Computer implemented methods and apparatus to interact with records using a publisher of an information feed of an online social network

Abstract

Disclosed are methods, apparatus, systems, and computer-readable storage media for interacting with records using a publisher configured to publish information to a feed of a social network. In some implementations, a computing device receives a request to interact with a child record related to a parent record stored in a database system. The request is generated via the publisher displayed in a user interface on a display device. The user interface is also configured to display the feed in association with an entity of the social network. Child record information indicating a type of the child record and field data to populate one or more fields of the child record can be received. The field data is differentiated from message content generated via the publisher to include in a feed item for presentation in the feed when displayed to one or more users following the parent record. The requested interaction with the child record can be performed using the child record information.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer implemented method to interact with database records using a publisher component of a user interface configured to present a feed associated with an entity of an enterprise social network implemented using a database system, the user interface being displayable on a display device of a user, the publisher component configured to publish information to one or more feeds of the enterprise social network, the method comprising:
 receiving a request to interact with a child record related to a parent record stored in a customer relationship management (CRM) database of the database system, the request to interact with the child record having been generated via the publisher component of the user interface when displayed on a display device;   receiving child record information indicating a CRM type of the child record;   receiving data to store in association with the child record in the CRM database of the database system, the data being specific to the CRM type of the child record, the data being differentiated from social media message content capable of being generated via the publisher component to publish to one or more feeds of the enterprise social network accessible by one or more users following the parent record and/or following the child record in the enterprise social network, the data having been provided via at least one user interactable element of the publisher component configured to expose at least one field of the child record particular to the CRM type of the child record, the at least one user interactable element further configured to cause data to be provided to the CRM database for updating the at least one field of the child record; and   causing to be performed, using the database system, the requested interaction with the child record using the child record information.