Timely notification of episodes

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to timely episode notifications. A notifiable event related to a video series is detected. A user with a highest intimacy score for the series is selected from a plurality of users who have partially viewed the series. A notification is generated indicating the notifiable event related to the series. The notification includes a reference to at least a portion of a video included in the series. The at least a portion of the video has not been previously viewed by the user.

Description

[0001] Description of the case

[0002] This application is a divisional application of Chinese invention patent application No. 201680030385.3, filed on September 13, 2016. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure relates to the field of notifications, and in particular to a customized timely notification generated based on a notifiable event related to a series to remind a user of an episode of a video in the series. Background Art

[0004] On the Internet, social networks allow users to connect to each other and share information with each other. Many social networks include content sharing aspects that allow users to upload, view and share content such as video content, image content, audio content, etc. Other users of social networks can comment on shared content, find new content, locate updates, and otherwise interact with the content provided. Shared content can include content from professional content creators. Shared content can include movie clips, television program (TV) clips and music videos and content from amateur content creators, such as video blogs and short original videos. Content sharing platforms can provide notifications to users. For example, notifications can deliver messages that notify users of the availability of specific media content items. Summary of the invention

[0005] In order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the present disclosure, a simplified overview of the present disclosure is provided below. This overview is not an exhaustive review of the present disclosure. It is not intended to identify the key or decisive elements of the present disclosure or to outline any scope of a specific embodiment of the present disclosure or any scope of the claims. Its sole purpose is to provide some concepts of the present disclosure in a concise form as a prelude to a more detailed description provided later.

[0006] Embodiments of the present disclosure may include a method for generating one or more customized timely notifications indicating notifiable events related to a series to be sent to a user who has consumed a portion of a video in the series. Notifiable events related to the video series are detected by a processing device. A user with a highest intimacy score for the series is selected from a plurality of users who have partially viewed the series. A notification indicating notifiable events related to the series is generated. The notification includes a reference to at least a portion of the video included in the series. The at least a portion of the video has not been previously viewed by the user.

[0007] In some embodiments, the notifiable event includes at least one of a social event, a creator event, a search event, or a video list event related to at least one video in the series. The social event includes at least one of the following: endorsing at least one video in the series, curating at least one video in the series, sharing at least one video in the series, or adding at least one video in the series to a list of favorite content items. The creator event indicates new metadata added to at least one video in the series. The search event is related to at least one video in the series. The video list event indicates the number of views or years of a particular milestone reached by at least one video in the series that meets a threshold condition.

[0008] In some implementations, the user's affinity score for the series is determined based at least on the number of videos in the series consumed by the user.

[0009] In some embodiments, a first scanner scans a plurality of user intimacy score logs to identify a plurality of users having high intimacy scores for the series. A second scanner scans a plurality of user event logs for notifiable events. When a notifiable event is detected, the notifiable event is merged with a subset of the plurality of users having more than a high intimacy score.

[0010] In some implementations, the reference is associated with at least one existing video in the series, and the notification is generated before the new video is added to the series.

[0011] In some embodiments, the series represents a television program and the videos in the series represent episodes of the television program. The series may represent a movie series and the videos in the series represent movies in the movie series. The series may represent a game and the videos in the series represent event videos of the game. The series may represent a meeting and the videos in the series represent event videos of the meeting.

[0012] In some implementations, detecting a notifiable event associated with the video series includes: continuously searching for notifiable events associated with a plurality of videos; and identifying a notifiable event associated with at least one video in the series.

[0013] In some implementations, two or more users having the highest intimacy scores for the series are selected from a plurality of users who have partially viewed the series.

[0014] In some implementations, a notification is generated for each of the two or more users indicating a notifiable event related to the series. The notification to the respective user includes a reference to at least a portion of the video that has not been previously viewed by the respective user.

[0015] In some implementations, upon determining that the notification satisfies a spam filtering condition, the notification is sent to a client device of the user. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

[0017] Figure 1 An example system architecture is illustrated in which embodiments of the present disclosure may operate.

[0018] Figure 2 is a flow chart illustrating the communication flow between a server, a content sharing platform, and a client device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 3A and Figure 3B is an example of a user interface displaying customized timely notifications according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method of generating a notification indicating a notifiable event related to a series according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method of detecting a notifiable event related to a video series according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method of generating customized notifications based on social events according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0023] Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example computer system in accordance with some implementations. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] Aspects and embodiments of the present disclosure relate to providing customized timely notifications based on a series episode content item (e.g., a video in a series). Specifically, an embodiment of a notification component that can provide notifications of events related to a series to be notified to users of a content sharing platform is described. An event to be notified refers to an activity of a predetermined type (e.g., a user activity on a content sharing platform or a third-party platform) that has occurred and is designated as a trigger to trigger a notification of an activity or related activity that has occurred to one or more users. An event to be notified can be related to content hosted by a content sharing platform, such as a series episode video. For example, an event to be notified related to such a series can be a social event (e.g., a user's contact approves a video from the series), a creator event (e.g., a series creator adds new metadata to a video from the series (e.g., marking an actor)), a user event (e.g., a user submits a search query related to the series), a video list event (e.g., a series view count event exceeds a certain threshold), or other events.

[0025] Once a notifiable event related to the series is detected, it can be determined that one or more users have partially viewed the series (e.g., completed viewing of some but not all videos from the series, viewed a portion of the video from the series, etc.). Then, one or more users with the highest intimacy score for the series are selected. The user's intimacy score for the series can indicate the user's interest in the series. The user's intimacy score for the series can be determined based on the user's viewing history related to the series, such as the number of consumed videos from the series, the total length of consumed videos, the recency of the recently consumed videos, etc. For example, if a user consumes 9 of the 10 video episodes in the series, the user is considered to have a strong interest in the series, so a high intimacy score is assigned to the user. If another user has consumed one or two episodes, or has not yet finished watching any episodes, a lower intimacy score than a user who has consumed multiple episodes can be assigned to the user.

[0026] When the user with the highest intimacy score for the series is selected, a notification is generated for each user indicating a notifiable event. In some embodiments, each user can receive customized notifications. For example, a notification can be customized for a particular user to include a reference to a video or a portion of a video that has not been previously viewed by the particular user. Because the notification is triggered by a notifiable event that may be important to the user, and because the user is interested in the series as indicated by the user's intimacy score, the likelihood that the user will access the unviewed portion of the video referenced in the notification is significantly higher.

[0027] Previously, users may have been notified when new videos in a video series are released. However, a season of a series or an entire series may have ended or there may be no new episodes to be released. Therefore, users who have partially consumed the series may not be notified of the unviewed portion of the series. In addition, if the user's consumption progress in the series is not the latest, notifications about the latest released videos from the series may not be relevant to the user. For example, if the latest video released in the series is episode 10 and the user has previously finished watching half of episode 1, the user will not consider the notification of the latest episode (i.e., episode 10) to be important / relevant. In another example, if the user has never consumed any episodes in the series and has no reason to watch the series, the user may not consider the notification of the latest episode to be important / relevant. Therefore, if a user receives a notification of a new episode in a series, the user may consider such a notification to be spam and may end up ignoring or deleting such a notification without having to care about such a notification.

[0028] Providing a large number of notifications or notifications that users may consider to be spam may have negative consequences. For example, unsolicited notifications may be considered undesirable and may cause users to delete the notifications or disable notifications. In some cases, users may stop using content sharing platforms that send excessive or irrelevant notifications.

[0029] The videos included in a series may be very popular and many users may be interested in them. However, given the large number of videos available to users on various content sharing platforms, users may not necessarily remember the series or the point at which the user previously stopped watching the series.

[0030] Aspects of the present disclosure provide customized, timely notifications related to a series episode content item to users who have consumed videos from the series. These improved notifications are relevant to the notified users and can enable them to consume new portions of the series that have not been previously viewed (e.g., the next video or next chronological scene / time immediately following the point where the user previously stopped watching a video from the series).

[0031] As used herein, the term "content item" may refer to an electronic file that may be executed or loaded using software, firmware, or hardware configured to present the content item to an entity.

[0032] For simplicity and brevity, the present disclosure generally refers to videos. However, the teachings of the present disclosure generally apply to content items and can be applied to various types of content or content items, including: for example, video, audio, text, image, program instructions, etc. The content items mentioned herein represent visual and / or shareable content items.

[0033] For the sake of simplicity and brevity, the present disclosure generally refers to episodes. However, the teachings of the present disclosure generally apply to content items and can be applied to various types of content or content items, including: for example, episodes of video, audio, text, images, program instructions, etc. The episodes mentioned herein represent visual and / or shareable content items.

[0034] Figure 1 An example system architecture 100 for customized timely notifications related to a video series is illustrated, wherein the notifications are based on notifiable events, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The system architecture 100 includes client devices 110A to 110Z, a network 105, a data storage device 106, a content sharing platform 120, a server 130, and a third-party social networking platform 150. In one embodiment, the network 105 may include a public network (e.g., the Internet), a private network (e.g., a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN)), a wired network (e.g., Ethernet), a wireless network (e.g., an 802.11 network or a Wi-Fi network), a cellular network (e.g., a long-term evolution (LTE) network), a router, a hub, a switch, a server computer, and / or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, the data storage 106 may be a memory (e.g., a random access memory), a cache, a drive (e.g., a hard drive), a flash drive, a database system, or another type of component or device capable of storing data. The data store 106 may also include multiple storage components (eg, multiple drives or multiple databases) that may also span multiple computing devices (eg, multiple server computers).

[0035] Each of the client devices 110A to 110Z may include a computing device, such as a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a mobile phone, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, etc. In some embodiments, the client devices 110A to 110Z may also be referred to as "user devices". Each client device includes a media viewer 111. In one embodiment, the media viewer 111 may be an application that allows a user to view content items (such as images, videos, web pages, documents, etc.). For example, the media viewer 111 may be a web browser that can access, retrieve, present, and / or browse content items served by a web server (e.g., web pages such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) pages, digital media items, etc.). The media viewer 111 may render, display, and / or present content items (e.g., web pages, media viewers) to the user. The media viewer 111 may also display an embedded media player (e.g., a web page that may provide information about products sold by an online merchant) embedded in a web page (e.g., a web page that may provide information about products sold by an online merchant). In another example, the media viewer 111 may be a standalone application that allows a user to view digital media items (e.g., digital videos, digital images, e-books, etc.).

[0036] The media viewer 111 may be provided to the client devices 110A to 110Z by the server 130 and / or the content sharing platform 120. For example, the media viewer 111 may be an embedded media player that may be embedded in a web page provided by the content sharing platform 120. In another example, the media viewer 111 may be an application downloaded from the server 130. Although client devices 110A to 110Z are shown, fewer or more devices may be used.

[0037] In general, functions described in one embodiment as being performed by the content sharing platform 120 may also be performed on client devices 110A to 110Z in other embodiments, where appropriate. Additionally, functions attributed to a particular component may be performed by different or multiple components operating together. The content sharing platform 120 may also be accessed as a service provided to other systems or devices through appropriate application programming interfaces, and is therefore not limited to use on websites.

[0038] In one embodiment, the content sharing platform 120 can be one or more computing devices (such as, rack servers, router computers, server computers, personal computers, mainframe computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, desktop computers, etc.), data storage devices (e.g., hard drives, memories, databases), networks, software components, and / or hardware components that can provide users with access rights to media items and / or provide media items to users. For example, the content sharing platform 120 can allow users to consume, upload, search, approve ("like"), dislike, and / or comment on media items. The content sharing platform 120 can also include a website (e.g., a web page) that can be used to provide users with access rights to media items. The content sharing platform 120 can include any type of content delivery network that provides access rights to content and / or media items.

[0039] In embodiments of the present disclosure, a "user" may be represented as a single individual. However, other embodiments of the present disclosure include that a "user" is an entity controlled by a collection of users and / or an automated source. For example, a collection of individual users aggregated into a community in a social network may be considered a "user." In another example, an automated consumer may be an automated ingest pipeline of a content sharing platform 120, such as a theme channel.

[0040] The content sharing platform 120 may include multiple channels (e.g., channels A to Z). A channel may be available data content from a common source or data content with a common theme or topic. The data content may be digital content selected by a user, digital content available to a user, digital content uploaded by a user, digital content selected by a content provider, digital content selected by a broadcaster, etc. For example, channel X may include videos Y and Z. A channel may be associated with an owner, who is a user who can perform actions on the channel.

[0041] Different activities can be associated with a channel based on the owner's actions, such as the owner making digital content available on the channel, the owner selecting (e.g., liking) digital content associated with another channel, the owner commenting on digital content associated with another channel, etc. The activities associated with the channel can be collected into an activity feed for the channel. Users other than the owner of the channel can subscribe to one or more channels of interest to them. The concept "subscription" can also be referred to as "liking", "following", "becoming a friend", etc.

[0042] Once a user subscribes to a channel, information from the activity feed of the channel can be presented to the user. An activity feed can be a list of recent activities associated with the user and occurring on a social network. If a user subscribes to multiple channels, the activity feeds of each channel to which the user subscribes can be combined into an aggregated activity feed. Information from the aggregated activity feed can be presented to the user. A channel can have its own feed. For example, when navigating to the homepage of a channel on a content sharing platform, feed items generated by the channel can be displayed on the channel homepage. A user can have an aggregate feed, which is a feed consisting of at least a subset of content items from all channels to which the user subscribes. An aggregate feed can also include content items from channels to which the user has not subscribed. For example, a content sharing platform 120 or other social network can insert recommended content items into a user's aggregate feed, or can insert content items associated with a user's relevant connections into an aggregate feed.

[0043] Although a channel is described as one embodiment of a content sharing platform, embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to content sharing platforms that provide content items via a channel model.

[0044] Each channel may include one or more content items 121. Examples of content items 121 may include, but are not limited to: digital videos, digital movies, digital photos, digital music, website content, social media updates, electronic books (ebooks), electronic magazines, digital newspapers, digital audio books, electronic journals, web blogs, Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, electronic comic books, software applications, etc. In some implementations, content items 121 are also referred to as media items or media content items.

[0045] Content items 121 may be consumed via the Internet and / or via mobile device applications. As used herein, "media," "media items," "online media items," "digital media," "digital media items," "content," and "content items" may include electronic files that may be executed or loaded using software, firmware, or hardware configured to present digital content items to an entity. In one embodiment, content sharing platform 120 may store content items 121 using data storage 106.

[0046] The third-party social network platform 150 may be and / or include one or more computing devices (e.g., servers), data storage devices, networks, software components, and / or hardware components that may be used to allow users to connect, share information, and / or interact with each other using one or more mobile devices (e.g., phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, wearable computing devices, etc.) and / or any other suitable devices. For example, the third-party social network platform 150 may enable telephone communications, short message service (SMS) messaging, multimedia message service (MMS) messaging, text chat, video chat, and / or any other communications between users. The third-party social network platform 150 may present to the user a list (e.g., activity feeds, feeds, streams, walls, etc.) of objects (e.g., postings, content items (e.g., videos, images, audio, etc.), status updates, favorability indicators, tags, messages, etc.) provided by other users of the third-party social network platform 150. The third-party social network platform 150 may also include content sharing aspects that allow users to upload, view, tag, share content such as text content, video content, image content, audio content, etc., and / or perform any other functions on it. Other users of the third-party social networking platform 150 may comment on shared content, discover new content, locate updates, share content, and interact with the provided content.

[0047] In one embodiment, the content sharing platform 120 can be integrated with the third-party social networking platform 150. For example, the third-party social networking platform 150 can use the content sharing platform 120 to provide content sharing, content storage, content streaming, content processing, and / or any other services to users. In one example, users of the third-party social networking platform 150 can upload and / or share content via the content sharing platform 120. In another embodiment, Figure 1 As depicted, the third-party social networking platform 150 may be separate from the content sharing platform 120 .

[0048] In one embodiment, the server 130 may be one or more computing devices (e.g., a rack server, a server computer, etc.). In one embodiment, the server 130 may be included in the content sharing platform 120 and / or the third-party social networking platform 150. In another embodiment, the server 130 may be separate from any one or both of the content sharing platform 120 and / or the third-party social networking platform 150, but may communicate with the content sharing platform 120 and / or the third-party social networking platform 150 (e.g., exchange data).

[0049] The server 130 may include a notification component 131 for providing customized timely notifications of the video series to users of the content sharing platform 120, the third-party social networking platform 150, and / or any other platform. The notifications are based on one or more events to be notified. In one embodiment, the notification component 131 can create and / or otherwise obtain notifications to provide to users.

[0050] While embodiments of the present disclosure are discussed in terms of a content sharing platform and facilitating social network sharing of content items on the content sharing platform, embodiments may also be generally applicable to any type of social network that provides connections between users and / or any type of content delivery platform that provides content to end users. Embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to content sharing platforms that provide channel subscriptions to users.

[0051] In the case where the system discussed herein collects personal information about the user or may use personal information, the user can be provided with an opportunity to control whether the content sharing platform 120 collects user information (e.g., information about the user's social network, social actions or activities, occupations, preferences of the user, or the current location of the user), or control whether and / or how to receive content from a content server that may be more relevant to the user. In addition, some data can be processed in one or more ways before storage or use to remove personally identifiable information. For example, the user's identity can be processed so that it is impossible to determine personally identifiable information for the user, or the user's geographical location can be generalized (such as to a city, ZIP code, or state level) when obtaining position information, so that it is impossible to determine the user's specific location. Therefore, the user can control how to collect information about the user and how it is used by any other component of the content sharing platform 120, server 130, third-party social network platform 150, and / or system 100.

[0052] The notifiable events related to the video series may be related to social events, creator events, user events, video list events, or other events. A user may perform an action to trigger a notifiable event.

[0053] Social events related to series may include recognition, content management, sharing, favorites / likes (e.g., adding a video in a series to a list of favorite content items), or other types of aggregated actions for a video in a series or the video itself. Social events may come from friends or social network contacts of the user who receives the notification. In an embodiment, a social event may be for a series or for a specific episode in a series. In an embodiment, a series may be referred to as a canonical list. The canonical list may be an ordered list of items linked together, wherein the ordered list may include more than one episode of a video linked together. For example, an ordered list may be a series, wherein the series represents a television program and the video in the series may represent an episode of a television program. In another example, a series may represent a movie series and the video in the series may represent a movie of a movie series. In another example, a series may represent a competition (e.g., a sports competition, a science competition, a music competition, etc.), and the video in the series may represent a video of the event of the competition. In another example, a series may represent a meeting, and the video in the series may represent a video of the event of the meeting. In another example, a series may represent a mini-series, a list of movies starring a particular actor or produced, directed, or created by the same person, a genre of video, foreign language videos, videos with a commonality, and the like.

[0054] A creator event may be an event that occurs when new metadata is added to a video or a video endorsement about a video or series. In an embodiment, a person who creates or otherwise uploads a video may provide some new metadata to a video that has not been added in the past. For example, a creator may tag relevant actors who star in a video. In another embodiment, a creator may comment on or endorse a video or the series as a whole. In another embodiment, a creator may create an event to alert fans of a series of upcoming important events. For example, a creator may alert fans of an upcoming cliffhanger in a series. Other types of creator events may be considered notifiable events.

[0055] A user event may be an event triggered by a user who receives a notification. A user event may be an approval of a video in a series, a search event such as a search for a term or phrase of a query related to a video in a series or the series itself, etc. A user event may be triggered by a user who wants to receive a notification of consuming a related video in another similar series.

[0056] Video list events can be triggered by a video in a series or the series itself reaching a certain number of views or a specific milestone defined by a threshold condition. For example, a video / series can reach a threshold number of hits. In another example, a video / series can reach a 5-year milestone (e.g., the series is 5 years old).

[0057] In an embodiment, the server 130 may receive an action representing a notifiable event from a client device operated by a user. However, the user may not be aware that the action is considered a notifiable event. The user may perform an action that they would normally perform, such as approving a video, performing a search for a video, etc., and may not expect to receive a notification in response to the action. In another embodiment, the user may be aware that the action is a notifiable event and may intentionally perform the action to trigger a notification to other users. For example, the creator of a video may wish to add metadata to their series to trigger a notification for fans of the series.

[0058] Assume now that Bonnie and Julie are friends on a social networking site. If Julie consumes episodes from Series X and approves or "likes" the episodes or Series X on a social networking site / app (or another site), Bonnie may also wish to view Series X or continue watching the episodes in Series X where she stopped watching. When it is determined that Bonnie has previously watched a portion but not the entire Series X, i.e., the same series that Julie has already liked or approved, it may be necessary to remind Bonnie to continue watching Series X. However, if Bonnie begins to receive periodic notifications that are only used to remind her to watch Series X, Bonnie may consider such notifications to be spam or uninteresting and may ignore them. On the other hand, if notifications are sent to Bonnie when Julie likes Series X, Bonnie may wish to discuss Series X with Julie, and notifications reminding her to continue watching the unviewed portion of Series X will be important to Bonnie. Thus, notification component 131 provides a notification to Bonnie indicating that Julie has liked series X, and includes a reference to an unviewed video or portion of the video in series X (e.g., the portion immediately following the point where Bonnie stopped the video, or the video immediately following the last video in the series that Bonnie watched).

[0059] In another example, assume that Series X becomes a trending topic on many websites and becomes very popular due to a new actor starring in Series X. Many new viewers have recently started consuming Series X. However, Bonnie has stopped watching Series X (e.g., after consuming the first two episodes of Series X) and is unaware of its renewed popularity. A notification indicating the popularity of Series X (e.g., that Series X has reached 1 million views) and including an application to the unviewed portion of Series X may prompt Bonnie to select the reference and continue watching Series X so that she can discuss the series with her colleagues the next day.

[0060] Figure 2 is a flow chart illustrating a communication flow 200 between a server 130 including a notification component 131, a content sharing platform 120, and client devices 110A and 110Z according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 2 1, but additional client devices may also interact with server 130 and / or content communication platform 120. In the depicted embodiment, for simplicity and brevity, client devices 110A and 110Z are mobile devices. However, client devices 110A and 110Z may be another type of device. Each of client devices 110A and 110Z may communicate with server 130 and / or content communication platform 120 via network 105 (e.g., Figure 1 ) communicates with the server 130 and / or the content sharing platform 120.

[0061] Assume that a first user using client device 110A is watching a video series called "Sereis X". Series X may consist of multiple episodes. The first user may issue a request 210 to the content sharing platform 120 via the client device 110A to request video episode #6. After receiving the request 210, the content sharing platform 120 may send a stream 212 of video episode 6 to the client device 110A. The first user may then issue a stop video request 214 to stop (or pause) video episode #6. In an embodiment, the first user has partially viewed video episode #6 and stopped or paused the video. In another embodiment, the first user may have finished consuming episode #6. The content sharing platform 120 may notify the server 130 that the first user has consumed episode #6. In an embodiment, the content sharing platform 120 and the server 130 communicate via the network 105 (such as Figure 1 as shown) for communication.

[0062] At some point in time after the first user has consumed at least a portion of the videos included in series X (e.g., episode #1, ..., episode #6), server 130 may receive a notification-needed event 216 related to series X from a second user employing client device 110Z. The notification-needed event 216 may be a social event, a creator event, a user event, a video list event, or another type of event. In response to receiving the notification-needed event 216, server 130 determines that the first user has the highest intimacy score for series X and selects the first user. Notification component 131 of server 130 generates a customized, timely notification for series X based on the notification-needed event. Notification component 131 may generate a notification and send notification 220 to client device 110A employed by the first user. Figure 2 As shown, the first user may receive a notification after stopping consuming episode 6 for a period of time.

[0063] This article is aimed at Figure 3A and Figure 3B Examples of notifications provided to users are described.

[0064] After receiving the notification, the first user may select a reference or link included in the notification. The link may be a portion of the video that has not been previously viewed by the first user. For example, the link may be the beginning of episode 7 of series X. The first user's selection of the reference causes client device 110A to send a request 222 from content sharing platform 120 for video episode 7. Content sharing platform 120 sends a stream 224 of video episode 7 in response to request 222. The first user may then consume video episode 7.

[0065] When the user selects a reference, the content sharing platform 120 may notify the server 130 .

[0066] In embodiments, the notification event 216 may be sent by the client device 110Z at any time after a first user using the client device 110A consumes at least a portion of a video in the series X.

[0067] Although the discussion in conjunction with streaming video Figure 2 , but the video can be downloaded or otherwise accessed by the user.

[0068] Figure 3A and Figure 3B is an example of a user interface displaying customized timely notifications according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 3AProvide a user interface 300 that displays a customized timely notification 302A based on a notification that Julie likes series X. The user interface 300 may include a "notification" tag 301A and other information (e.g., a media player that plays a video, a news feed, a list of recommended content items, etc.) and may be presented on the screen of a mobile device. The notification 302A may include a graphical area 304A that graphically and / or textually provides an indication of a series (e.g., series X). The notification 302A may include a text indication 305A that a notification event (e.g., Julie likes series X) must be notified. The notification 302A includes a reference 306A. In one embodiment, the reference 306A may be a link such as a uniform resource locator (URL). In an embodiment, the notification may include any one of a combination of text, a link, and / or a graphic. When the reference 306A is selected, in the depicted embodiment, the device is directed to the video of the next episode in the series X, wherein the next episode has not been viewed by the user before. Specifically, upon selecting reference 306A, the user is directed to the point in the video of the next episode of Series X where the user previously stopped viewing. For example, if the user had previously finished viewing episode 6, then in response to selecting the reference, the user would be directed to view episode 7. In another embodiment, if the user had previously finished viewing a portion of an episode, then in response to selecting the reference, the user would be directed to view the remainder of the episode. Figure 1 , upon selecting a reference, the content device is directed to a content item 121 in the content sharing platform 120 that is the next episode in the series that has not been viewed by the user before. In an embodiment, the referenced episode may not necessarily be the latest episode in the series.

[0069] In an embodiment, reference 306A includes a URL to the next episode. In addition to or in another embodiment, the user can select button 308A to play the next episode. Selecting button 308A can direct the client device to a website and / or app to display content item 121. In another embodiment, selecting button 308A can provide the video in-line to notification 302A or provide the video in a pop-up window.

[0070] Figure 3BA user interface is provided for displaying a customized timely notification 302B based on a notification event indicating that Series X has become a hot topic and has reached 1 billion hits. The notification 302B may include a graphical area 304B that graphically and / or textually provides an indication of a series (e.g., Series X). The notification 302B may include a textual indication 305B of the notification event. The notification 302B includes a reference 306B. In one embodiment, the reference 306B may be a link such as a uniform resource locator (URL). Upon selecting the reference 306B, in the depicted embodiment, the device is directed to the video of episode 7 in Series X, wherein the remainder of episode 7 has not been previously viewed by the user. For example, if the user has previously finished watching the first half of episode 7, then in response to selecting the reference, the user will be directed to view the remainder of episode 7. In another embodiment, if the user has previously finished watching all of episode 6 (but not episode 7), then in response to selecting the reference, the user will be directed to view episode 7.

[0071] Although for the sake of simplicity and brevity Figure 3A and Figure 3B The notifications in are shown as mobile notifications, but other types of notifications may also be generated and provided / displayed to the user. For example, the notification may be an email, a text message, an account notification, etc. In embodiments, the notification may be rendered in various places including other recommended content feeds, etc. For example, the notification may be provided on a website or app such as a social networking website / app. The feed may include a timeline or other area / frame on the social networking website / app that may be viewed by the user.

[0072] Figure 4 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method 400 for generating a notification indicating a notifiable event related to a series according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 400 may be performed by a processing logic including hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructions operating on a processing device to perform hardware emulation), or a combination thereof.

[0073] For simplicity of explanation, the method of the present disclosure is depicted and described as a series of actions. However, the actions according to the present disclosure may occur in various orders and / or simultaneously, and with actions not presented and described herein. In addition, not all of the actions shown may be required to implement the method according to the disclosed subject matter. In addition, it will be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art that the method may be alternatively represented as a series of related states or as events via a state diagram. In addition, it should be understood that the methods disclosed in this specification can be stored on an article of manufacture to facilitate the transmission and transfer of such methods to a computing device. As used herein, the term "article of manufacture" is intended to include a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device or storage medium. In one embodiment, method 400 may be executed by Figure 1 The server 130 (eg, a processing device executing the notification component 131) is shown to execute.

[0074] As shown, method 400 begins at block 402 when a processing device detects a notifiable event related to a video series. A notifiable event log may be scanned to identify one or more events related to the series. Figure 5 An embodiment of detecting a notifiable event is described. The notifiable event related to a series may be a social event, a creator event, a user event, a video list event, or other event. The notifiable event may be related to the series as a whole or to the videos included in the series.

[0075] In box 404, the processing device selects one or more users with the highest intimacy scores for the series from multiple users who have partially viewed the series. The user's intimacy score for the series is determined based at least on the number of videos consumed by the user in the series. The user's intimacy score can be logged. For example, the log can include a list of series, and for each series, the intimacy scores of each user can be recorded. In another embodiment, each user can have one or more intimacy score logs for one or more series. In some embodiments, different intimacy scores for different series can be assigned to users.

[0076] The scanner in the server 130 may scan multiple user intimacy score logs to determine the corresponding intimacy scores of the users based on the series. For example, the scanner may scan the user intimacy score logs of 100 users based on series X. Each of the 100 users may be assigned an intimacy score of 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest intimacy score and 10 is the highest intimacy score. The scanner may determine the intimacy scores of the users and select users with intimacy scores of 8 or higher for series X.

[0077] In an embodiment, the intimacy score is calculated by a separate component or entity before the scanner performs a scan. In another embodiment, the intimacy score is calculated by the server 130. In an embodiment, the scanner can be a MapReduce continuous scanner that iterates over all user intimacy score logs to determine the (highest) intimacy score for a series. MapReduce identifies the intimacy score between the user and the series (based on the videos consumed by the user in the series). The intimacy score can be stored based on an identifier that identifies a particular series. For example, the identifier can be the name of the series. In some embodiments, the user's viewing history of videos from the series is logged and the user's intimacy score is calculated based on the user's viewing history associated with the series. For example, the number of videos viewed by the user can be determined based on the viewing history, and the user's intimacy score can be created based on the number of videos viewed by the user in the series.

[0078] In embodiments, the intimacy score may be generated by the server 130 , the content sharing platform 120 , the third-party social networking platform 150 , or another platform accessible by the server 130 .

[0079] In block 406, the processing device generates a notification for each of the one or more users indicating a notifiable event related to the series. The notification includes a reference to at least a portion of a video included in the series, wherein at least the portion of the video has not been previously viewed by the user. After the notification is generated, the notification may be sent to each of the one or more users. In an embodiment, Figure 1 In another embodiment, a notification component 131 in the server 130 generates and sends the notification. In another embodiment, another component in the server 130 or outside the server 130 sends the generated notification. Users of the client devices 110A to 110Z receive the notification. For example, the notification can be provided to the user as Figure 3A and Figure 3B The graphical user interface shown.

[0080] In an embodiment, two or more users with the highest intimacy scores for the series are selected from a plurality of users who have partially viewed the series. When a notification is generated for each of the two or more users indicating a notifiable event related to the series, the notification to the respective user includes a reference to at least a portion of the video that has not been previously viewed by the respective user. Thus, a customized timely notification including a respective customized reference is generated (and sent) for each of the two or more users.

[0081] Assume that a user has partially viewed an episode of a video in a series. When the user selects to reference, the user will be directed to the point in the video where he or she last stopped watching the video. For example, assume that the user watched 9 minutes and 59 seconds of episode 7 before the video was stopped / paused. When the user selects to reference, the user can continue watching the video at 10 minutes. In another embodiment, a memory period of predetermined seconds or minutes starting from the point in the video frame where the user last stopped watching can be provided to the user. The memory period can allow the user to remember or recall the portion of the video that he or she last watched. For example, assume that the memory period is 10 seconds. When the user who previously watched 9 minutes and 59 seconds of episode 7 selects to reference, the user can continue watching the video at 9 minutes and 49 seconds (based on the memory period).

[0082] A user may not view the videos in a series in order. For example, a user may have viewed the videos in the following order: 2, 1, 4, 6. In some implementations, the last portion of the last video in the series viewed by the user is used to determine the point to which the reference in the notification should point. For example, a reference to a portion of a video included in a notification to the user may point to episode 7 when the user has previously last consumed episode 6. Thus, the order in which the user consumes the episodes may not be considered.

[0083] Assume that the user has not watched any part of the episodes in the series. However, the user may have friends who love the series, or notice that the series is trending. Even though the user may have a low affinity score for the series, the user may wish to receive notifications of series that their friends like or series that are trending. In embodiments, a notification may be provided to the user in response to receiving a notifiable event such as their friend liking the series (or a video in the series) or based on the series becoming a trending topic.

[0084] In decision block 408, a determination is made as to whether additional events to be notified are detected. If no additional events to be notified are detected, the method ends. However, if additional events to be notified are detected in decision block 408, the method returns to block 404, as shown in FIG. Figure 4 For example, the additional notification event may be related to a video in series X, to series X as a whole, or to another video in another series or to another series.

[0085] In an embodiment, the notifications in box 406 may be generated periodically according to a predetermined schedule. For example, notifications may be generated during off-peak hours when utilization of the server 130 is low or cheaper. In another example, notifications may be generated every hour. However, notifications may be sent to users during a certain period of time. For example, if a notification is generated at 2 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, the notification may not be sent to users on the East Coast at 2 a.m. Instead, the notification may be sent during business hours, and alternatively, at 9 a.m. the next morning. In this way, the user will not receive the notification when he or she is asleep. In an embodiment, the user may specify a time range in which the notification will be received on his or her device. Thus, the notification is sent at a specific time as determined by the server 130 or the user who will receive the notification.

[0086] Assume that the first notification is reserved for the user but has not yet been sent. During this period of time, additional notification events can be detected (in Figure 4 408 in block 406). For example, the first scanner may continuously scan for and detect a must-notify event. The must-notify event may be related to the same series for which a notification has already been generated for the user (in block 406) or to another series. In an embodiment, if the must-notify event is for the same series, the notification may be updated in block 406 to reflect the new must-notify event. For example, the notification may state: "Julie liked Series X and Series X is Trending-1 Billion Hits!". The reference to the video will remain unchanged in the updated notification. In an embodiment, if the must-notify event is for a different series, a separate notification may be generated or the first notification (not yet sent) may be updated to include both the must-notify event and two references to the portion of the video that has not been previously viewed by the user.

[0087] Figure 5 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method 500 for detecting a notifiable event related to a video series according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 500 may be implemented by hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructions operating on a processing device to perform hardware emulation), or a combination thereof.

[0088] In some embodiments, method 500 may be performed by Figure 1 The server 130 (e.g., a processing device executing the notification component 131) is shown to execute. In an embodiment, Figure 4 In response to the detection of a notification event, block 402 includes one or more operations of the method 500 described herein.

[0089] As shown, when a processing device receives information about actions related to various videos from multiple client devices, method 500 begins at block 502. For example, a user may perform an activity representing a social event, a creator event, a user event, a video list event, or other event. In an embodiment, a user may approve a video in a series.

[0090] In block 504, the processing device may add a new event to a list of events to be notified based on the received information. In an embodiment, the list may be a user event log. For example, the list may be organized by series. For series X, all actions related to episodes in series X (received in block 502) may be organized separately from other series.

[0091] In block 506, the processing device may identify a notifiable event related to at least one video in the series in the list. For example, the notifiable event may be an approval of episode 7 of series X by a specific user.

[0092] In block 508, the processing device may store the notifiable event in the data store 106 or another storage device. For example, an approval by a particular user of episode 7 of series X is stored as a notifiable event for series X.

[0093] In an embodiment, the processing device continuously searches for actions that may be considered as notifiable events associated with the plurality of videos. A user performing the action may or may not be aware that the action is considered as a notifiable event.

[0094] In an embodiment, as mentioned above with reference to Figure 4 As described, a first scanner scans multiple user intimacy score logs to identify users with high intimacy scores for videos of various series. A second scanner may scan multiple user event logs for events that need to be notified. When an event that needs to be notified is identified, the second scanner may determine whether the video associated with the event is part of an episode or is related to a series. When an event that needs to be notified related to a series is detected, the second scanner notifies the server 130 to merge the event that needs to be notified related to the series with a subset of multiple users with high intimacy scores (as determined by the first scanner) for the series. In another embodiment, on the contrary, the first scanner may notify the server 130 to perform a merge based on a high intimacy score. In an embodiment, in order to determine which scan to perform first (e.g., a user intimacy score log scan or a user event log scan), a cost analysis may be performed. Based on the cost analysis, a less expensive scan is performed first. For example, if the user intimacy score log is significantly longer than the user event log, the user event log may be performed first. In another embodiment, another analysis may determine which scan to perform first.

[0095] After the merge is performed, the series and the corresponding notifiable events are provided to the notification component 131 of the server 130, and appropriate notifications can be generated and sent to the user (eg, Figure 4 As described). In an embodiment, before sending a notification, the server 130 (and / or the notification component 131, or another component) determines whether the notification satisfies the anti-spam constraint. In other words, notifications that are relevant to the user and are not considered spam are routed to the user. Therefore, when it is determined that the notification satisfies the spam filtering condition, the notification is sent to the user's client device. For example, the user may wish to receive notifications only for series that the user has consumed some videos or parts of some videos in the past year. The spam filtering condition can be set to provide a notification only when the notification indicates a series consumed in the past year (e.g., by the server 130 in response to user input). If a notification is generated for a series that has not been consumed by the user in the past year, the notification does not meet the spam filtering condition and is therefore not sent to the user. In another embodiment, the spam filtering condition can indicate the maximum frequency of notifications per period. For example, if the maximum frequency of notifications is set to once a week (e.g., by the server 130 in response to user input or by default), any additional notifications other than one week will not pass the spam filtering condition and will be blocked. In another embodiment, in addition to blocking additional notifications, unsent notifications are saved in a queue and provided to the user device after the end of the week.

[0096] In an embodiment, the reference in the notification is related to at least one existing video in the series, and the notification is generated before the new video is added to the series. That is, if the series currently has 10 episodes and the user last watched episode 6, a notification referencing episode 7 may be generated and provided to the user before episode 11 is added to the series.

[0097] In an embodiment, the server 130 or another entity scans the event to be notified. In an embodiment, the second scanner can be an iterator for all logs (such as Figure 5 ) to find the MapReduce continuous scanner for the event to be notified.

[0098] Figure 6 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method 600 for generating customized notifications based on social events according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 600 may be performed by processing logic including hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructions operating on a processing device to perform hardware emulation), or a combination thereof.

[0099] In one embodiment, method 600 may be performed by Figure 1 The server 130 (eg, a processing device executing the notification component 131) is shown to execute.

[0100] As shown, when the processing device receives an action of the first user, method 600 begins at block 602, wherein the action is related to at least one video. In an embodiment, the action can be a social action, such as approving a video, sharing a video, a video content management action, marking a video as a favorite, or other types of aggregated actions.

[0101] In decision block 604, the processing device determines whether the at least one video is related to the series. In response to determining that the at least one video is not related to the series, the method 600 ends. For example, if an approval is received for a video that is not part of the series, the method ends.

[0102] In response to determining that the at least one video is related to a series, the processing device identifies one or more users who have not completed viewing the at least one video in the series in block 606. For example, if the video is episode 7 of series X, one or more users who have not completed viewing the at least one video in the series are identified.

[0103] In decision block 608, the processing device determines whether the identified one or more users are related to the first user who initiated the action in block 602. For example, the processing device determines whether there is a relationship between the first user and one or more second users. For example, the first user may be a friend of one or more second users, the first user may have listed one or more second users in an address book, etc. There may be some relationship between the first user and one or more second users. The relationship may be determined by the third-party social networking platform 150 and may be communicated to Figure 1 The server 130 in.

[0104] In response to determining that the identified one or more second users are not related to the first user, method 600 returns to block 606. In block 606, the processing device identifies one or more new users who have not yet completed viewing at least one video in the series. The processing device may perform a scan to identify one or more new users who have not yet completed viewing at least one video in the series. In block 608, if a new user that has not been previously identified is identified, the processing device determines whether the identified new user is related to the first user. If the processing device determines in block 608 that the new user is not related to the first user, the method repeats.

[0105] In response to determining in decision block 608 that the identified one or more users are related to the first user, in block 610, the processing device selects one or more users having the highest intimacy scores from the one or more users related to the first user. For example, if the first user is a friend of one or more users on an app managed by the third-party social networking platform 150, then the one or more users are related to the first user.

[0106] In block 612, the processing device may generate a respective customized notification for each of the one or more users having the highest intimacy score indicating an action performed by the first user with respect to at least one video in the series. Each of the respective customized notifications includes a respective reference to at least a portion of the video included in the series and an invitation to consume at least the portion of the video. At least the portion of the video has not been previously viewed by the respective user of the one or more users. The notification received by the one or more users may be presented to the user in the form of a user interface, such as Figure 3A and Figure 3B Because multiple users may have finished watching the series at different points within the series, notifications generated for multiple users may have references to different episodes / episode portions.

[0107] Figure 7 The schematic diagram of the machine of the example form of computer system 700 is illustrated, and the instruction set for making the machine perform any one or more of the methods discussed herein can be executed in the computer system 700. In alternative embodiments, the machine can be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines in a LAN, an intranet, an extranet, or the Internet. The machine can operate under the ability of a server or a client machine in a client-server network environment, or operate as a peer in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine can be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a cellular phone, a web device, a server, a network router, a switch or a bridge, or any machine capable of executing an instruction set specifying the action taken by the machine. Further, although only a single machine is illustrated, the term "machine" should also be understood to include any class of machines that execute, individually or in combination, any one or more of the instruction sets (or multiple instruction sets) for executing the methods discussed herein.

[0108] The exemplary computer system 700 includes a processing device (processor) 702, a main memory 704 (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or Rambus DRAM (RDRAM)), a static memory 706 (e.g., flash memory, static random access memory (SRAM), etc.), and a data storage device 718, which communicate with each other via a bus 708.

[0109] The processing device 702 represents one or more general processing devices, such as a microprocessor, a central processing unit, etc. More specifically, the processing device 702 can be a complex instruction set computing (CISC) microprocessor, a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) microprocessor, a very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor, or a processor that implements other instruction sets or a processor that implements a combination of instruction sets. The processing device 702 can also be one or more special-purpose processing devices, such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), a network processor, etc. The processing device 702 is configured to execute instructions 726 for performing the operations and steps discussed herein.

[0110] The computer system 700 may further include a network interface device 722. The computer system 700 may also include a video display unit 710 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), a cathode ray tube (CRT), or a touch screen), an alphanumeric input device 712 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device 514 (e.g., a mouse), and a signal generating device 720 (e.g., a speaker).

[0111] The data storage device 718 may include a computer-readable storage medium 724 having stored thereon one or more instruction sets 726 (e.g., software) embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions discussed herein. The instructions 726 may also reside completely or at least partially within the main memory 704 and / or the processing device 702 during execution by the computer system 700, the main memory 704 and the processing device 702 also constituting computer-readable storage media. The instructions 722 may be further transmitted or received over the network 774 via the network interface device 722.

[0112] In one embodiment, the instructions 726 include instructions for implementing the reference Figure 1Instructions of the notification component 131 described. Although the computer-readable storage medium 724 is shown as a single medium in the exemplary embodiment, the term "computer-readable storage medium" should be understood to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and / or associated caches and servers) that store one or more instruction sets. The term "computer-readable storage medium" should also be understood to include any medium that can store, encode, or carry an instruction set that is executed by a machine and causes the machine to perform any one or more of the methods of the present disclosure. The term "computer-readable storage medium" should accordingly be understood to include, but is not limited to, solid-state memory, optical media, and magnetic media.

[0113] In the foregoing description, many details are set forth. However, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art who benefit from the present disclosure that the present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. In some cases, in order to avoid obscuring the present disclosure, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form without being shown in detail.

[0114] Some portions of the detailed description have been presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means by which those skilled in the art of data processing can most effectively communicate the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, considered to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. These steps are steps requiring physical manipulation of physical quantities. Typically, although not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals that can be stored, transmitted, combined, compared, and manipulated. Mainly for general reasons, it has often proven convenient to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, etc.

[0115] It should be remembered, however, that all of these and similar terms are associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise, as will be apparent from the following discussion, it is to be understood that terms such as "receive," "send," "determine," "identify," "present," "generate," "associate," "store," and the like are used throughout the specification discussion to refer to the actions and processes of a computer system or similar electronic computing device that manipulate or transform data represented as physical (e.g., electronic) quantities within the computing system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computing system's memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission, or display devices.

[0116] The present disclosure also relates to an apparatus for performing the operations herein. The apparatus may be specially constructed for the desired purpose, or may include a general-purpose computer that is selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, such as, but not limited to, any type of disk including a floppy disk, an optical disk, a CD-ROM, and a magneto-optical disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), an EPROM, an EEPROM, a magnetic or optical card, or any type of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions.

[0117] The words "example" or "exemplary" are used here to refer to examples, instances or explanations. Any aspect or design described as "example" or "exemplary" in this article does not necessarily need to be understood as being preferred or beneficial to other aspects or designs. Specifically, the use of the words "example" or "exemplary" is intended to give concepts in a specific way. As used in this application, the term "or" is intended to refer to inclusive "or" rather than exclusive "or". That is, unless otherwise specified, it is clear from the context that "X includes A or B" is intended to refer to any natural inclusive arrangement. That is, if X includes A, X includes B, or X includes both A and B, then "X includes A or B" is satisfied under any of the previous examples. In addition, unless otherwise specified or clearly known from the context that it refers to a singular form, the article "a / an" used in this application and the attached claims can generally be interpreted as indicating "one or more". In addition, the terms "embodiment" or "one embodiment" or "implementation" or "one implementation" throughout the context do not mean the same embodiment or implementation, unless described as such.

[0118] Throughout this specification, references to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" appearing in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Additionally, the term "or" refers to an inclusive "or" rather than an exclusive "or".

[0119] It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, not restrictive. Upon reading and understanding the above description, many other embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure should be determined with reference to the appended claims, together with the full range of equivalents to which these claims are entitled.

Claims

1. A method for generating a notification, the method comprising: Detecting, by a processing device of the server, a notifiable event related to the video series, wherein detecting the notifiable event comprises searching a log of notifiable events related to the video series; determining, by the processing device, a user who has viewed a portion of at least one video in the video series or at least one video in the video series, wherein the user is assigned an intimacy score indicating that the user is interested in continuing to view the video series; generating, by the processing device, a notification identifying the notifiable event associated with the video series, the notification including a reference to an unwatched next video in the video series; and sending the notification to the user, The events to be notified include at least one of the following: a social event, a creator event, a search event, or a video list event related to at least one video in the series.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The notifiable event includes adding metadata to a video in the video series.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The reference corresponds to a link for viewing the video included in the video series.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The video corresponds to a point in the video series that the user has not yet viewed.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The user is associated with a plurality of logs, each log being associated with an intimacy score for one or more video series viewed by the user.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The log includes a list of series and, for each series, intimacy scores for a plurality of users.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The intimacy score is based on a number of videos of the video series that the user has viewed.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising: Detecting a notifiable event associated with the video series, wherein detecting the notifiable event comprises searching a log of notifiable events associated with the video series; determining users who have viewed portions of at least one video in the video series or at least one video in the video series, wherein the users are assigned an intimacy score indicating that the users are interested in continuing to view the video series; generating a notification identifying the notifiable event associated with the video series, the notification including a reference to an unwatched next video in the video series; and sending the notification to the user, The events to be notified include at least one of the following: a social event, a creator event, a search event, or a video list event related to at least one video in the series.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein: The notifiable event includes adding metadata to a video in the video series.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein: The reference corresponds to a link for viewing the video included in the video series.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein: The video corresponds to a point in the video series that the user has not yet viewed.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein: The user is associated with a plurality of logs, each log being associated with an intimacy score for one or more video series viewed by the user.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein: The log includes a list of series and, for each series, intimacy scores for a plurality of users.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein: The intimacy score is based on a number of videos of the video series that the user has viewed.

15. A system for generating a notification, the system comprising: Memory; as well as a processing device operatively coupled to the memory, the processing device being configured to: Detecting a notifiable event associated with the video series, wherein detecting the notifiable event comprises searching a log of notifiable events associated with the video series; determining users who have viewed portions of at least one video in the video series or at least one video in the video series, wherein the users are assigned an intimacy score indicating that the users are interested in continuing to view the video series; generating a notification identifying the notifiable event associated with the video series, the notification including a reference to an unwatched next video in the video series; and sending the notification to the user, The events to be notified include at least one of the following: a social event, a creator event, a search event, or a video list event related to at least one video in the series.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein: The notifiable event includes adding metadata to a video in the video series.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein: The reference corresponds to a link for viewing the video included in the video series.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein: The video corresponds to a point in the video series that the user has not yet viewed.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein: The user is associated with a plurality of logs, each log being associated with an intimacy score for one or more video series viewed by the user.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein: The log includes a list of series and, for each series, intimacy scores for a plurality of users.

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