Tracking interaction with sponsored and unsponsored content

Abstract

Generally discussed herein are methods, systems, and apparatuses for tracking user interaction with sponsored and/or unsponsored content. A method can include receiving a tracking event packet from a front end tracking client, the tracking event packet including data fields comprising a tracking event identifier, a type of user interaction with the content, a timestamp, a cost, or a campaign identifier, determining the tracking event packet has not been previously processed, interpreting and formatting data in the tracking event packet based on an application of the plurality of applications from which the event packet originated to create formatted tracking data, determining whether the tracking event packet corresponds to a revenue generating tracking event based on the formatted tracking data, and providing the formatted tracking data to a database based on whether the packet corresponds to revenue generating event.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A non-transitory machine readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations for tracking user interaction with content of a website, the website providing user access to functionality of a plurality of applications, the operations comprising:
 receiving a tracking event packet from a front end tracking client, the tracking event packet including data fields comprising:
 a tracking event identifier uniquely indicating a specific instance of the user interaction with the content, 
 a type of user interaction with the content including a click or impression, 
 a timestamp indicating a time at about which the user interaction occurred, 
 a cost associated with the user interaction, 
 and a campaign identifier uniquely indicating a campaign with which the content is associated, 
   determining whether the tracking event packet corresponds to a previously processed tracking event and marking the packet as invalid if it is determined to be previously processed;   in response to determining the tracking event packet has not been previously processed, interpreting and formatting data in the tracking event packet based on an application of the plurality of applications from which the event packet originated to create formatted tracking data;   determining whether the tracking event packet corresponds to a revenue generating tracking event based on the formatted tracking data;   providing the formatted tracking data to a first database on which data is stored for analytics purposes if the formatted tracking data is determined to not correspond to a revenue generating event;   providing the formatted tracking data to a second database on which data is stored for billing and campaign performance monitoring, in response to determining the tracking event packet corresponds to a revenue generating event; and   presenting analytics information or providing a bill to the advertiser based on the formatted tracking data.   
     
     
         2 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions for determining whether the tracking event packet is a duplicate include instructions for performing an increment operation on an entry of a third database associated with the tracking event identification of the tracking event packet, comparing a value returned from performing the increment operation to a specified duplicate value threshold, and determining the tracking event packet is a duplicate if the value returned is greater than the specified duplicate value threshold. 
     
     
         3 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions for determining whether the tracking event packet corresponds to a revenue generating tracking event include instructions for determining that the tracking event packet corresponds to a revenue generating event based upon a determination that the cost field of the tracking event packet is greater than zero. 
     
     
         4 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the tracking event packet further includes a content identifier uniquely indicating the content with which the user interacted, and the machine-readable medium further comprises instructions which, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising updating an entry in a fourth database corresponding to the content identifier to increment a number of times that the user was presented the content and the corresponding timestamp. 
     
     
         5 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions for interpreting and formatting data in the tracking event packet includes processing the data packet based on the type of user interaction indicated in the type of user interaction field of the packet such that a click event type of user interaction is processed different from an impression event type of user interaction. 
     
     
         6 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 1 , further comprising instructions which, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:
 comparing a user identification in the formatted data to a set of user identifications determined to be associated with a user account that was created fraudulently; and   marking the tracking event packet as invalid in response to determining the user identification in the formatted data matches a user identification in the set of user identifications.   
     
     
         7 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 1 , further comprising instructions which, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:
 in response to receiving a communication from the second database that the data was not properly received, transferring the data to a persistent buffer that will persist until a communication is received from the second database indicating the data is received at the second database.   
     
     
         8 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 1 , further comprising instructions which, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:
 updating an advertisement stats table, a campaign stats table, and an account stats table of the second database by writing, in a single write request to the second database, an increment to an entry in the advertisement stats table based on the content identification, an entry in the creative stats table based on the campaign identification, and an entry in the account stats table based on the advertiser identification.   
     
     
         9 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 1 , further comprising instructions which, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:
 updating a daily campaign stats table, a monthly campaign stats table, and a lifetime campaign stats table by writing, in a single write request to the second database, an increment to an entry in the daily campaign stats table based on the campaign identification, an entry in the monthly campaign stats table based on the campaign identification, and an entry in the lifetime campaign stats table based on the campaign identification.   
     
     
         10 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions for receiving the tracking event packet from the front end tracking client include receiving only packets that include an advertiser identification of a number of advertiser identifications that hash to a value associated with a partition of the medium. 
     
     
         11 . A method for tracking user interaction with content of a website, the website providing user access to functionality of a plurality of applications, the method comprising operations performed using one or more hardware processors, the operations comprising:
 receiving a tracking event packet from a front end tracking client, the tracking event packet including data fields comprising a tracking event identifier uniquely indicating a specific instance of the user interaction with the content, a type of user interaction with the content including a click or impression, a timestamp indicating a time at about which the user interaction occurred, a cost associated with the user interaction, and a campaign identifier uniquely indicating a campaign with which the content is associated;   determining whether the tracking event packet is a duplicate and marking the packet as invalid if it is determined to be a duplicate;   in response to determining the tracking event packet is not a duplicate, interpreting and formatting data in the tracking event packet based on an application of the plurality of applications from which the event packet originated to create formatted tracking data;   determining whether the tracking event packet corresponds to a revenue generating tracking event based on the formatted tracking data;   providing the formatted tracking data to a first database on which data is stored for analytics purposes if the formatted tracking data is determined to not correspond to a revenue generating event;   providing the formatted tracking data to a second database on which data is stored for billing and campaign performance monitoring, in response to determining the tracking event packet corresponds to a revenue generating event; and   determining analytics information or providing a bill to the advertiser based on the formatted tracking data.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein determining whether the tracking event packet is a duplicate includes performing an increment operation on a third database, comparing a value returned from performing the increment operation to a specified duplicate value threshold, and determining the tracking event packet is a duplicate if the value returned is greater than the specified duplicate value. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein determining whether the tracking event packet corresponds to a revenue generating tracking event includes determining the tracking event packet corresponds to a revenue generating event in response to a determination that the cost field of the tracking event packet is greater than zero. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise updating a fourth database that includes data detailing advertisements and a number of times the user has been presented the advertisements in a specified time interval to reflect that the content was presented to the user and the time at which the content was presented to the user. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein interpreting and formatting data in the tracking event packet includes processing the data packet based on the type of user interaction indicated in the type of user interaction field of the packet such that a click event type of user interaction is processed different from an impression event type of user interaction. 
     
     
         16 . A system for tracking user interaction with content of a website, the website providing user access to functionality of a plurality of applications, the system comprising:
 one or more hardware processors;   one or more memories communicatively coupled to the one or more hardware processors, the one or more memories including instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:   receiving a tracking event packet from a front end tracking client, the tracking event packet including data fields comprising a tracking event identifier uniquely indicating a specific instance of the user interaction with the content, a type of user interaction with the content including a click or impression, a timestamp indicating a time at about which the user interaction occurred, a cost associated with the user interaction, and a campaign identifier uniquely indicating a campaign with which the content is associated;   determining whether the tracking event packet is a duplicate and marking the packet as invalid if it is determined to be a duplicate;   in response to determining the tracking event packet is not a duplicate, interpreting and formatting data in the tracking event packet based on an application of the plurality of applications from which the event packet originated to create formatted tracking data;   determining whether the tracking event packet corresponds to a revenue generating tracking event based on the formatted tracking data;   providing the formatted tracking data to a first database on which data is stored for analytics purposes if the formatted tracking data is determined to not correspond to a revenue generating event;   providing the formatted tracking data to a second database on which data is stored for billing and campaign performance monitoring, in response to determining the tracking event packet corresponds to a revenue generating event; and   determining analytics information or providing a bill to the advertiser based on the formatted tracking data.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 comparing a user identification in the formatted data to a set of user identifications determined to be associated with a user account that was created fraudulently; and   marking the tracking event packet as invalid in response to determining the user identification in the formatted data matches a user identification in the set of user identifications.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise updating an advertisement stats table, a campaign stats table, and an account stats table by writing, in a single write request to the second database, an increment to an entry in the advertisement stats table based on the content identification, an entry in the creative stats table based on the campaign identification, and an entry in the account stats table based on the advertiser identification. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 updating a daily campaign stats table, a monthly campaign stats table, and a lifetime campaign stats table by writing, in a single write request to the second database, an increment to an entry in the daily campaign stats table based on the campaign identification, an entry in the monthly campaign stats table based on the campaign identification, and an entry in the lifetime campaign stats table based on the campaign identification.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the instructions for receiving the tracking event packet from the front end tracking client include receiving only packets that include an advertiser identification of a number of advertiser identifications that hash to a value associated with a partition of the one or more processors.