Automated content publication on a social media management platform

Abstract

Social networking activity information pertaining to a set of social networking activities performed by a plurality of contacts on a social networking site is obtained from the social networking site. A recommended time for the user to publish content on the social networking site is determined. The content is sent to the social networking site to be published at the recommended time.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 obtaining, using a processor of a social media management platform, from a social networking site, social networking activity information pertaining to a set of social networking activities performed by a plurality of contacts on the social networking site, the plurality of contacts being contacts associated with a user of the social networking site who is also a user of a social media management platform, wherein the obtaining of the set of social networking activities performed by the plurality of contacts includes invoking an Application Programming Interface (API) to retrieve, for a contact of the plurality of contacts, information pertaining to social networking activities performed by said contact during a first time frame;   determining, by the processor of the social media management platform, a recommended time for the user to publish content on the social networking site, the recommended time being a time during which the plurality of contacts are deemed to be active on the social networking site, wherein the determining of the recommended time for the user to publish the content on the social network site includes:
 assigning a set of corresponding weights to the set of social networking activities, wherein a weight is based at least in part on a type of a corresponding social networking activity in the set of social networking activities; 
 computing a plurality of corresponding scores for a plurality of time intervals, wherein the corresponding score is based at least in part on a number of social networking activities within a time interval of the plurality of time intervals and on the corresponding weights assigned to the set of social networking activities within the time interval; and 
 determining the recommended time based at least in part on the corresponding computed scores of the plurality of time intervals; and 
   sending via a network to the social networking site the content to be published at the recommended time.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising requesting the user to grant permission for the social media management platform to access an account of the user on the social networking site. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the set of social networking activities performed by the plurality of contacts includes publishing content on the social networking site, providing feedback to published content, or both. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the recommended time for the user to publish content on the social networking site includes:
 determining a timestamp associated with each social networking activity of the set of social networking activities;   associating the timestamp associated with each social networking activity with one of the plurality of time intervals; and   identifying a time that corresponds to the time interval of the plurality of time intervals with a greatest number of timestamps as the recommended time.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the recommended time for the user to publish content on the social networking site includes:
 determining a timestamp associated with each social networking activity of the set of social networking activities;   associating the timestamp associated with each social networking activity with one of the plurality of time intervals;   computing a set of scores corresponding to the plurality of time intervals based on timestamps; and   identifying a time corresponding to the time interval of the plurality of time intervals that has a highest score as the recommended time.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein computing, for each time interval of the plurality of time intervals, a score includes scaling a set of old scores and adding the set of scaled old scores to a current set of scores computed based on the timestamps. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the set of social networking activities includes a plurality of types of social networking activities. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the recommended time for the user to publish content on the social networking site includes:
 classifying the set of social networking activities into a plurality of subsets of social networking activities, each subset corresponding to a respective content attribute type;   for each subset of the social networking activities:
 associating timestamps of the subset of social networking activities to their respective time intervals among the plurality of time intervals; and 
 computing a set of scores based on the subset of social networking activities; and 
   comparing the sets of scores to determine the recommended time.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 obtaining, from one or more additional social networking sites, additional social networking activity information pertaining to one or more sets of additional social networking activities performed by one or more additional plurality of contacts on the one or more additional social networking sites; and   determining the recommended time based at least in part on the additional social networking activity information.   
     
     
         10 . A system, comprising:
 one or more processors configured to:   obtain, from a social networking site, social networking activity information pertaining to a set of social networking activities performed by a plurality of contacts on the social networking site, the plurality of contacts being contacts associated with a user of the social networking site who is also a user of a social media management platform, wherein to obtain of the set of social networking activities performed by the plurality of contacts includes invoking an Application Programming Interface (API) to retrieve, for a contact of the plurality of contacts, information pertaining to social networking activities performed by said contact during a first time frame;   determine, a recommended time for the user to publish content on the social networking site, the recommended time being a time during which the plurality of contacts are deemed to be active on the social networking site, wherein to determining the recommended time for the user to publish the content on the social network site includes:
 assigning a set of corresponding weights to the set of social networking activities, wherein a weight is based at least in part on a type of a corresponding social networking activity in the set of social networking activities; 
 computing a plurality of corresponding scores for a plurality of time intervals, wherein the corresponding score is based at least in part on a number of social networking activities within a time interval of the plurality of time intervals and the corresponding weights assigned to the set of social networking activities within the time interval; and 
 determining the recommended time based at least in part on the corresponding computed scores of the plurality of time intervals; and 
   sending via a network to the social networking site the content to be published at the recommended time.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to request the user to grant permission for the social media management platform to access an account of the user on the social networking site. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the set of social networking activities performed by the plurality of contacts includes publishing content on the social networking site, providing feedback to published content, or both. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein to determine the recommended time for the user to publish content on the social networking site, the one or more processors are further configured to:
 determine a timestamp associated with each social networking activity of the set of social networking activities;   associate the timestamp associated with each social networking activity with one of the plurality of time intervals; and   identify a time that corresponds to the time interval of the plurality of time intervals with a greatest number of timestamps as the recommended time.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein to determine the recommended time for the user to publish content on the social networking site, the one or more processors are further configured to:
 determine a timestamp associated with each social networking activity of the set of social networking activities;   associate the timestamp associated with each social networking activity with one of the plurality of time intervals;   compute a set of scores corresponding to the plurality of time intervals based on timestamps; and   identify a time corresponding to the time interval of the plurality of time intervals that has a highest score as the recommended time.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein to compute, for each time interval of the plurality of time intervals, a score includes to scale a set of old scores and to add the set of scaled old scores to a current set of scores computed based on the timestamps. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the set of social networking activities includes a plurality of types of social networking activities. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein to determine the recommended time for the user to publish content on the social networking site, the one or more processors are further configured to:
 classify the set of social networking activities into a plurality of subsets of social networking activities, each subset corresponding to a respective content attribute type;   for each subset of the social networking activities:
 associate timestamps of the subset of social networking activities to their respective time intervals among the plurality of time intervals; and 
 compute a set of scores based on the subset of social networking activities; and 
   compare the sets of scores to determine the recommended time.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 10 , the one or more processors are further configured to:
 obtain, from one or more additional social networking sites, additional social networking activity information pertaining to one or more sets of additional social networking activities performed by one or more additional plurality of contacts on the one or more additional social networking sites; and   determine the recommended time based at least in part on the additional social networking activity information.   
     
     
         19 . A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:
 obtaining, using a processor of a social media management platform, from a social networking site, social networking activity information pertaining to a set of social networking activities performed by a plurality of contacts on the social networking site, the plurality of contacts being contacts associated with a user of the social networking site who is also a user of a social media management platform, wherein the obtaining of the set of social networking activities performed by the plurality of contacts includes invoking an Application Programming Interface (API) to retrieve, for a contact of the plurality of contacts, information pertaining to social networking activities performed by said contact during a first time frame;   determining, by the processor of the social media management platform, a recommended time for the user to publish content on the social networking site, the recommended time being a time during which the plurality of contacts are deemed to be active on the social networking site, wherein the determining of the recommended time for the user to publish the content on the social network site includes:
 assigning a set of corresponding weights to the set of social networking activities, wherein a weight is based at least in part on a type of a corresponding social networking activity in the set of social networking activities; 
   computing a plurality of corresponding scores for a plurality of time intervals, wherein the corresponding score is based at least in part on a number of social networking activities within a time interval of the plurality of time intervals and the corresponding weights assigned to the set of social networking activities within the time interval; and   determining the recommended time based at least in part on the corresponding computed scores of the plurality of time intervals; and   
       sending via a network to the social networking site the content to be published at the recommended time. 
     
     
         20 . The computer program product of  claim 19 , further comprising requesting the user to grant permission for the social media management platform to access an account of the user on the social networking site.