Auto-Populating Addressees via Social Graphs
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Content originators face challenges in effectively distributing content to target users without personal or professional connections, often resulting in ignored advertisements due to lack of relevance and perceived spamming.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for automatically populating the addressee field of messages with strategically selected first-degree connections based on content and sender characteristics, using value-function, community propagation, and inverted Steiner tree schemes to ensure targeted and non-spammy content delivery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If content is distributed through traditional publishing channels to reach target users, then content distribution reach is improved, but user engagement decreases due to perceived spam and lack of personal connection
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces social connection data as an intermediary mechanism to bridge content originators and target users. By automatically populating addressee fields with users who have personal or professional connections to the sender, the system mediates between broad distribution needs and personalized engagement requirements, eliminating the need for traditional publishing channels while maintaining both reach and engagement.
2Productivity
If content is sent blindly by the service without personal connections, then distribution efficiency is improved, but content receptivity deteriorates as users perceive it as spam
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-populating message addressee fields with socially connected users before the sender composes the message. This advance preparation of recipient lists based on connection data enables senders to efficiently distribute content to relevant audiences without manual effort, while simultaneously ensuring high receptivity since recipients already have personal or professional connections to the sender.
3Quantity of substance
If content originators pay publishers to place content before target users, then content visibility is improved, but cost increases and user trust decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables content originators to self-serve their distribution needs by automatically leveraging existing social connection graphs within the online service. Instead of paying external publishers, users can independently distribute content to their connected networks through the auto-populate feature, eliminating intermediary costs while maintaining visibility through trusted personal connections.
Data Source
AI summary
A system, method, and apparatus are provided for distributing a content item toward target recipients solely via first degree connections (e.g., in a professional network, in a social network). For a selected content item and identified target recipients of the item, when a user initiates a message to forward or otherwise convey the content item, one or more schemes are applied to select and automatically populate the message with suitable addressees. In one scheme, values are computed for each neighbor of the sender, to indicate the value of delivering the item to that neighbor; the message is automatically addressed to the highest-value neighbors. In another scheme, user communities that encompass the target recipients are identified and the message is automatically addressed to neighbors that are best able to disseminate the item throughout a community. In another scheme a minimal set of neighbors having connections to all target recipients is identified.