Social Circles for Targeted Content Distribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional social networking services lack the ability to effectively manage and control the visibility of digital content among different groups of contacts, leading to irrelevant or embarrassing posts being seen by unintended recipients, which can result in user self-censorship or restricted contact lists, limiting the full utilization of social networking features.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of social circles within a computer-implemented social networking service allows users to categorize and control the distribution of digital content by creating and managing groups of contacts, enabling targeted posting and visibility control, with features such as personal, shared private, and shared public circles, along with automatic generation and invitation mechanisms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If users post digital content to their social network, then content visibility and engagement increase, but unintended recipients may see irrelevant or embarrassing posts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the user's contact list into multiple social circles (e.g., family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances) with different visibility levels. When posting content, users can select which social circles should receive the content, thereby preventing unintended recipients from seeing irrelevant or embarrassing posts while maintaining efficient content distribution to the intended audience.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If users restrict their contact list to avoid unwanted visibility, then content exposure control improves, but the size and diversity of social network decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different visibility characteristics to different segments of the contact list. Each social circle can have customized visibility settings, allowing users to maintain a large and diverse contact list while controlling content exposure on a per-circle basis. For example, family members see personal posts, colleagues see professional updates, and acquaintances see public content only.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If users self-censor their posts to avoid unintended exposure, then content appropriateness improves, but user engagement and authenticity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-configuring social circles and their visibility settings before users need to post content. Users can organize their contacts into social circles with appropriate visibility levels in advance, so when they want to post content, they simply select which circles should receive it without having to self-censor. This maintains user engagement and authenticity while preventing inappropriate content sharing.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for transmitting contact data for displaying graphical representations of contacts for display to a user, the contacts being contacts of the user within a computer-implemented social networking service, generating a first social circle of the user, the first social circle comprising a first subset of contacts of the user within the social networking service and defining a first distribution for digital content, generating a second social circle of the user, the second social circle comprising a second subset of contacts of the user within the social networking service and defining a second distribution for digital content, and, in response to user input, providing the first social circle and the second social circle for selection by the user to define a distribution of digital content, the distribution comprising at least one of the first distribution and the second distribution.