System and method for presenting targeted content

Abstract

A method and system for presenting targeted content to users over the internet is provided. The method includes enabling a user to sign into a website. An identifier is generated for the user, if the user is signing into the website for the first time. Information corresponding to the user is mined and the information is linked to the user. Further, verification is made to determine whether the generated identifier matches with existing identifiers. If the generated identifier matches with an existing identifier, then existing information corresponding to the matched identifier is linked to the user. Targeted content is presented to the user by processing at least the information linked to the user.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, performed by an aggregator computer system, for providing an entity of content targeting a specific user to a first computer system operating a first website, the aggregator computer system having access to a database storing, for each of a plurality of users, a respective user identifier used to identify the respective user and aggregated activity information of the respective user, the method comprising steps of:
 receiving, from a computing device of a first user, a first set of identification information of the first user identifying the first user;   generating, by the aggregator computer system, a first user identifier using the received first set of identification information of the first user, and storing the generated first user identifier in the database such that the first user becomes added to the plurality of users of the database and the stored first user identifier becomes the respective user identifier used to identify the first user;   aggregating, by the aggregator computer system, activity information about the first user from each of a group of one or more website computer systems each operating a respective website, to form the aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database, the stored aggregated activity information of the first user including one or more sets of activity information of the first user each indicating prior activities which the first user conducted on the respective website of one website computer system among the group of one or more website computer systems;   receiving, from the first computer system, a second set of identification information of the first user, and matching, by the aggregator computer system, the received second set of identification information of the first user, with the stored first user identifier of the first user;   generating an entity of content targeting the first user using the aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database; and   sending, to the first computer system, the generated entity of content targeting the first user, for the first computer system to present the generated entity of content by incorporating the generated entity of content into a content page of the first website displayable on a user terminal visiting the first website.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the aggregating of activity information of the first user from each of the group of one or more website computer systems, comprises steps of:
 receiving, from the respective website computer system, a respective set of identification information of the first user identifying the first user as well as a respective set of activity information of the first user indicating prior activities which the first user conducted on the respective website of the respective website computer system;   matching, by the aggregator computer system, the received respective set of identification information of the first user to the stored first user identifier of the first user; and   aggregating, by the aggregator computer system, the received respective set of activity information of the first user, to the aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database such that the aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database includes the received respective set of activity information of the first user.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein matching of the respective set of identification information of the first user received from one of the group of one or more website computer systems, with the stored first user identifier of the first user, comprises steps of:
 generating a respective second user identifier for the first user using the received respective set of identification information of the first user;   checking whether the respective second user identifier satisfactorily matches with the first user identifier of the first user stored in the database; and   determining that the received respective set of identification information of the first user matches with the stored first user identifier of the first user if the checking operation returns a positive result.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein matching of the second set of identification information of the first user received from the first computer system, with the stored first user identifier of the first user, comprises steps of:
 generating a second user identifier for the first user using the received second set of identification information of the first user;   checking whether the second user identifier satisfactorily matches with the first user identifier of the first user stored in the database; and   determining that the received second set of identification information of the first user matches with the stored first user identifier of the first user if the checking operation returns a positive result.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the received first set of identification information identifying the first user includes a subset of the first name, the last name, the date of birth, a location, and an email address of the first user. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database includes information about prior purchase-related activities of the first user which the first user conducted on the respective website of one of the group of one or more website computer systems. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein collaborative filtering is employed in the generating of the entity of content targeting the first user, and the employed collaborative filtering uses the aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database to generate the entity of content targeting the first user. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the generated entity of content comprises an advertisement targeting the first user; and
 wherein the advertisement targeting the first user is generated by the aggregator computer system using the aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first user is a friend in an online social network of a second user;
 wherein the second user operates a user terminal of the second user to visit the first website, and the visiting of the first website causes the user terminal of the second user to display the content page of the first website incorporating the generated entity of content targeting the first user;   wherein the generated entity of content incorporated into the content page of the first website comprises one or more gift recommendations targeting the first user; and   wherein the one or more gift recommendations targeting the first user are generated using the aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the entity of content targeting the first user is generated using a graph associating the first user with goods or services; and
 wherein the graph is generated using information of various categories from among the aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one website computer system of the group of the one or more website computer systems, comprises a first social networking platform;
 wherein the aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database comprises a first set of social networking information of the first user indicating prior social networking activities which the first user conducted on the first social networking platform; and   wherein the entity of content targeting the first user is generated using the first set of social networking information of the first user.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the first set of social networking information of the first user stored in the database includes one or more social feeds of the first user, and the generating of the entity of content targeting the first user comprises steps of:
 identifying one or more keywords in a pre-set category from the social feeds of the first user;   identifying potential liking of the first user based on the identified key words in the pre-set category using sentiment analysis; and   generating the entity of the content targeting the first user using the identified potential liking of the first user.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the aggregator computer system operates a second website;
 wherein the aggregator computer system is one of the group of one or more website computer systems from which the stored aggregated activity information of the first user is aggregated; and   wherein the aggregated activity information of the first user includes a set of activity information of the first user aggregated from the aggregator computer system and indicating prior activities which the first user conducted on the second website of the aggregator computer system.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first computer system is one of the group of one or more website computer systems from which the aggregated activity information of the first user is aggregated; and
 wherein the aggregated activity information of the first user includes a set of activity information of the first user aggregated from the first computer system and indicating prior activities which the first user conducted on the first website of the first computer system.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the checking of whether the respective second user identifier satisfactorily matches with the first user identifier of the first user stored in the database, comprises steps of:
 checking whether the respective second user identifier exactly matches with the stored first user identifier of the first user;   returning a positive result if the respective second user identifier exactly matches with the stored first user identifier of the first user;   if the respective second user identifier partially matches with the first user identifier of the first user stored in the database, determining whether the partial match is satisfactory to link the respective second user identifier with the stored first user identifier of the first user; and   returning a positive result if the partial match is determined to be satisfactory to link the respective second user identifier with the stored first user identifier of the first user.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first website of the first computer system comprises a social networking platform of the first computer system. 
     
     
         17 . A method, performed by a first computer system operating a first website, for receiving an entity of content targeting a first user from an aggregator computer system, the aggregator computer system having access to a database storing, for each of a plurality of users, a respective user identifier used to identify the respective user and aggregated activity information of the respective user, the first user included in the plurality of users of the aggregator computer system, the stored aggregated activity information of the first user including one or more sets of activity information of the first user aggregated from a group of one or more website computer systems each operating a respective website, each set of activity information of the aggregated activity information of the first user indicating prior activities which the first user conducted on the respective website of one website computer system among the group of one or more website computer systems, the method comprising steps of:
 sending, to the aggregator computer system, a first set of identification information identifying the first user, such that the aggregator computer system, upon receiving the first set of identification information, matches the first set of identification information with the respective user identifier of the first user stored in the database and generate an entity of content targeting the first user using the respective aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database; and   receiving, from the aggregator computer system, the generated entity of content targeting the first user, and incorporating the received entity of content into a content page of the first website displayable on a user terminal visiting the first website.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the first set of identification information identifying the first user includes a subset of the first name, the last name, the date of birth, a location, and an email address of the first user. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database includes information about prior purchase-related activities of the first user which the first user conducted on the respective website of one of the group of one or more website computer systems. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the received entity of content targeting the first user comprises an advertisement targeting the first user; and
 wherein the advertisement targeting the first user is generated using the aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the first user is a friend in an online social network of a second user;
 wherein the second user operates a user terminal of the second user to visit the first website, and the visiting of the first website causes the user terminal of the second user to display the content page of the first website incorporating the generated entity of content targeting the first user;   wherein the generated entity of content incorporated into the content page of the first website comprises a set of one or more gift recommendations; and   wherein the set of one or more gift recommendations targeting the first user is generated using the aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the first set of identification information identifying the first user is provided using a one-way hash function to protect the privacy of the first user.