Social Network Referral System for Provider Matching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional social networking systems and search engines fail to effectively provide users with tailored referrals for goods and services, often resulting in users expending significant time and effort to research multiple providers, with many smaller or lesser-known providers being overlooked.
Innovation Solution
A provider referral system that analyzes user messages to identify requests for referrals, determines recommended providers based on user preferences and feedback, and facilitates communication between users and providers, offering tailored referrals and streamlined information gathering.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If users post requests for information in social networking systems, then they can solicit advice from friends and community members, but responses are limited to only those who happen to see the post and fail to provide comprehensive information
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a referral management system that acts as an intermediary between users seeking referrals and the social networking system. This system automatically parses referral requests, identifies relevant providers, and distributes requests to appropriate users, thereby overcoming the limitation of relying solely on organic posts and responses.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical process of posting referrals and individually responding with an automated computer-implemented system. The system automatically parses requests, identifies providers, matches them with relevant users, and manages the referral process, eliminating the need for manual intervention and significantly increasing efficiency.
2Quantity of substance
If users utilize search engines to identify providers, then they can receive listings of many businesses, but smaller or lesser-known providers are often overlooked and the best providers for a particular user are not identified
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by tailoring referral results to each user's specific needs, preferences, and context. Instead of providing generic listings, the system analyzes user profiles, past behavior, and specific request characteristics to provide customized referrals that are locally optimized for each user situation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameters used for provider selection from generic search criteria to user-specific parameters including preferences, past behavior, contextual information, and relevance scores. This transformation allows the system to identify the most suitable providers for each user rather than merely listing popular or well-known businesses.
3Loss of information
If users contact multiple providers individually to gather information, then they can obtain detailed information from each provider, but the process becomes time consuming and burdensome
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple individual provider contact processes into a single automated referral request. The system consolidates information gathering from multiple providers into one unified process, automatically collecting and presenting information from multiple sources simultaneously, thereby reducing the time and effort users would otherwise spend contacting each provider individually.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-identifying and pre-contacting relevant providers before the user needs the information. The system proactively gathers information from potential providers, evaluates their suitability, and prepares referral recommendations in advance, eliminating the need for users to perform time-consuming individual research and contact sequences.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure is directed towards systems and method for providing referrals for providers of various products to users of a social networking system. In particular, the systems and methods described herein involve receiving a message from a user of a social networking system intended for a plurality of recipients and determining that the message includes a request for a referral of a product of a product. In addition, the systems and methods include providing one or more referred providers to the user and enabling the user to select an option that facilitates communication between the user and one or more of the referred providers.