Person-Entity Partnership Profiles in Social Networks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current social networking systems fail to effectively leverage connections between person and entity users, treating both types uniformly and not providing meaningful benefits or personalized identity expression.
Innovation Solution
A social networking system allows users to form partnerships between people and non-person entities, enabling customized profile presentations, exclusive content access, rewards, and preferential advertising, with bidirectional benefits and separate from other connection mechanisms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional social networking systems treat person users and entity users uniformly, then the system design is simple, but the ability to leverage connections between persons and entities meaningfully is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments users into two distinct types: person users and entity users. Each type has its own profile structure and connection mechanisms. Person users have friend connections and can partner with entities, while entity users have partner connections and can be followed by persons. This segmentation allows the system to meaningfully leverage connections between persons and entities without requiring a completely complex redesign, as each segment has optimized simple rules.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new dimension of interaction by creating bidirectional partnership connections between persons and entities, separate from the traditional friend/follow relationships. This adds a new layer of connectivity where persons can partner with entities for mutual benefit (advertising, rewards) while entities can partner with persons for promotion and feedback, without disrupting the existing person-to-person social graph.
2Ease of operation
If person users and entity users have the same profile presentation, then the system is easier to operate, but the ability to differently convey identities is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by allowing different profile presentation characteristics for different user types. Person user profiles emphasize personal attributes, photos, and friend connections, while entity user profiles highlight business information, services, and partner connections. Each user type has customized profile fields and presentation options tailored to their specific needs, enabling differentiated identity expression while maintaining ease of operation through type-specific templates.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the system provides uniform connection mechanisms for all users, then the system structure is simple, but the ability to provide meaningful benefits to different user types is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic connection mechanisms where the type and nature of connections depend on the user types involved. When a person connects to another person, it creates a friend relationship with specific benefits (mutual visibility, messaging). When a person connects to an entity, it creates a partnership relationship with different benefits (advertising exposure, rewards program access). The system dynamically adjusts the connection properties and associated benefits based on the participant types, providing meaningful differentiated benefits without requiring entirely separate systems for each user type.
4Productivity
If the system does not provide exclusive content access for partnered users, then the system is simpler to maintain, but user engagement and advertising relevance are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-configuring exclusive content and rewards for entity users that become accessible to their partnered person users. Entities can prepare branded content, promotional materials, and rewards program structures in advance. When a partnership is formed, the system automatically grants access to these pre-prepared resources, enabling immediate user engagement and advertising relevance without requiring complex real-time content management or manual content creation for each partnership.
Data Source
AI summary
A social networking system allows users that are people to partner with users that are non-person entities. A partnership allows the entity participating in the partnership to personalize an associated page with content from the person participating in the partnership and similarly allows the person to include certain content from the entity, made available because of the partnership, in the person's user profile. The entity may provide additional benefits, such as enrollment in a rewards program or access to new products, to a user participating in a partnership. The partnership is bidirectional, and is separate from other unidirectional connection mechanisms provided by the social networking system such as indications of affinity (e.g., “likes”), friendships, and subscriptions.