Patent Application
20090177695
Many computer users interact with one another via social networking services (e.g., instant messenger, spaces using instant messenger and/or other social networking sites). Such sites maintain lists of buddies for their users, as well as buddies of buddies and so on for various contacts. These systems may also surface such information in various ways that are beneficial and useful to their users.
At the same time, there are online merchandising sites (e.g., shopping.msn.com) that cater to various customers' shopping needs for products and/or services. However, there is currently no interactive integration, that is customizable by end users, between social networking and shopping/advertising aspects of an online merchandising experience.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of representative concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used in any way that would limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Briefly, various aspects of the subject matter described herein are directed towards a technology by which a social networking service is integrated with merchandising data corresponding to a person registered with a merchandising website. When the person is on a buddy list maintained by the social networking service, a client application program that accesses the social networking service obtains the buddy list and may obtain information corresponding to the merchandising data for each of the persons on the buddy list. The information may be used to couple a client device corresponding to the client application program to the merchandising data of the person. For example, a browser component running on the client device may render a merchandising data page corresponding to that person on the buddy list.
The buddy list also may be used to provide a notification upon a change to the merchandising data, to facilitate collaboration among buddies in making a joint purchase, and/or to advertise a product or service to one or more entities (e.g., individuals or groups) associated with the buddy list, including the owner of the list.
In one aspect, the shopping website maintains merchandising data for a person that is on a buddy list of a social networking service, and provides the social networking service with information by which the merchandising data may be accessed. For example, the information may couple the client device to the person's merchandising data webpage of a shopping website. In an alternative aspect, the information may (directly or indirectly) couple the client device to a database that maintains the merchandising data (and/or links thereto).
Other advantages may become apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limited in the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicate similar elements and in which:
Various aspects of the technology described herein are generally directed towards integrating social networking applications/services with a merchandising (i.e., shopping) website. While the various examples herein are generally directed towards coupling a social networking user to a buddy's wish list/registry corresponding to a shopping website, it is understood that these are only examples, and there are other aspects that are described herein, although not exemplified to the same extent. For example, a “buddy” can be a single user, or a group of users. As a further example, instead of a wish list, a user may be coupled to any other type of merchandising data, including a registry, product reviews, profile information and/or other merchandising-related information. Still further, a merchandising or shopping site is not limited to sites that provide actual products or services, but also includes sites such as auction sites and sites that locate products and services, such as those that search for products and services offered on other sites, e.g., by lowest price, by region, and so forth.
As such, the present invention is not limited to any particular embodiments, aspects, concepts, structures, functionalities or examples described herein. Rather, any of the embodiments, aspects, concepts, structures, functionalities or examples described herein are non-limiting, and the present invention may be used various ways that provide benefits and advantages in computing, social networking and merchandising/advertising in general.
Turning to
As is known, a social networking service maintains a dynamic social network for individuals. A social networking service manages buddies and their relationships, along with their access privileges. Some social networking services may also manage dynamic groups (circles) of various contacts.
Thus, the social networking service 104 maintains information 106 about the client user and the user's buddies, including various privacy settings. In the example implementation of
As represented by the checked checkbox next to “Buddy 1” in the information 106, the social networking service 104 knows that Buddy 1 has a profile and merchandising-related data such as a wish list or other similar information (e.g., a registry) maintained on a shopping site 108. Note that privacy settings on the profile (e.g. wish list, shopping history, reviews and so forth) and/or items related to the profile can be made in relationship to the social network, such as visible only to a person's buddies, or some subset of buddies such as personal friends rather than coworker buddies.
In general, a shopping site provides a shopping experience, and typically involves items or services listed for sale and an ability to check out and buy such items or services. A shopping site may manage dynamic profiles, and shopping histories of various customers, as well as surface relationships between various items. A shopping site may also allow persons to upload registries (potentially multiple) of items or services that they would like to have.
Further, with explicit knowledge of an individual's social network, for privacy reasons a shopping site can allow specifying (such as at a per-registry or per-item level) a group of people (private, public, buddies, circles and the like) that have visibility to the items or services desired. A shopping site may also provide targeted advertising and notifications, which may be based on a user opting in to receive such data.
Note that in the example, of
Whether automatically or in response to some client action, a query or the like requesting information on Buddy 1 (and possibly other buddies) is sent to the shopping site 108, as represented by the arrow labeled with circled numeral three (3). For example, the social networking site 104 may provide a tag or URL to Buddy 1's wish list page automatically or if the client indicates a desire to view it. In response, the client user application receives a wish list (or other merchandising data) page, as represented by the arrow labeled with circled numeral four (4). APIs may also be exposed by each entity, which may be used in conjunction with tags, URLs or the like.
Turning to
In this manner, after login and receiving the buddies list (the arrows labeled one (1) and two (2), respectively), a user query is made via the social networking site 104 (the arrow labeled three (3)). The social networking site 104 queries the database 220, which then retrieves the requested information and provides the results back to the client user application, as represented in
At step 306, the user uses the mechanism (e.g., automatic redirection to a URL, or in response to a manual user action) to connect to the shopping site or database. In response, the user receives merchandising data such as in the form of a wish list page or other shopping-related information for that buddy (step 308). At step 310, the corresponding page or the like is displayed to the user, with which the user can interact to make a purchase, for example.
Some example scenarios that that relate to the integration of a social networking service/application with a shopping website based on buddy information are described with reference to the examples of
For example, with such wish list/registry information visible, the client user may interact (e.g., hover over Buddy 1's representative icon in a social networking application program window) and notice that Buddy 1 is interested in a certain Audio CD. Clicking on this item takes the user to the shopping site, where he or she checks it out to present it to Buddy 1. This action also removes the item CD from Buddy 1's registry/wish list so that no other friend buys the same item.
As another example, alerts of updates made to a person's merchandising data (e.g., registry/wish list) may be sent to a person's buddies, including online alerts and/or offline alerts, e.g., by email/text and the like. A buddy may then decide to purchase something recently added, for example. Still further, a user may notice that his or her buddies are particularly interested in an item, such as a new popular video game. The user may decide to order the game or add it to his wish list.
Collaboration is another example use of the technology described herein. For example, if a user notices that other buddies are interested in a product that can be shared because it is not often needed, such as a pressure washer, the various buddies may collaborate and together buy one item for sharing.
Further, such merchandising data in conjunction with buddy lists may facilitate targeted advertising, e.g., a person that is interested in an item by adding it to a shopping registry/wish list may have buddies that are similarly interested in such a product, as buddies are often of the same mindset, e.g., all are video game enthusiasts. Thus, it may be profitable to target advertising to the buddies that is directed to same or similar items. A social networking service may also obtain advertising revenue in this process as a result of driving traffic to the shopping site based on the number of clicks or actual purchases. For example, each item may be associated with a URL to facilitate tracking that the purchase came from a social networking-provided wish list rather than in some other manner.
As can be seen, the integration is highly flexible and extensible via the framework that allows the integration and enables new scenarios. As described above, the social network (e.g. buddy list) information may be surfaced in the context of shopping site, and/or shopping profiles can be surfaced within the context of a social network (e.g. buddies). Advertising and notifications may be performed, including in a manner that is acceptable to users, such as by making use of each user's settings to generate only the right amount of traffic for that user.
The invention is operational with numerous other general purpose or special purpose computing system environments or configurations. Examples of well known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with the invention include, but are not limited to: personal computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, tablet devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and the like.
The invention may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and so forth, which perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in local and/or remote computer storage media including memory storage devices.
With reference to
The computer 710 typically includes a variety of computer-readable media. Computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by the computer 710 and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media, and removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media may comprise computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media includes volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can accessed by the computer 710. Communication media typically embodies computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of the any of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
The system memory 730 includes computer storage media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 731 and random access memory (RAM) 732. A basic input/output system 733 (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within computer 710, such as during start-up, is typically stored in ROM 731. RAM 732 typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presently being operated on by processing unit 720. By way of example, and not limitation,
The computer 710 may also include other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. By way of example only,
The drives and their associated computer storage media, described above and illustrated in
The computer 710 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 780. The remote computer 780 may be a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the computer 710, although only a memory storage device 781 has been illustrated in
When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 710 is connected to the LAN 771 through a network interface or adapter 770. When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 710 typically includes a modem 772 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN 773, such as the Internet. The modem 772, which may be internal or external, may be connected to the system bus 721 via the user input interface 760 or other appropriate mechanism. A wireless networking component 774 such as comprising an interface and antenna may be coupled through a suitable device such as an access point or peer computer to a WAN or LAN. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 710, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. By way of example, and not limitation,
An auxiliary subsystem 799 (e.g., for auxiliary display of content) may be connected via the user interface 760 to allow data such as program content, system status and event notifications to be provided to the user, even if the main portions of the computer system are in a low power state. The auxiliary subsystem 799 may be connected to the modem 772 and/or network interface 770 to allow communication between these systems while the main processing unit 720 is in a low power state.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof are shown in the drawings and have been described above in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the invention to the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.
