Online Conversation Visibility Control via Subject Tagging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Social networks face challenges in managing online conversation visibility, leading to attention management issues and productivity losses due to the difficulty in determining the correct scope or context of online conversations, often resulting in unintended exposure of information to inappropriate groups of users.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that present a user interface for users to specify tags defining relationships between them, determine initial participants for an online conversation, identify a subject based on these tags, and manage the visibility of the conversation for new participants by restricting access to the correct users, allowing multiple overlapping or exclusive groups to be defined naturally without coordination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If online conversation visibility is made open and accessible to all users, then user engagement and information sharing increase, but information exposure to inappropriate groups occurs and attention management deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments online conversations into different visibility groups based on subject matter. Each conversation is tagged with subjects that determine which user groups can access it, creating segmented access control rather than universal visibility. This resolves the contradiction by allowing information sharing within appropriate segments while preventing unintended exposure to inappropriate groups.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces subject tags as an intermediary mechanism between the conversation content and user access. These tags act as mediators that automatically determine visibility based on the conversation subject and user profile matching, eliminating the need for manual visibility management while preventing inappropriate exposure.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If manual visibility management for each conversation is implemented, then information exposure control improves, but system complexity and user burden increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service visibility management where the system automatically determines conversation visibility based on subject tags and user profiles. Users simply tag conversations with subjects, and the system autonomously manages visibility without requiring users to manually control access for each conversation, reducing both user burden and system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the visibility control parameter from manual user settings to automated subject-based tagging. By shifting the control mechanism from explicit visibility settings to implicit subject tags, the system achieves effective information exposure control without increasing operational complexity.
3Productivity
If conversation visibility is restricted to specific user groups, then attention management and productivity improve, but information sharing and user engagement are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal subject-tagging system that can adapt to different conversation types and user groups. The same subject-based mechanism works across all conversations, providing both restricted access where needed and broad sharing where appropriate, thus achieving both attention management and versatile information sharing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic visibility adjustment where conversation accessibility changes based on subject tags and participating users. As users join conversations with different subject interests, visibility dynamically adapts to include or exclude appropriate groups, maintaining both focused attention management and flexible information sharing.
Data Source
AI summary
Determining a visibility of an online conversation for a new participant includes presenting a user interface (UI) to a group of users to allow each of the users in the group of users to specify tags, the tags defining relationships between each of the users, determining initial participants from the group of users for an online conversation on a social network, identifying, based on the tags, a subject for the online conversation with respect to each of the initial participants of the online conversation, and determining, based on the subject, a visibility of the online conversation for a new participant from the group of users.