Event-Based Social Networking for Private User Communication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users of social networking services face challenges in maintaining privacy while seeking to connect with new acquaintances, as public profiles are vulnerable to undesirable messages, and private profiles restrict communication with potential new contacts, while user profile searches often return numerous public profiles, making it difficult to find relevant user profiles.
Innovation Solution
An event-based communication system within social networking services that allows users to create event profiles, associate user profiles with events, and send private messages to others attending the same event, thereby facilitating targeted communication while maintaining privacy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If users have public user profiles, then they can receive communication from any member of the general public, but they face increased risk of receiving mean, crude, or otherwise undesirable messages
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an event profile as an intermediary between users and the public. Instead of allowing direct communication between any users, the event profile acts as a mediator that controls and filters communication access. Users must be associated with the same event profile to communicate, which mediates the interaction and prevents random public messages while maintaining controlled accessibility.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If users have private user profiles, then they block undesirable messages, but they prevent receiving desirable communication from new acquaintances
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes user profiles dynamic by allowing users to be associated with multiple event profiles. A user's communication accessibility changes based on which events they are attending. When users share an event profile association, communication is enabled; when they don't share an event, communication is blocked. This dynamic approach allows private profiles to open selectively for legitimate networking opportunities while maintaining privacy.
3Quantity of substance
If user profile search returns a large number of public user profiles, then it provides more potential contacts, but it makes it difficult to find relevant user profiles for new acquaintances
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the large pool of user profiles by organizing them into event-specific groups. Instead of presenting all public profiles in a single search results list, profiles are divided and presented according to the events they are associated with. This segmentation allows users to see only relevant contacts within each event context, making it easier to find appropriate new acquaintances while still providing access to a large number of potential contacts across multiple events.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method, apparatus, and computer program product are disclosed for facilitating networked communication. An event creation module 202 is configured to create an event profile within a social networking service. A check in module 204 is configured to associate a plurality of user profiles of the social networking service with the event profile. A message interface module 206 is configured to provide a message interface in response to determining that a user profile of a first user of the social networking service and a user profile of a second user of the social networking service are associated with the event profile. The message interface is operable by the first user to send a private message to the second user.