System and method for semantic analysis of social network user activities

Abstract

There is described a method implemented on a social search server for presenting names of members of a social network who shared information about a commercial item to a user performing a search from a user interface of a user device. The user is registered on the social network and has connections thereon. The method comprises: indexing data representative of activities of the members on the social network; extracting commercial items from the indexed activity data; receiving a search query along with a user identifier; identifying a commercial item within the search query; using the search query and the user identifier, performing a search on the extracted commercial items specific to the user's connections to obtain names of members who shared information about the commercial item; and returning the names of the members who shared information about the commercial item to the user device.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is filed under 37 CFR 1.53(b) as a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13 / 352,957 filed Jan. 18, 2012 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13 / 346,342 filed Jan. 9, 2012. This application claims priority under 35 USC§120 or 365(c) of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13 / 352,957 filed Jan. 18, 2012 entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RANKING RESULTS AND PROVIDING LISTS OF EXPERTS FROM SOCIAL NETWORKS” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13 / 346,342 filed Jan. 9, 2012 and entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AGGREGATING SEARCHABLE WEB CONTENT FROM A PLURALITY OF SOCIAL NETWORKS AND PRESENTING SEARCH RESULTS”, the specifications of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND[0002](a) Field[0003]The subject matter disclosed generally relates to web search and presentation tools. More particularly, the disclosure relates to searching users' social networks.[0004](b) Relate...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a method for presenting the names of members of a social network who shared information about a commercial item to a user performing a search from a user interface of a user device. The method involves indexing data about the activities of the members on the social network and extracting commercial items from this data. The user then receives a search query with their user identifier and the commercial item is identified. The method can also include performing a semantic analysis of the indexed activity data to determine whether the activities of the members represent a recommendation for the commercial item. The user interface is then presented with the names of the members who shared information about the commercial item for further reading and consideration. Overall, the method allows users to easily discover and connect with other members who have shared information about a commercial item.

Problems solved by technology

However, the information obtained by searching the Web is often generic and does not account for the searcher's level of education, location, socioeconomic status, interests of the user or the like.

For instance, the user's background or knowledge in the subject matter may not match that of many of the search request results.

Although some responses could be highly relevant, a large number of the responses can have low usefulness or relevance to the user's request.

However, the responses may be sporadic, have no organization and may be repetitive of other requests made within the social network.

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