Delivering Personalized Content Based on a Social Graph of Sharing Activity of Users of the Open Web

Abstract

A social graph is built which includes interactions, sharing activity, and connections between the users of the open Web and can be used to improve ad targeting and content personalization. Sharing activity between two users will affect ads or content that both users will be presented while surfing the Web. This sharing activity includes sending of links, sending of videos, sending of files, cutting and pasting of content, sending text messages, and sending of e-mails. Building of the social graph can include creating an edge in the social graph that is representative of a particular category type. Based on the social graph, personalized digital content can be selected.

The invention claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving first activity information for a sender of a first link to at least one recipient collected by a collection resource at a Web site, wherein no personally identifiable information of the sender is collected in collecting the first activity information;   storing the first activity information at a storage server;   receiving second activity information when a recipient accesses the first link sent by the sender corresponding to the first activity information stored at the storage server, wherein no personally identifiable information of the recipient collected in collecting the second activity information;   using at least one processor, attempting to identify a first node representative of the sender in a social graph;   when a first node representative of the sender in a social graph is not identified and after receiving the second activity information, creating a second node to represent the sender in the social graph;   receiving a bid request from a real-time bidding exchange;   determining the bid request is associated with the second node in the social graph; and   based on at least information associated with the second node in the social graph, determining a first personalized digital content for a bid in response to the bid request.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  comprising:
 using the social graph, selecting a second personalized digital content for delivery to the recipient. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the first and second personalized digital content are different. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein determining a first personalized digital content for a bid in response to the bid request comprises:
 using a user predictive model appropriate for the second node in the social graph to select the first personalized digital content, wherein the user predictive model considers sharing activity of the second node. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the bid comprises a bid value that is associated with the first personalized digital content. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein a response time for the bid in response to the bid request is about 120 milliseconds or less. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the bid in response to the bid request is for serving of an ad to the sender. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the attempting to identify a first node representative of the sender in a social graph comprises:
 extracting a first person identifier from a cookie in the first activity data; and 
 attempting to match to the first person identifier to a second person identifier associated with a node in the social graph. 
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the determining the bid request is associated with the second node in the social graph comprises:
 receiving a first identifier from the real-time bidding exchange; and 
 matching the first identifier to a second identifier associated with the second node in the social graph. 
 
     
     
         10 . A method comprising:
 receiving first activity information for a sender of a first link to at least one recipient collected by a collection resource at a Web site, wherein no personally identifiable information of the sender is collected in collecting the first activity information;   storing the first activity information at a storage server;   receiving second activity information when a recipient accesses the first link sent by the sender corresponding to the first activity information stored at the storage server;   using at least one processor, attempting to identify a first node representative of the sender in a social graph;   when a first node representative of the sender in a social graph is not identified and after receiving the second activity information, creating a second node to represent the sender in the social graph;   receiving a bid request from a real-time bidding exchange;   determining the bid request is associated with the second node in the social graph;   based on at least information associated with the second node in the social graph, determining a first personalized digital content for a bid in response to the bid request; and   using the social graph, selecting a second personalized digital content for delivery to the recipient.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  comprising:
 using the social graph, selecting a second personalized digital content for delivery to the recipient. 
 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the first and second personalized digital content are different. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10  wherein determining a first personalized digital content for a bid in response to the bid request comprises:
 using a user predictive model appropriate for the second node in the social graph to select the first personalized digital content, wherein the user predictive model considers sharing activity of the second node. 
 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the bid comprises a bid value that is associated with the first personalized digital content. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10  wherein a response time for the bid in response to the bid request is about 120 milliseconds or less. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the bid in response to the bid request is for serving of an ad to the sender. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the attempting to identify a first node representative of the sender in a social graph comprises:
 extracting a first person identifier from a cookie in the first activity data; and 
 attempting to match to the first person identifier to a second person identifier associated with a node in the social graph. 
 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the determining the bid request is associated with the second node in the social graph comprises:
 receiving a first identifier from the real-time bidding exchange; and 
 matching the first identifier to a second identifier associated with the second node in the social graph. 
 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the first activity information is generated by a mobile application. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the first activity information is generated by activity at a Web site. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 10  wherein at the first activity information comprises activity data collected from a sharing widget installed on a device of the sender. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the first activity information comprises activity data collected from an instant messaging application. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the first activity information comprises at least one of sending a video, sending a file, cutting and pasting of content, or sending of e-mail. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the receiving first activity information for the sender of the first link comprises:
 sending of an e-mail including the first link by the sender via a mobile device. 
 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24  wherein the receiving second activity information when the recipient accesses the first link comprises:
 receiving of the e-mail including the first link by the recipient via a mobile device. 
 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 24  wherein the receiving second activity information when the recipient accesses the first link comprises:
 receiving of the e-mail including the first link by the recipient via a nonmobile device. 
 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the receiving first activity information for the sender comprises:
 sending of an e-mail including the first link by the sender via a nonmobile device. 
 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 25  wherein the receiving second activity information when the recipient accesses the first link comprises:
 receiving of the e-mail including the first link by the recipient via a mobile device. 
 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 25  wherein the receiving second activity information when the recipient accesses the first link comprises:
 receiving of the e-mail including the first link by the recipient via a nonmobile device. 
 
     
     
         30 . A method comprising:
 receiving first activity information for a sender of a first link to at least one recipient collected by a collection resource at a Web site;   storing the first activity information at a storage server;   receiving second activity information when a recipient accesses the first link sent by the sender corresponding to the first activity information stored at the storage server, wherein no personally identifiable information of the recipient collected in collecting the second activity information;   using at least one processor, attempting to identify a first node representative of the sender in a social graph;   when a first node representative of the sender in a social graph is not identified and after receiving the second activity information, creating a second node to represent the sender in the social graph;   receiving a bid request from a real-time bidding exchange;   determining the bid request is associated with the second node in the social graph;   based on at least information associated with the second node in the social graph, determining a first personalized digital content for a bid in response to the bid request; and   using the social graph, selecting a second personalized digital content for delivery to the recipient.