Using Fingerprinting to Identify a Node in a Social Graph of Sharing Activity of Users of the Open Web as Representing a Particular Person

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. Personally identifiable information is not collected. The sharing activity can include receiving first activity information for a sender of a message to a recipient by a collection resource at a Web site, the collection resource adding a link to the message, and receiving second activity information when the recipient accesses the link. The first or second activity information can include a cookie, which can be used to identify a node in a social graph as being representative of a particular person or user. When a match is not found, a fingerprinting approach can be performed using attributes, such as device identifiers: IP addresses; operating systems; browsers types; browser versions; or user navigational, geo-temporal, or behavioral patterns.

The invention claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving first activity information for a sender of a message sent to at least one recipient by a collection resource at a Web site, wherein the message comprises text associated with the Web site, the collection resource adds a first link to the message, and 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 first 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 first recipient is collected in the second activity information;   using at least one processor, using the first activity information to identify a first node in a social graph as being representative of the sender,   wherein the using the first activity information to identify a first node in a social graph as being representative of the sender comprises:   extracting a user identifier from a cookie received with the first activity data; and   if a match for the user identifier is not found in the social graph, performing a fingerprinting approach using attributes comprising at least one of device identifiers; IP addresses; operating systems; browsers types; browser versions; or user navigational, geo-temporal, or behavioral patterns; or any combination of these;   using the second activity information to identify a second node in the social graph as being representative of the first recipient;   determining a category for the first link as a first category type; and   in the social graph, creating a first edge between the first and second nodes, wherein the first edge is representative of the first category type.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  comprising:
 assigning to the first edge a first weighting for the first category type. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  comprising:
 receiving third activity information for the sender of a second link to the recipient collected by a collection resource at a Web site; and 
 receiving fourth activity information when the recipient accesses the second link sent by the sender corresponding to the third activity information stored at the storage server. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  comprising:
 determining a category for the second link is the first category type; and 
 in the social graph, increasing a value of the first weighting for the first edge between the first and second nodes 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3  comprising:
 determining a category for the second link is the second category type, different from the first category type; and 
 in the social graph, creating a second edge between the first and second nodes, wherein the second edge is representative of the second category type 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  comprising:
 assigning to the second edge a second weighting for the second category type. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5  comprising:
 in the social graph, reducing a value of the first weighting when a time for the fourth activity information is more recent than a time for the second activity information. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  comprising:
 based on the social graph including the first and second nodes, making a bid to an ad exchange for an ad associated with at least one of the first node or second node. 
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the collection resource at a Web site used to collect first activity information comprises a sharing widget. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the collection resource at a Web site used to collect first activity information comprises a uniform resource locator (URL) shortening. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the collection resource at a Web site used to collect first activity information comprises an instant messenger application. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the text is copied from the Web site. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the message comprises an image. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the message comprises a video. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the first recipient is represented as a node in the social graph. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 generating the first link based on the message, wherein the first link is associated with the text and the first link comprises a reference to information accessible over the Internet. 
 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the first link comprises a reference to a first information accessible over the Internet, different than a second link the sender accessed to the Web site. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the first link is generated in response to the message. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the fingerprinting approach comprises a probabilistic fingerprinting approach. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the fingerprinting approach comprises a deterministic fingerprinting approach.