Social Graph Action Integration via Structured Widgets

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Solution Overview

Problem

Social networking systems struggle to capture and integrate real-world social interactions, such as listening to music or jogging, into user experiences, as these interactions are not adequately represented in the social graph, leading to a bottleneck in sharing information and overwhelming users with irrelevant content.

Innovation Solution

A flexible mechanism is introduced to integrate user actions from external systems into the social networking system, allowing third-party developers to define graph action types and object types, which are used to structure and visualize user interactions, enabling the aggregation and ranking of content items based on reputation scores and user preferences.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If external systems manually share information to the social networking system, then information can be shared, but it creates a bottleneck in sharing music and limits users from sharing information if external systems do not enable this feature

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveAbility to share information from external systemsVSAvoidManual sharing process and system dependencies

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The external system automatically publishes user actions to the social networking system without manual intervention. The publishing module in the external system autonomously captures user actions, structures them according to predefined schemas, and transmits them to the social networking system, eliminating the need for manual sharing and reducing system dependency.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

A structured data publishing mechanism acts as an intermediary between external systems and the social networking system. This intermediary layer uses standardized schemas and protocols to automatically translate and transmit user actions from diverse external systems to the social networking system, enabling seamless information sharing without manual intervention.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Quantity of substance

If the social networking system opens up to unlimited information from external real-world interactions, then more socially relevant information can be discovered, but it may inundate users with too many content items

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveAmount of socially relevant informationVSAvoidUser overload from excessive content items

Core Design Contradiction:

Quantity of substanceVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system applies different processing and filtering qualities to different types of content items based on their source, structure, and relevance. Structured user actions from external systems receive priority processing and are filtered differently from unstructured content, allowing the system to manage information quality and quantity effectively without overwhelming users.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The system selectively publishes and processes a subset of user actions rather than all possible information from external systems. By using predefined schemas and filters, the system captures only the most relevant structured actions while excluding redundant or low-value content, preventing user overload while maintaining rich social information.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

3Adaptability or versatility

If real-world social interactions are not represented by nodes in the social graph, then the system maintains a manageable structure, but other nodes cannot interact with them and the system cannot discover edges between nodes

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveAbility to represent real-world interactionsVSAvoidSocial graph structure complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The social graph structure is designed to universally accommodate both traditional social networking objects and real-world interaction objects through a unified node representation. The graph definition module enables the same graph structure to represent users, content items, and external system actions consistently, allowing edges to be discovered and formed across all node types without increasing structural complexity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentUS9032290B2Tool for creating structured objects and actions on a social networking system

Publication Date: 2015.05.12 META PLATFORMS INC

AI summary

A social networking system includes a mechanism for integrating user actions on objects outside of the social networking system in the social graph. External system operators include widgets that, when executed by user devices, record user interactions that correspond to a defined structure of actions and objects. Third party operators utilize a tool provided by the social networking system to define the structure of actions and objects. External actions are recorded by the social networking system for publishing to the social graph.