Patent Application
20160253726
This disclosure relates generally to presentation of content by an online system, and more specifically to presenting content by an online system allowing a user to purchase an item within an application.
An online system, such as a social networking system, allows its users to connect to and communicate with other online system users. Users may create profiles on an online system that are tied to their identities and include information about the users, such as interests and demographic information. The users may be individuals or entities such as corporations or charities. Because of the increasing popularity of online systems and the increasing amount of user-specific information maintained by online systems, an online system provides an ideal forum for entities, such as retailers or service providers, to increase awareness about products or services by presenting content to online system users.
Presenting content items to online system users allows an entity (e.g., a retailer, a service provider, a restaurant) to gain public attention for products or services or to persuade online users to take an action regarding the entity's products or services. Additionally, many online systems generate revenue by receiving compensation from entities for presenting certain content items to their users. Frequently, online systems charge an entity for each presentation of certain types of content items to an online system user (e.g., each “impression” of the content item) or for each interaction with certain types of content items by an online system user.
Additionally, users may interact with applications via the online system or applications that exchange information with the online system. For example, a user interacts with a game application or a music streaming application to interact with additional content than content provided by the online system. Many applications allow users to purchase or acquire items for use within the application to increase the functionality of the application to the user. However, conventional applications require a user to purchase items by directly interacting with the application or through an application provider (such as an application store), which reduces user interaction with the online system and may increase the time and cost for a user to purchase an item for use in the application.
An online system receives an advertisement (“ad”) request having ad content that identifies an application associated with a third party system and one or more items for use within the application. Additionally, the ad request includes targeting criteria, ad content, and a prompt for purchasing one or more of the items. For example, the application allows a user to perform additional features in exchange for the user redeeming virtual currency through the application, and the ad request identifies an amount of virtual currency; thus, the ad request also includes a prompt for purchasing the amount of virtual currency. The prompt for purchasing a product comprises text or image data describing the purchasing. Additionally, the ad request includes instructions for determining information identifying a user to a third party system associated with the application. Hence, by interacting with the prompt, the user may purchase the item identified by the ad request, allowing the user to more easily obtain the item for subsequent use when interacting with the application.
Based at least in part on the targeting criteria included in the ad request, the online system identifies a user of the online system eligible to be presented with the ad content from the ad request. The identified user is associated with at least a threshold number of characteristics satisfying the targeting criteria included in the ad request. When selecting content for presentation to the identified user, the ad request is included in a selection process in which one or more content items are selected for presentation to the identified user. In various embodiments, the bid amount included in the ad request is used by the selection process when determining whether to present the ad content included in the ad request to the identified user.
If the ad request is selected for presentation to the user, the online system communicates the ad content, which includes the prompt to purchase the one or more items for use within the application, to a client device for presentation to the user so the prompt is presented to the user along with the ad content. When the user interacts with the prompt, a description of the interaction is communicated to the online system along with information identifying the user to the online system. Based on the information identifying the user and instructions in the ad request for determining information identifying the user to the third party system, the online system determines information identifying the user to the third party system. For example, the online system associates an application-specific user identifier with information identifying the user to the online system and with an application identifier of the application, so the online system retrieves the application-specific user identifier based on the application identifier and the information identifying the user to the online system. As another example, the online system generates obfuscated data by applying a hash function or other process specified by the third party system to the information identifying the user to the online system, so the third party system uses the obfuscated data to identify the user. In some embodiments, the user may authorize the third party system to access information used by the online system to identify the user, so the online system identifies the information identifying the user to the online system as the information identifying the user to the third party system. The online system communicates a request for the user to purchase an item identified by the ad content of the ad request to the third party system that includes the information identifying the user to the third party system, which retrieves a user profile associated with the user by the third party system for use by the application.
After receiving the request, the third party system associates the item included in the request with the profile associated with the user profile associated with the user by the third party system, allowing the user to subsequently use the item when accessing the application. In some embodiments, the third party system may request payment from the user prior to associating the item with the user profile associated with the user by the third party system. When the third party system receives the payment information, the third party system associates the item with the user profile associated with the user by the third party system. Additionally, the third party system may communicate content from the application to the client device for presentation to the user in response to associating the item with the retrieved user profile. For example, a confirmation message indicating the item has been associated with the retrieved user profile is communicated to the client device for presentation to the user.
In some embodiments, after receiving the description of the interaction with the prompt by the identified user, the online system requests payment information from the identified user. For example, in response to receiving the description of the interaction with the prompt, the online system communicates an interface requesting payment information to the client device for presentation to the identified. The payment information identifies a price for the item specifying an amount of compensation from the user to the third party system associated with the application (or to the online system) in exchange for the third party system associating the item with the user profile associated with the user by the third party system for use with the application maintained by the third party system. Received payment information may be included in the request for the user to purchase the item identified by the ad request that is transmitted to the third party system. Interacting with content provided by the online system to purchase an item for use in the application allows a user to directly purchase the item from the third party system providing the application, rather than through an application provider or an application store, which may reduce the amount of compensation the user provides to purchase the item for use when interacting with the application and reduce the time for the user to purchase the item.
The figures depict various embodiments for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles described herein.
The client devices 110 are one or more computing devices capable of receiving user input as well as transmitting and/or receiving data via the network 120. In one embodiment, a client device 110 is a conventional computer system, such as a desktop or a laptop computer. Alternatively, a client device 110 may be a device having computer functionality, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a smartphone or another suitable device. A client device 110 is configured to communicate via the network 120. In one embodiment, a client device 110 executes an application allowing a user of the client device 110 to interact with the online system 140. For example, a client device 110 executes a browser application to enable interaction between the client device 110 and the online system 140 via the network 120. In another embodiment, a client device 110 interacts with the online system 140 through an application programming interface (API) running on a native operating system of the client device 110, such as IOS® or ANDROID™.
The client devices 110 are configured to communicate via the network 120, which may comprise any combination of local area and/or wide area networks, using both wired and/or wireless communication systems. In one embodiment, the network 120 uses standard communications technologies and/or protocols. For example, the network 120 includes communication links using technologies such as Ethernet, 802.11, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), 3G, 4G, code division multiple access (CDMA), digital subscriber line (DSL), etc. Examples of networking protocols used for communicating via the network 120 include multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), and file transfer protocol (FTP). Data exchanged over the network 120 may be represented using any suitable format, such as hypertext markup language (HTML) or extensible markup language (XML). In some embodiments, all or some of the communication links of the network 120 may be encrypted using any suitable technique or techniques.
One or more third party systems 130 may be coupled to the network 120 for communicating with the online system 140, which is further described below in conjunction with
Each user of the online system 140 is associated with a user profile, which is stored in the user profile store 205. A user profile includes declarative information about the user that was explicitly shared by the user and may also include profile information inferred by the online system 140. In one embodiment, a user profile includes multiple data fields, each describing one or more attributes of the corresponding online system user. Examples of information stored in a user profile include biographic, demographic, and other types of descriptive information, such as work experience, educational history, gender, hobbies or preferences, location and the like. A user profile may also store other information provided by the user, for example, images or videos. In certain embodiments, images of users may be tagged with information identifying the online system users displayed in an image. A user profile in the user profile store 205 may also maintain references to actions by the corresponding user performed on content items in the content store 210 and stored in the action log 220.
While user profiles in the user profile store 205 are frequently associated with individuals, allowing individuals to interact with each other via the online system 140, user profiles may also be stored for entities such as businesses or organizations. This allows an entity to establish a presence on the online system 140 for connecting and exchanging content with other online system users. The entity may post information about itself, about its products or provide other information to users of the online system using a brand page associated with the entity's user profile. Other users of the online system may connect to the brand page to receive information posted to the brand page or to receive information from the brand page. A user profile associated with the brand page may include information about the entity itself, providing users with background or informational data about the entity.
The content store 210 stores objects that each represent various types of content. Examples of content represented by an object include a page post, a status update, a photograph, a video, a link, a shared content item, a gaming application achievement, a check-in event at a local business, a brand page, or any other type of content. Online system users may create objects stored by the content store 210, such as status updates, photos tagged by users to be associated with other objects in the online system 140, events, groups or applications. In some embodiments, objects are received from third-party applications or third-party applications separate from the online system 140. In one embodiment, objects in the content store 210 represent single pieces of content, or content “items.” Hence, online system users are encouraged to communicate with each other by posting text and content items of various types of media to the online system 140 through various communication channels. This increases the amount of interaction of users with each other and increases the frequency with which users interact within the online system 140.
Certain objects in the content store 210 may be identified as associated with one or more applications. For example, an object associated with an application is an advertisement identifying the application. As another example, an object associated with a gaming application is a web page describing the gaming application. The web page may include a link for purchasing the gaming application, an image showing the gaming application, text describing installation or use of the gaming application, etc. Alternatively and additionally, an object related to an application may be group associated with the application and including one or more users of the online system 140. As another example, an object identifies an item for use within the application as well as a price specifying an amount of compensation to a third party system 130 associated with the application to allow a user to use the item when interacting with the application. For example, an object identifies a virtual currency spent within an application to provide a user with additional features as well as an amount of actual currency provided to a third party system 130 associated with the application to obtain the virtual currency. However, any other suitable type of object may be associated with an application and maintained in the content store 210. For example, content posted to the online system 140 identifying an application or relating to the application is identified as associated with the application or an invitation related to the application are identified as associated with the application. In various embodiments, an application identifier specifying an application is associated with an object associated with the application to allow the online system 140 to identify objects associated with the application.
The action logger 215 receives communications about user actions internal to and/or external to the online system 140, populating the action log 220 with information about user actions. Examples of actions include adding a connection to another user, sending a message to another user, uploading an image, reading a message from another user, viewing content associated with another user, and attending an event posted by another user. In addition, a number of actions may involve an object and one or more particular users, so these actions are associated with those users as well and stored in the action log 220.
The action log 220 may be used by the online system 140 to track user actions on the online system 140, as well as actions on third party systems 130 that communicate information to the online system 140. Users may interact with various objects on the online system 140, and information describing these interactions is stored in the action log 220. Examples of interactions with objects include: commenting on posts, sharing links, checking-in to physical locations via a mobile device, accessing content items, and any other suitable interactions. Additional examples of interactions with objects on the online system 140 that are included in the action log 220 include: commenting on a photo album, communicating with a user, establishing a connection with an object, joining an event, joining a group, creating an event, authorizing an application, using an application, expressing a preference for an object (“liking” the object), and engaging in a transaction. Additionally, the action log 220 may record a user's interactions with advertisements on the online system 140 as well as with other applications operating on the online system 140. In some embodiments, data from the action log 220 is used to infer interests or preferences of a user, augmenting the interests included in the user's user profile and allowing a more complete understanding of user preferences.
The action log 220 may also store user actions taken on a third party system 130, such as an external website, and communicated to the online system 140. For example, an e-commerce website may recognize a user of an online system 140 through a social plug-in enabling the e-commerce website to identify the user of the online system 140. Because users of the online system 140 are uniquely identifiable, e-commerce websites, such as in the preceding example, may communicate information about a user's actions outside of the online system 140 to the online system 140 for association with the user. Hence, the action log 220 may record information about actions users perform on a third party system 130, including webpage viewing histories, advertisements that were engaged, purchases made, and other patterns from shopping and buying.
In one embodiment, the edge store 225 stores information describing connections between users and other objects on the online system 140 as edges. Some edges may be defined by users, allowing users to specify their relationships with other users. For example, users may generate edges with other users that parallel the users' real-life relationships, such as friends, co-workers, partners, and so forth. Other edges are generated when users interact with objects in the online system 140, such as expressing interest in a page on the online system 140, sharing a link with other users of the online system 140, and commenting on posts made by other users of the online system 140.
In one embodiment, an edge may include various features each representing characteristics of interactions between users, interactions between users and objects, or interactions between objects. For example, features included in an edge describe rate of interaction between two users, how recently two users have interacted with each other, the rate or amount of information retrieved by one user about an object, or the number and types of comments posted by a user about an object. The features may also represent information describing a particular object or user. For example, a feature may represent the level of interest that a user has in a particular topic, the rate at which the user logs into the online system 140, or information describing demographic information about a user. Each feature may be associated with a source object or user, a target object or user, and a feature value. A feature may be specified as an expression based on values describing the source object or user, the target object or user, or interactions between the source object or user and target object or user; hence, an edge may be represented as one or more feature expressions.
The edge store 225 also stores information about edges, such as affinity scores for objects, interests, and other users. Affinity scores, or “affinities,” may be computed by the online system 140 over time to approximate a user's interest in an object or in another user in the online system 140 based on the actions performed by the user. A user's affinity may be computed by the online system 140 over time to approximate a user's interest in an object, a topic, or another user in the online system 140 based on actions performed by the user. Computation of affinity is further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/978,265, filed on Dec. 23, 2010, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/690,254, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/689,969, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/690,088, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Multiple interactions between a user and a specific object may be stored as a single edge in the edge store 225, in one embodiment. Alternatively, each interaction between a user and a specific object is stored as a separate edge. In some embodiments, connections between users may be stored in the user profile store 205, or the user profile store 205 may access the edge store 225 to determine connections between users.
One or more advertisement (“ad”) requests are included in the ad store 230. An ad request is received from an advertiser for presentation to users of the online system 140 and the ad request may be included in an advertisement campaign (“ad campaign”) by the advertiser. Each ad request includes advertisement content (“ad content”), which is ad content presented to an online system user. Ad content may be text data, image data, audio data, video data, or any other suitable data. Additionally, ad content may include a link or destination address associated with a source of content associated with the ad request that is presented to the user if the user accesses the ad content when it is presented. For example, the destination address identifies a landing page including content that is presented to the user when the user accesses the ad content. Ad content may also include one or more prompts for performing an action that comprise information identifying the action and instructions that, when executed, perform the action. A prompt for purchasing a product comprises text or image data describing the purchasing and instructions that, when executed, request payment information from a user accessing the prompt. As further described below in conjunction with
Additionally, an ad request include a bid amount specifying an amount of compensation an advertiser associated with the ad request provides the online system 140 for presenting the ad content, for a user interacting with presented ad content, or for another suitable interaction with presented ad content by a user. Based on the bid amount included in an ad request, the online system 140 determines an expected value for presenting ad content in the ad request to a user. For example, the expected value is an amount of monetary compensation received by the online system 140 from an advertiser for presenting the advertisement to a user, for a user interacting with the presented ad content, or based on any other suitable condition. In one embodiment, the expected value of an ad request is a product of the bid amount and a probability of the ad content of the ad request being accessed by the user if presented.
A bid amount associated with an ad request may be based on a type associated with the ad request. The type associated with an ad request may be based at least in part on the format with which ad content included in the ad request is displayed or the type of information presented by the ad content. For example, a type of ad request includes ad content describing a single product or service. Another type of ad request includes ad content describing multiple products or services. Another type of ad request may include multiple components of ad content and an order in which the various components are presented to a user. As another example, an ad request may include one or more prompts for performing an action that are presented along with ad content, such as video data, to encourage to perform actions identified by the one or more prompts; a prompt for performing an action includes information identifying an action and instructions that, when executed, perform the identified action. A bid amount associated with an ad request may be proportional to the amount of different content included in the ad content. For example, a higher bid amount is associated with an ad request including ad content describing multiple products or services than is associated with an ad request including ad content describing a single product or service.
Additionally, ad requests may be associated with one or more targeting criteria. An advertiser may specify targeting criteria associated with an ad request or may specify targeting criteria associated with multiple ad requests included in an ad campaign. Targeting criteria specify one or more characteristics of users eligible to be presented with an ad content included in an ad request associated with the targeting criteria. Associating different targeting criteria with different ad requests allows an advertiser to tailor presentation of ad content to users having specific characteristics, allowing ad requests including different ad content to be presented to users with different characteristics. For example targeting criteria specify demographic information, connections, or actions associated with a user. In some embodiments, targeting criteria may be associated with an ad campaign in its entirety, so multiple ad requests in the ad campaign are associated with the targeting criteria.
In one embodiment, targeting criteria may specify actions or types of connections between a user and another user or object of the online system 140. Targeting criteria may also specify interactions between a user and objects performed external to the online system 140, such as on a third party system 130. For example, targeting criteria identifies users that have taken a particular action, such as sending a message to another user, using an application, joining a group, leaving a group, joining an event, generating an event description, purchasing or reviewing a product or service using an online marketplace, requesting information from a third-party system 130, or any other suitable action. Including actions in targeting criteria allows advertisers to further refine users eligible to be presented with ad content from various ad requests. As another example, targeting criteria identifies users having a connection to another user or object or having a particular type of connection to another user or object.
Additionally, an ad request may include an objective specifying a goal of the advertiser for presentation of the ad content in the ad request to online system users. The objective may also be associated with an ad campaign including the ad request to specify a goal of the advertiser for other ad requests in the ad campaign as well as the ad request. For example, the objective identifies a type of interaction with ad content from ad requests included in the ad campaign or with one or more objects associated with ad requests in the ad campaign by online system users presented with ad content from the ad campaign. Examples of objectives include: online system users accessing presented ad content (e.g., clicking or otherwise accessing the advertisement), online system users installing an application associated with the ad content, online system users expressing a preference for a page associated with the ad content (i.e., “liking” the page), online system users viewing a page associated with the ad content or with the ad campaign, or any other suitable action by online system users. In one embodiment, the objective is selected from a set of objectives maintained by the online system 140.
Additional information may be associated with an ad request or with the ad campaign including the ad request. For example, the ad request or ad campaign includes a budget that specifies a total amount of compensation an advertiser provides the online system 140 for presenting ad content included in the ad request or included in ad requests associated with an ad campaign. The budget may be allocated for the ad campaign as a whole or per ad request. In addition, the advertiser may specify instructions for allocating the budget among various ad requests in the ad campaign. For example, the instructions specify modification of a bid amount associated with an ad request included in the ad campaign based on one or more criteria. The instructions may also include other suitable information describing allocation of a budget among ad requests included in the ad campaign.
The application information management module 235 maintains information for determining information identifying a user of the online system 140 to a third party system 130 associated with an application. When an online system user installs an application that communicates with the online system 140 on a client device 110 or performs another suitable interaction with the application, information is communicated from the client device 110 to the application information management module 235 identifying the application and identifying the user. Example information received from the client device 110 includes an indication the application was installed, an application name, or an application identifier. In other embodiments, the application information management module 235 receives information from the client device 110 when the user performs an interaction with an application installed on the client device 110 that identifies the application and includes information identifying the user to the online system 140. To communicate information describing the interaction with the application or other information associated with the user to the third party system 130 associated with the application, the application information management module 235 determines information identifying the user to the third party system 130. Various third party systems 130 may provide instructions to the application information management module 235 that, when executed by the application information management module 235, generate information identifying a user to the third party system 130 from information associated with the user by the online system 140. In various embodiments, the application information management module 235 includes instructions for generating information identifying a user to a third party system 130 associated with an application in association with information identifying the application (e.g., an application identifier), allowing retrieval of the instructions identifying an application.
For example, the application information management module 235 associates an application-specific user identifier with a combination of a user identifier associated with a user by the online system 140 and an application identifier associated with the application. Based on the application identifier and the user identifier, the application information management module 235 retrieves the application-specific user identifier associated with an application corresponding to the application identifier. Determining an application-specific user identifier from information identifying an application and identifying a user of the online system 140 is further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/458,210, filed on Aug. 12, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. As another example, the identified user may link credentials used by the user to access the online system 140 with credentials used to access the third party system 130 and for the third party system 130 to identify the identified user. Information identifying the user and the application is stored in the application information management module 235 along with the authorization by the user for the third party system 130 associated with the application to access information used by the online system 140 to identify the user. Accessing a third party system 130 via information used by the online system 140 to identify the user is further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/271,192, filed on May 6, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. In other embodiments, the application information management module 235 generates obfuscated data from information identifying a user to the online system 140 by applying a hash function or other process specified by a third party system 130 associated with the application. The obfuscated data is subsequently used by the third party system 130 to identify the user.
The content selection module 240 selects one or more content items for communication to a client device 110 to be presented to a viewing user. Content items eligible for presentation to the viewing user are retrieved from the content store 210, or from another source, by the content selection module 240, which selects one or more of the content items for presentation to the viewing user. A content item eligible for presentation to the viewing user is a content item associated with at least a threshold number of targeting criteria satisfied by characteristics of the viewing user or is a content item that is not associated with targeting criteria. In various embodiments, the content selection module 240 includes content items eligible for presentation to the viewing user in one or more selection processes, which identify a set of content items for presentation to the viewing user. For example, the content selection module 240 determines a measure of relevance of various content items to the user based on characteristics associated with the user by the social networking system 140 based on the user's affinity for different content items and selects content items for presentation to the user based on the determined measures of relevance. As an additional example, the content selection module 240 selects content items having the highest measures of relevance or having at least a threshold measure of relevance for presentation to the user. Alternatively, the content selection module 240 ranks content items based on their associated measures of relevance and selects content items having the highest positions in the ranking or having at least a threshold position in the ranking for presentation to the user.
Content items selected for presentation to the user may include ad requests or other content items associated with bid amounts. The content selection module 240 uses the bid amounts associated with various content items when selecting content for presentation to the viewing user. In various embodiments, the content selection module 240 determines an expected value associated with various content items based on their bid amounts and selects content items associated with a maximum expected value or associated with at least a threshold expected value for presentation. An expected value associated with a content item represents an expected amount of compensation to the social networking system 140 for presenting a content item. For example, the expected value associated with an ad request is a product of the ad request's bid amount and a likelihood of the user interacting with the ad content from the ad request. The content selection module 240 may rank ad requests based on their associated expected values and select ad requests having at least a threshold position in the ranking for presentation to the user. In some embodiments, the content selection module 240 may rank both content items and ad requests in a unified ranking based on bid amounts associated with ad requests and measures of relevance associated with content items and ad requests. Based on the unified ranking, the content selection module 240 selects content for presentation to the user. Selecting ad requests and other content items through a unified ranking is further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/545,266, filed on Jul. 10, 2012, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
In various embodiments, the content selection module 240 presents content to a user through a feed including multiple content items. For example, the feed includes content items describing actions performed by users of the online system 140 as well as ad content from one or more ad requests selected for presentation to a user. The content selection module 240 may also determine the order in which selected content items or advertisements are presented via the feed. For example, the content selection module 240 orders content items or advertisements in the feed based on likelihoods of the user interacting with various content items or ad requests.
The web server 245 links the online system 140 via the network 120 to the one or more client devices 110, as well as to the one or more third party systems 130. The web server 245 serves web pages, as well as other content, such as JAVA®, FLASH®, XML and so forth. The web server 245 may receive and route messages between the online system 140 and the client device 110, for example, instant messages, queued messages (e.g., email), text messages, short message service (SMS) messages, or messages sent using any other suitable messaging technique. A user may send a request to the web server 245 to upload information (e.g., images or videos) that are stored in the content store 210. Additionally, the web server 245 may provide application programming interface (API) functionality to send data directly to native client device operating systems, such as IOS®, ANDROID™, WEBOS® or BlackberryOS.
Purchasing Items for Use in a Third Party Application via Content from an Online System
The online system 140 receives 305 an advertisement (“ad”) request that identifies an application provided by a third party system 130 as well as an item for use when a user interacts with the application. Various applications allow users to obtain items that are associated with the user by the application and may subsequently be retrieved and used by the user when interacting with the application. For example, a user acquires virtual currency associated with an application and subsequently obtains items or objects within the application by spending the virtual currency within the application. As another example, a user obtains one or more items associated with an application that provide the user with certain functionality when an item is used within the application (e.g., allowing the user to perform different actions within the application). For example, the ad request includes information identifying the application, such as an application identifier, as well as information identifying the item (e.g., an identifier of an object describing the item and maintained by the online system 140, an identifier associated with the item, etc.). Information identifying the item for use within the application includes a price specifying an amount of compensation to provide to the third party system 130 associated with the application in exchange for the third party system 130 associating the item with a user profile associated with the user by third party system 130 for use with the application. Additionally, the ad request includes ad content, targeting criteria, and a prompt for purchasing the identified item. The prompt for purchasing the identified item includes information identifying an action and instructions for use by the online system 140 to determine information identifying a user who interacted with the prompt to the third party system 130 associated with the application identified in the ad request. In some embodiments, the prompt for purchasing the identified item also includes instructions that, when executed by a client device 110 presenting the ad request, cause presentation of an interface for providing information to the third party system 130 associated with the application (e.g., user identifying information used by the third party system 130, payment information, etc.).
In some embodiments, the online system maintains an object describing the item for use when a user interacts with the application associated with the third party system 130. To more easily identify items for use in the application allow a user to interact with the application via the online system 140, an object identifying the application may be maintained by the online system 140 along with one or more objects describing items capable of being used when a user interacts with an application. An object describing an item capable of being user within the application identifies the application in which the item may be used and includes information describing the item (e.g., a name, a description, an item identifier, identification of related items, etc.) as well as a price for purchasing the item. A connection between the object describing the item and the object identifying the application in which the item may be used may also be maintained by the online system 140, and connections between objects associated with various items capable of use when interacting with the application may also be maintained by the online system 140. Hence, the ad request may include information identifying an object associated with the item for use when interacting with the application to identify the item.
Based on the targeting criteria included in the ad request and characteristics associated with online system users, the online system 140 identifies 310 a user of the online system 140 eligible to be presented with the ad request. For example, a user associated with at least a threshold number of characteristics satisfying the targeting criteria in the ad request is identified as eligible to be presented with advertisement (“ad”) content from the ad request. Targeting criteria included in the ad request may identify one or more types of interactions with the application identified by the ad request, so a user who previously performed the one or more types of interactions is identified 310 as eligible to be presented with the ad content. For example, targeting criteria in the ad request specifies a threshold number of prior purchases via the application of one or more items for use within the application, so the user is identified 310 as eligible to be presented with the ad content if the online system 140 associates at least the threshold number of prior purchases of items for use within the application with the user. In the preceding example, the targeting criteria may additionally specify one or more specific items or types of items that were previously purchased or may specify a time interval in which the prior purchases were made (e.g., within a week of a current time). As another example, the targeting criteria specifies a threshold amount of interaction with the application without purchasing an item for use within the application through the application. The threshold amount of interaction may be specified as a length of time interacting with the application, a frequency of interaction with the application, a number of interactions with the application, or specified using any suitable format.
After identifying 310 the user as eligible to be presented with the ad content from the ad request, the online system 140 presents 315 the ad content from the ad request to the user. For example, the online system 140 communicates 315 the ad content from the ad request to a client device 110, which presents the ad content to the user. As an example, the online system 140 communicates the ad content from the ad request to a client device 110, where an application associated with the online system 140 presents content from the online system 140, which includes the ad content from the ad request, to the user. In some embodiments, the online system 140 selects the ad content from the ad request for presentation to the user from various content items. As described above in conjunction with
A client device 110 receives the ad content, which includes the prompt for purchasing the item identified by the ad request, and presents the ad content, including the prompt, to the user. For example, the client device 110 presents the ad content including the prompt via an application executing on the client device 110 and associated with the online system 140; as another example, the client device 110 presents the ad content including the prompt via a web browser presenting content received from the online system 140. The price associated with the item may be presented in the ad content or in the prompt for purchasing the item. In one embodiment, the online system 140 communicates a feed of content items including the ad content and other content items to the client device 110 for presentation. The feed of content items may include one or more content items describing actions associated with additional online system users connected to the user via the online system 140, so the ad content is presented along with content items describing actions of online system users. In another embodiment, the online system 140 allows its users to exchange messages with each other and presents a user with a thread including multiple messages exchanged between users. For example, the thread includes messages exchanged between the identified user and an additional user. Alternatively, the thread includes messages between the identified user and multiple additional users. An application associated with the online system 140 may execute on client devices 110 associated with various users; the application communicates messages received from a user to the online system 140 for presentation to one or more additional users via a thread and presents messages received from one or more other users to the user via the online system 140 to the user via a thread. Hence, the ad content from the ad request may be presented in a thread presented to the identified user along with messages for presentation to the user.
When the ad content is presented 315 to the identified user, the prompt for purchasing the item is presented to the identified user, which allows the user to purchase the item by accessing the prompt. While the ad content is presented 315, the client device 110 receives 320 an interaction with the prompt and transmits 325 a description of the interaction with the prompt to the online system 140. The description includes information identifying the application (e.g., an application identifier associated with the application by the online system 140), information identifying the item for use within the application, and information identifying the user to the online system 140. For example, the description includes a user identifier associated with the user by the online system 140.
Based on the information identifying the user to the online system 140 included in the description of the interaction with the prompt, the online system 140 determines 330 information identifying the identified user to the third party system 130 associated with the application. For example, the online system 140 associates an application identifier of the application and an application-specific user identifier with the user identifier associated with the identified user by the online system 140. Based on the information identifying the application and the information identifying the user to the online system 140 included in the request, the online system 140 retrieves the application identifier associated with the user identifier of the identified user and determines 330 the application-specified user identifier associated with the user by the application. Determining an application-specific user identifier from information identifying an application and identifying a user of the online system 140 is further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/458,210, filed on Aug. 12, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. As another example, the identified user may link credentials used by the user to access the online system 140 with credentials used to access the third party system 130 and for the third party system 130 to identify the identified user. Hence, if the online system 140 determines the identified user has authorized the third party system 130 to identify the identified used via information used by the online system 140 to identify the identified user (e.g., a username and password combination, a username, etc.), the online system 140 identifies the information used by the online system 140 to identify the identified user as the information identifying the identified user to the third party 130 that is included in the request. Accessing a third party system 130 via information used by the online system 140 to identify the user is further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/271,192, filed on May 6, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. In other embodiments, the online system 140 generates obfuscated data from the information identifying the identified user to the online system 140 by applying a hash function or other process specified by the third party system 130, where the obfuscated data is used by the third party system 130 to identify the identified user. Alternatively, the information identifying the identified user to the online system 140 is also used by the third party system 130 to identify the identified user. However, any suitable method may be used by the online system 140 to determine 330 information identifying the identified user to the third party system 130 based on the information identifying the identified user to the online system 140. In various embodiments, the third party system 130 includes instructions for determining 330 the information identifying the identified user to the third party system 130 in the ad request, and the online system 140 executes the instructions when it receives the description of the identified user's interaction with the prompt.
The online system 140 transmits 335 a request for the identified user to purchase the item identified by the ad request that includes the information identifying the identified user to the third party system 130 and also includes information identifying the item and the application. For example, the request includes a user identifier associated with the identified user by the third party system 130, an application identifier associated with the application, and an item identifier associated with the item. Based on the information identifying the identified user to the third party system 130 included in the request, the third party system 130 retrieves a user profile associated with the user by the third party system 130 for use with the application and associates 345 the item with the user profile associated with the user by the third party system 130 for use with the application. As further described below, the third party system 130 may request payment from the identified user prior to associating 345 the item with the user profile associated with the identified user by the third party system 130. Additionally, the third party system 130 may communicate content from the application to the client device 110 for presentation to the user in response to associating the item with the retrieved user profile. For example, a confirmation message indicating the item has been associated with the retrieved user profile is communicated to the client device 110 for presentation to the user.
In some embodiments, after receiving the description of the interaction with the prompt by the identified user, the online system 140 requests payment information from the identified user. For example, in response to receiving the description of the interaction with the prompt, the online system 140 communicates an interface requesting payment information to the client device 110 for presentation to the identified. The payment information identifies a price for the item specifying an amount of compensation from the user to the third party system 130 associated with the application (or to the online system 140) in exchange for the third party system 130 associating the item with the user profile associated with the identified user by the third party system 130 for use with the application maintained by the third party system 130. Received payment information may be included in the request for the identified user to purchase the item identified by the ad request that is transmitted 335 to the third party system 130. In some embodiments, the online system 140 retrieves the interface from the third party system 130 and communicates the interface to the client device 110. The identified user may provide payment information via the interface or retrieve stored payment information maintained by the online system 140 or by the third party system 130 via the interface. Alternatively, the third party system 130 requests payment information from the identified user when associating 345 the item with the user profile associated with the identified user by the third party system 130 or requests payment when the user profile associated with the identified user by the third party system 130 is retrieved 340 by the third party system 130.
If payment information is requested, the online system 140 may communicate the payment information to the third party system 130 associated with the application. Alternatively, payment information received via an interface is directly communicated from the client device 110 to the third party system 130 associated with the application without being communicated to the online system 140. When the third party system 130 associated with the application receives payment information from the identified user, the third party system 130 associated with the application associates 345 the item with the retrieved user profile maintained by the third party system 130 for the identified for use with the application. Hence, the identified user may purchase items to enhance subsequent interaction with the application by interacting with the prompt presented with the ad content presented by the online system 140, allowing the identified user to purchase items for use with the application without navigating away from content provided to the user by the online system 140.
In some embodiments, after receiving payment information, the online system 140 retrieves content from the application and communicates the retrieved content to the client device 110 for presentation to the identified user. For example, the online system 140 communicates information identifying the identified user to the third party system 130 associated with the application and subsequently communicates information associated with the identified user (e.g., a user status within the application, items associated with the user by the application, etc.) by the third party system 130 to the client device 110 for presentation. As another example, the online system 140 transmits 335 the request for the identified user to purchase the item identified by the ad request to the third party system 130 when the online system 140 receives payment information from the client device 110, and the third party system 130 communicates content from the application to the client device 110 for presentation to the identified user after receiving the request. In some embodiments, the online system 140 provides the application, so the online system 140 retrieves content from the application associated with the identified user and communicates the content to the client device 110 for presentation. Alternatively, the online system 140 includes a network address associated with the third party system 130 associated with the application in an interface requesting payment information and an instruction that, when executed, causes the client device 110 to retrieve information from the network address. When an interaction with the interface confirming or sending payment information is received, the instruction is executed, causing the client device 110 to retrieve and present content form the third party system 130 associated with the application.
While
Advertisement 410 identifies an application and one or more items for use within the application. Additionally, advertisement 410 includes a prompt 415 for a user to purchase one or more of the items identified by advertisement 410. For example, advertisement 410 identifies virtual currency that may be used within the application to provide the user with additional functionality within the application. As another example, advertisement 410 identifies an item that, when used within the application, provide the user with increased functionality within the application (e.g., allows the user to access additional features of the application, expand functionality provided to the user by the application). Advertisement 410 also identifies a price associated with the item that specifies an amount of compensation to a third party system 130 associated with the application to allow the user to use the item when interacting with the application. When the user interacts with the prompt 415, a description of the interaction identifying the application, the item, and including information identifying the user to the online system 140 is communicated to the online system 140. Based on the information identifying the user to the online system 140, the online system 140 determines information identifying the user to the third party system 130, as further described above in conjunction with
While
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been presented for the purpose of illustration; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the patent rights to the precise forms disclosed. Persons skilled in the relevant art can appreciate that many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure.
Some portions of this description describe the embodiments in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are commonly used by those skilled in the data processing arts to convey the substance of their work effectively to others skilled in the art. These operations, while described functionally, computationally, or logically, are understood to be implemented by computer programs or equivalent electrical circuits, microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient at times, to refer to these arrangements of operations as modules, without loss of generality. The described operations and their associated modules may be embodied in software, firmware, hardware, or any combinations thereof.
Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may be performed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules, alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, a software module is implemented with a computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code, which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or all of the steps, operations, or processes described.
Embodiments may also relate to an apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, and/or it may comprise a general-purpose computing device selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, which may be coupled to a computer system bus. Furthermore, any computing systems referred to in the specification may include a single processor or may be architectures employing multiple processor designs for increased computing capability.
Embodiments may also relate to a product that is produced by a computing process described herein. Such a product may comprise information resulting from a computing process, where the information is stored on a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium and may include any embodiment of a computer program product or other data combination described herein.
Finally, the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope of the patent rights be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on an application based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the patent rights, which is set forth in the following claims.
