Promoting offers through social network influencers

Abstract

Mechanisms are provided to facilitate buying and selling products utilizing social pricing. Sellers initiate sale of a product with volume discounts for a limited time. In other words, the more people that buy a product, the lower the price for the group. Buyers have a real incentive to become prosumers that not only purchase a product but also promote purchase by others. A social pricing system brokers interaction between sellers and buyer groups, and provisions mechanisms to aid promotion of products by consumers utilizing social networks and other online activities.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon instructions executable by a processor to perform a method for presenting information related to merchants within a geographical area, the method comprising:
 receiving a request from a mobile device associated with at least one user to view information about a product or service of interest and a geographic location;   retrieving stored information by way of a social network application on the mobile device, the social network application associated with the at least one user, the stored information relating to:
 at least one merchant associated with the product or service of interest and the geographic location, and 
 feedback from at least one member of the social network of the at least one user, the at least one member having consented to share the feedback, wherein the feedback is presented such that the identity of the at least one member is made known to the at least one user; 
   displaying a map for the geographic location, the map including information about the at least one merchant;   presenting the feedback from the at least one member of the social network, wherein the feedback is presented in a visual format;   presenting at least one advertisement to the at least one user, wherein the advertisement is based at least in part on one merchant-selected condition and location information of a mobile device associated with the at least one user, the at least one user having previously provided consent to share location information of the mobile device with a third party, and wherein the geographic location of the mobile device associated with the at least one user influences at least one advertisement presented from the at least one merchant; and   allowing the at least one user to share information with members of the social network, wherein an interaction between one or more members of the social network is recorded.   
     
     
         2 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the request includes a search performed by the at least one user. 
     
     
         3 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the advertisement includes an offer. 
     
     
         4 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 3 , wherein the offer includes a link. 
     
     
         5 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the condition includes at least one of demographic information, a stored preference, a category, a past purchase, a geographic location, or a social network connection associated with a set of users that is selected by the at least one merchant. 
     
     
         6 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the condition includes a time period selected by the at least one merchant to present the at least one advertisement. 
     
     
         7 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the geographic location of the mobile device is a determination of whether the location of the mobile device is within an approximate distance of the location of the at least one merchant. 
     
     
         8 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the interaction includes at least one of a comment, sharing of an offer, feedback, a rating, a link, or an actual purchase by the one or more members of the social network. 
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the map includes visual information related to the current location of at least one member of a social network. 
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the map includes visual information and a recommendation from a social network associated with a user. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the advertisement includes a code that can be stored to a mobile device, the code is redeemable at the merchant location by being displayed on the mobile device. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the request is a selection made by the at least one user from a saved search selection that includes viewing feedback provided by members of the social network associated with the at least one user regarding merchants within a geographic location. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one merchant has indicated that a different advertisement is presented to the at least one user when it is determined that the mobile device associated with the at least one user is not within a particular geographic area. 
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the feedback includes an indication of whether the at least one member shared information about the at least one merchant with the one or more other members of the social network. 
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the feedback includes information regarding whether the at least one member purchased a product or service from the at least one merchant. 
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the feedback from the at least one member is subsequent to the at least one member purchasing a product or service from the at least one merchant. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the presenting the feedback from the at least one member of the social network comprises presenting feedback that corresponds to searches conducted by the at least one user. 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the at least one member receives an incentive if the at least one user purchases the product or service. 
     
     
         19 . A system for presenting information related to merchants within a geographical area, the system comprising:
 a non-transitory computer memory that stores computer executable instructions; and   a processor that executes the computer executable instructions stored in memory to:
 receive a request from a mobile device associated with at least one user to view information about a product or service of interest and a geographic location, 
 retrieve stored information by way of a social network application on the mobile device, the social network application associated with the at least one user, the stored information relating to:
 at least one merchant associated with the product or service of interest and the geographic location, and 
 feedback from at least one member of the social network of the at least one user, the at least one member having consented to share the feedback, wherein the feedback is presented such that the identity of the at least one member is made known to the at least one user, 
 display a map for the geographic location, the map including information about the at least one merchant, 
 present the feedback from at least one member of the social network, wherein the feedback is presented in a visual format, 
 present at least one advertisement to the at least one user, wherein the advertisement is based at least in part on one merchant-selected condition and location information of a mobile device associated with the at least one user, the at least one user having previously provided consent to share location information of the mobile device with a third party, and wherein the geographic location of the mobile device associated with the at least one user influences at least one advertisement presented from the at least one merchant; and 
 allow the at least one user to share information with members of the social network, wherein an interaction between one or more members of the social network is recorded. 
 
   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the request is a search performed by the at least one user. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the at least one merchant has indicated that a different advertisement is presented to the at least one user when it is determined that the mobile device associated with the at least one user is not within a particular geographic area. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 19  wherein the non-transitory computer memory is on a downloadable software application on a mobile device. 
     
     
         23 . A method for presenting information related to merchants within a geographical area, the method comprising:
 receiving a request from a mobile device associated with the at least one user to view information about a product or service of interest and a geographic location;   retrieving stored information by way of a social network application on the mobile device, the social network application associated with the at least one user, the stored information relating to:
 at least one merchant associated with the product or service of interest and the geographic location, and 
 feedback from at least one member of the social network of the at least one user, the at least one member having consented to share the feedback, wherein the feedback is presented such that the identity of the at least one member is made known to the at least one user; 
   displaying a map for the geographic location, the map including information about the at least one merchant;   presenting the feedback format least one member of the social network, wherein the feedback is presented in a visual format;   presenting at least one advertisement to the at least one user, wherein the advertisement is based at least in part on one merchant-selected condition and location information of a mobile device associated with the at least one user, the at least one user having previously provided consent to share location information of the mobile device with a third party, and wherein the geographic location of the mobile device associated with the at least one user influences at least one advertisement presented from the at least one merchant; and   allowing the user to share information with members of the social network, wherein an interaction between one or more members of the social network is recorded.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the condition is a time period selected by the merchant to present the at least one advertisement. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the advertisement includes an offer. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the advertisement includes a code that can be stored to a mobile device. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the map include visual information related to the current location of at least one member of a social network.