll; we are again given a link 228 that will cancel the custom poll generation and return the user to published poll question instead.
In some implementations, default answers may be made available to users such that they can choose from available answers rather than having to type them in by default. Default answers may be populated automatically based on the most common answers in related polls (“yes,” “no,” “agree” “disagree,” “no opinion,” etc.).
Once the user submits answers and publishes the poll, a window 230 as shown in
If the user chooses to share the poll with friends, such as by selecting one of the social media site buttons 232 shown in the window 230, the system may connect with the user's social media account in one of a number of ways known in the art. The system may, for example, have an associated application or platform within the social media website which allows it to publish on the user's account and share data with the user's friends given the user's permission.
Steps as described may be performed in response to a request for content (602). This could include, for example, a web client request for a web page such as the content page illustrated with respect to
Regardless of the nature of the content, the content provider has included an opportunity for a poll associated with the content to be included along with the content. This poll may be in the form of a pop-up window, a widget, an optional notification, or any other appropriate means. The system serves both the requested content, and at least one poll question associated with the content, to the requesting client (604). In addition to the poll question, the system also includes a link that directs the user to a form for creating a custom poll question relevant to the same content.
In response to a user selecting the “create your own question” link, the system serves the poll question form (606). As illustrated above with respect to
When the user fills out and submits the form, the system receives the data for a user-generated poll question 608. The form can include the option as to whether the user wishes to allow the publisher to include the poll question for display to other readers (that is, “publish” the question).
The user-generated poll question may be associated with a unique ID which can be converted to a URL and given to the user for sharing on social media (610). The URL may be, for instance, the URL associated with the original content page with an additional string added to identify the specific user-generated poll.
In some implementations, the system may respond to any use of the link that includes the additional string by including the user-generated poll question with the requested content (614). In other implementations, where the user has not agreed to publish the question for wider use (“No” branch of 612), some security may be included such that only those identified as connected to the user on a social network can see and answer the poll question.
If the user does agree to publish the question (“Yes” branch of 612), the system may then hold the question for approval by the content provider (616). Although the exemplary implementation conflates the provider of the content with the management of the polls, it will be understood that in some implementations webpage or other content may be managed separately from the poll questions that appear along with the content.
If the content provider approves the question for publication (“Yes” branch of 618), then the poll question may be associated with the content and added to the general poll question repository as a potential selection whenever the content is requested (620). If the user-generated poll question is not approved by the content provider (“No” branch of 618), then in some implementations only those who receive the specific link provided to the user will see the user-generated question. This allows both the user and the content provider to decide whether a particular user-generated question will end up before a wider public audience in association with certain content.
In some implementations, the content server 704 may be responsible for supplying the majority of the content of a webpage such as the content page 100 shown in
The poll content may be pulled from a repository 708 which may include a plurality of poll questions managed by the content provider as described herein.
As shown, the exemplary poll 802 may include a poll_id parameter which provides the primary indexing parameter for the repository 800. The poll_id may uniquely identify the poll, and in some implementations may be used to generate a custom URL for the poll as described further below.
The exemplary poll 802 further includes parameters associated with the substantive contents of the poll, namely a question parameter, a num_ans parameter (for the number of answers a user can select from), and an answers parameter which may include a list of answers. Although the exemplary poll 802 shows “answers” as a single parameter with a list of multiple values, it will be understood that in some implementations each answer may represent a separate parameter.
The exemplary poll 802 may further have parameters including the status of the poll on the network (that is, whether the poll should be treated as “private” by the system). The partner parameter can include the ID of the content creator associated with the content page where the poll was created. Where different categories of polls exist, a “user-created” category may designate polls created by users in this way. The URL associated with the article and an image associated with the article may both be included as parameters, along with a parameter marking the poll as a crowdsource poll.
Several values may be available for the approved_by_partner parameter. In some implementations, a “none” value for this parameter may be supplied when a user has not chosen to make the created poll available for publication by the publisher. Where the user has allowed the publisher access to the poll, a “pending” value may reflect that the poll is available for the partner to add to published polls but has not yet done so. Further values such as “approved” or “declined” may be used to reflect the content publisher's decision once it is made.
In conjunction with creating the record associated with the user-generated poll question 802, the system may return for the user a URL that includes both the associated content and an ID unique to the poll question (such as the poll_id). In the instant example show in
At this point it should be noted that techniques in accordance with the present disclosure as described above may involve the processing of input data and the generation of output data to some extent. This input data processing and output data generation may be implemented in hardware or software. For example, specific electronic components may be employed in circuitry for implementing the functions in accordance with the present disclosure as described above. Alternatively, one or more processors operating in accordance with instructions may implement the functions in accordance with the present disclosure as described above. If such is the case, it is within the scope of the present disclosure that such instructions may be stored on one or more non-transitory processor readable storage media (e.g., a magnetic disk or other storage medium), or transmitted to one or more processors via one or more signals embodied in one or more carrier waves.
