Patent ID: 8812360
Filing Date: 2014-08-19
Classification: G06Q,H04L,H04W

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, by a social networking computer system, a plurality of advertisement requests from one or more advertisers to advertise using a social networking system, each advertising request comprising: receiving, by the social networking computer system, a bid amount from the one or more advertisers for one or more of the advertisement requests related to an amount of compensation to the social networking system based on presentation of an advertisement; maintaining, by the social networking computer system, a profile for a plurality of users of the social networking system, each profile identifying a connection to each of a plurality of other users of the social networking system, the plurality of users comprising a viewing user; receiving, by the social networking computer system, information related to actions performed on an external system by one or more users of the social networking system; determining, by the social networking computer system, one or more candidate advertisement requests for the viewing user based on: selecting, by the social networking computer system, a candidate advertisement request for the viewing user, the candidate advertisement request including an advertiser-selected action that was determined by the social networking computer system to have been performed by another user connected to the viewing user; generating, by the social networking computer system, a social advertisement for the viewing user comprising an informational message that communicates the advertiser-selected action specified in the selected candidate advertisement request; and providing, by the social networking computer system, the generated advertisement for display to the viewing user.