Search Result Snippets for Structured Search Queries

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving, from a client system of a first user of an online social network, a first structured query comprising a natural-language string generated by a context-free grammar model and references to one or more objects associated with the online social network; identifying one or more objects associated with the online social network matching the first structured query; and sending, to the client system, instructions for presenting a search-results interface comprising one or more of the search results corresponding to one or more of the identified objects, respectively, each search result comprising one or more snippets, each snippet comprising contextual information about the identified object corresponding to the search result, wherein at least one of the snippets of each search result comprises one or more references to the one or more objects referenced in the first structured query.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising, by a computing system:
 receiving, from a client system of a first user of an online social network, a first structured query comprising a natural-language string generated by a context-free grammar model and references to one or more objects associated with the online social network;   identifying one or more objects associated with the online social network matching the first structured query; and   sending, to the client system, instructions for presenting a search-results interface comprising one or more of the search results corresponding to one or more of the identified objects, respectively, each search result comprising one or more snippets, each snippet comprising contextual information about the identified object corresponding to the search result, wherein at least one of the snippets of each search result comprises one or more references to the one or more objects referenced in the first structured query.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, from the client system, an unstructured text query inputted by the first user;   generating, responsive to receiving the unstructured text query, one or more structured queries corresponding to the unstructured text query, each structured query corresponding to a selected grammar of the context-free grammar model, wherein each structured query is based on a natural-language string generated by the corresponding selected grammar, each structured query comprising references to one or more objects associated with the online social network each corresponding to at least a portion of the unstructured text query; and   sending, to the client system, instructions for presenting the one or more structured queries as suggested queries for the first user.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each search result corresponds to an object associated with the online social network that is connected to one or more of the objects referenced in the first structured query. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 accessing, for each identified object, one or more snippets corresponding to the identified object, each snippet comprising contextual information about the identified object;   determining, for each identified object, a score for each snippet corresponding to the identified object; and   generating, for each identified object, a search result corresponding to the identified object, each search result comprising one or more snippets having a score greater than a snippet-threshold score.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein determining a score for each snippet is based on a social relevance of the snippet to the first structured query. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein determining a score for each snippet is based on a textual relevance of the snippet to the first structured query. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein determining a score for each snippet is based on a search history associated with the first user. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the snippets of each search result comprises a customized structured query comprising a reference to the object corresponding to the search result. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein each customized structured query further comprises a reference to one or more of the objects referenced in the first structured query. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the snippets of each search result comprises a reference to one or more objects, each object being connected to first user in the online social network. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each search result is associated with a profile page of the online social network. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein at least one of the snippets of each search result comprises information from the profile page associated with the search result. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein, for each snippet comprising references to objects referenced in the first structured query, one or more of the references of the snippet is highlighted to indicate the reference corresponds to a particular object referenced in the first structured query. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions for presenting the search-results interface are sent to the client system via a third-party system in response to receiving from the third-party system a call through an application programming interface associated with the online social network. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first structured query is received from a client system associated with the first user. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first structured query is received from a third-party system via a call through an application programming interface associated with the online social network. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising sending one or more of the search results to the third-party system in response to the call. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first structured query is received from a third-party system via a communication channel associated with the online social network. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 accessing a graph data structure of an online social network, the graph data structure comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes, each of the edges between two of the nodes representing a single degree of separation between them, the nodes comprising:
 a first node corresponding to the first user; and 
 a plurality of second nodes corresponding to a plurality of objects associated with the online social network, respectively. 
   
     
     
         20 . One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:
 receive, from a client system of a first user of an online social network, a first structured query comprising a natural-language string generated by a context-free grammar model and references to one or more objects associated with the online social network;   identify one or more objects associated with the online social network matching the first structured query; and   send, to the client system, instructions for presenting a search-results interface comprising one or more of the search results corresponding to one or more of the identified objects, respectively, each search result comprising one or more snippets, each snippet comprising contextual information about the identified object corresponding to the search result, wherein at least one of the snippets of each search result comprises one or more references to the one or more objects referenced in the first structured query.   
     
     
         21 . A system comprising: one or more processors; and a memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors operable when executing the instructions to:
 receive, from a client system of a first user of an online social network, a first structured query comprising a natural-language string generated by a context-free grammar model and references to one or more objects associated with the online social network;   identify one or more objects associated with the online social network matching the first structured query; and   send, to the client system, instructions for presenting a search-results interface comprising one or more of the search results corresponding to one or more of the identified objects, respectively, each search result comprising one or more snippets, each snippet comprising contextual information about the identified object corresponding to the search result, wherein at least one of the snippets of each search result comprises one or more references to the one or more objects referenced in the first structured query.