One-way public relationships

Techniques are described to establish one-way public relationships. In an implementation, a control is exposed that is operable to become a fan of an object within a social networking page. Responsive to operation of the control, data may be stored to establish a one-way public relationship between a user and the selected object. By establishing a one-way public relationship rather than a mutual friend relationship, the object and/or a corresponding owner of the object is not included in the user's social network and is not provided access to the user's profile, status, or other personal information. The one-way public relationship may be employed by a service provider to serve content related to the object to the user. The one-way public relationships may also be employed by the service provider to push status updates regarding the object to “fans” of the object.

BACKGROUND

The popularity of social networking via online networking sites is ever increasing. One way that people use social networking sites is to share information such as recommendations, pictures, videos, notes, discussions, and so forth on profile pages.

Sometimes, a user may come across an object (person, group, or thing) on a social networking page that they like and would like to express interest in. Using a traditional approach, the user may establish a mutual friend relationship with the object to add the object to the user's social network and then provide input to become a fan of the object. By establishing the mutual friend relationship with the object, the user enables reciprocal access to the user's social network information, such as posted pictures and profile information. This may be alright with the user if the owner of the object is a close friend of the user's. However, in some instances the user may just want to be a fan of a public object (e.g., a rock band, author, book, business) without becoming friends with the object or a corresponding owner. As such, privacy concerns with the traditional approach may inhibit users from becoming fans of public objects.

SUMMARY

Techniques are described to establish one-way public relationships for social networking. In an implementation, a control is exposed that is operable to become a fan of an object within a social networking page. Responsive to operation of the control by a user, data may be stored to establish a one-way public relationship between the user and the selected object. By establishing a one-way public relationship rather than a mutual friend relationship, the object and/or a corresponding owner of the object is not included in the user's social network and is not provided access to the user's profile, status, or other personal information. The one-way public relationship may be employed by a service provider to serve content and/or ads related to the object to the user. The one-way public relationships may also be employed by the service provider to push status updates regarding the object to “fans” of the object without establishing mutual friend relationships between the fans and the object.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Overview

A user may come across an object (person, group, or thing) on a social networking page that they like and would like to express interest in. To do so using a traditional approach, the user may establish a mutual friend relationship with the object that adds the object to the user's social network. Since a mutual friend relationship with the object enables access to the user's private social network information, some users may be reluctant to establish mutual friend relationships with public entities such as bands, businesses, and social organizations.

Techniques are described to establish one-way public relationship in a social networking environment. In an implementation, a control is exposed within a social networking page that is operable to become a fan of an object. Responsive to operation of the control by a user, data may be stored to establish a one-way public relationship between the user and the selected object. By establishing a one-way public relationship instead of a mutual friend relationship, the object and/or a corresponding owner of the object are not included in the user's social network and are not provided access to the user's profile, status, or other personal information. The user is able, however, to obtain content and/or status updates related to the object based on the one-way public relationship.

For example, Steve may have a social networking account through a service provider that enables Steve to interact with a group of friends. This may include sharing favorite objects one to another, such as music groups, movies, and books. To select favorite objects, Steve may navigate to various webpages provided by the service provider and make selections of the objects. A user who has selected a favorite object may be referred to herein as a “fan” of the object.

For example, Steve may notice that some of his friends have become fans of the band “U2”. Steve then navigates to a profile page for the band “U2” using the social networking account. The profile page for “U2” exposes a portion that is selectable by Steve to add “U2” to his favorite objects. For example, a control, such as an “Add” button, may be exposed that is selectable to enable Steve to become a fan of “U2” (e.g., add “U2” as a favorite object). Steve may decide that he wants to add the band “U2” as one of his favorite bands.

When Steve clicks on the “Add” button, a relation module operates to establish a social networking relationship between Steve and “U2”. In at least some embodiments, the control is operable by a single-click to establish a one-way public relationship between Steve and “U2”. For instance, a one-way public relationship may be established using accounts with the service provider corresponding to Steve and/or “U2”. Based on this relationship, Steve may be able to post on “U2's” profile page, and obtain content and/or status updates related to “U2” based on the one-way public relationship. The one-way public relationship may also be employed by the service provider to serve content and/or ads related to “U2” to Steve's account across various services. The one-way public relationship may further be employed by the service provider to push status updates for “U2” to Steve's account. A mutual friend relationship is not established between Steve and “U2” in this instance. Accordingly, “U2” is not provided reciprocal access to Steve's social network and related information and is not added to Steve's contacts.

In the discussion that follows, a section entitled “Example Environment” describes an example environment and devices, which may be employed to provide one-way public relationships in various embodiments. Following this, a section entitled “One-Way Public Relationship Examples” describes example techniques and user interfaces related to one-way public relationships in accordance with one or more embodiments. Last, a section entitled “Example Devices” is provided and describes example devices that can be used to implement one or more embodiments.

Example Environment

FIG. 1is an illustration of an example environment100that is operable to provide one-way public relationships. The illustrated environment includes one or more service providers102, one or more clients104, and one or more content providers106that are communicatively coupled, one to another, over a network108. Although the network108is illustrated as the Internet, the network may assume a wide variety of configurations. For example, the network108may include a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless network, a public telephone network, an intranet, and so on. Further, although a single network108is shown, the network108may be configured to include multiple networks.

For the purposes of the following discussion, a referenced component, such as service provider102, may refer to one or more entities, and therefore by convention reference may be made to a single entity (e.g., the service provider102) or multiple entities (e.g., the service providers102, the plurality of service providers102, and so on) using the same reference number.

The service provider102may have one or more processors110and memory112. Service provider102is depicted as storing a service manager module114in the memory112that is executable via the one or more processors110. Service manager module114represents functionality operable by service provider102to manage various services116that may be made available over the network108. For example, various services116may be provided via webpages118, or other user interfaces, that are communicated over the network for output by the one or more clients104. Service manager module114may manage access to the services116, performance of the services116, configuration of the webpages118to provide the services116, and so on.

Some examples of services116include, but are not limited to, a search service, an e-mail service to send and receive e-mail, instant messaging service to provide instant messages between clients104, and a social network service to facilitate connections and interactions between groups of users who share common interests and activities. The social network service may assist users in connecting to a group, provide a variety ways for users to interact (e.g., group e-mail, website, blog, messaging) and provide recommendations to the groups based on shared interests and activities. In at least some embodiments, social network service may also be configured for selection of favorite objects in accordance with techniques described herein. At least some objects may be selected and associated with users using one-way public relationships. Service provider102may leverage the one-way public relationships to serve content, updates, ads and so forth related to an object to fans of object across the various services116. Additional examples of services116include a shopping service, a weblog service, productivity service, authentication service, a news service, and an advertisement service to name a few.

The authentication service may be provided by the service manager module114to authenticate clients to access various services116that may be provided by one or more of the service providers102. For example, a client104may provide a username and password that is authenticated by the authentication service. When the authentication is successful, the authentication service may pass a token to enable access to corresponding services116. Authentication of the client104to an account may provide access to a single corresponding service provider102and/or service116. Additionally or alternatively, a single authentication (e.g., a single sign-on) may correspond to many services116, such that authentication to a single account provides access to many service providers102and/or to an entire suite of services116.

Service manager module114may also manage an accounts database120that may be configured to store a variety of data related to user accounts with the one or more service providers102. By way of example and not limitation, accounts database120is depicted as storing account identifiers122that may be used for authentication and access control (e.g., unique account IDs, usernames, passwords, and so on), relation data124that may define favorite objects, friends, and relationships associated with user accounts, and profile data126that may describe user settings, preferences, and personal pages accessible through a social networking service and/or other services116. A variety of other data128is also contemplated, including service authorizations, user preferences, program files such as documents and spreadsheets maintained online, and other data typically associated with user accounts.

Service provider102is also depicted as storing a relation module130in memory112that is executable via the one or more processors110to implement aspects of techniques for one-way public relationships described herein. In an embodiment, functionality represented by the relation module130may be implemented as an application programming interface (API) that may be made accessible to the clients104over the network108.

The one or more clients104are depicted as having one or more processors132and memory134. Memory134is depicted as storing another relation module130that may be deployed to the client104and is executable via the one or more processors132to implement “client-side” aspects of one-way public relationships herein. In an embodiment, functionality represented by the relation module130may be implemented as a script that is included with a webpage118provided by the service provider102.

To enable various communications over the network108, the one or more clients104may also include a communication module136. Communication module136is depicted as being stored in memory134and is also executable via the processor132to provide various interactions with service providers102and/or services116. Examples of such interactions include, but are not limited to, communicating one to another, navigating content, searching webpages, accessing services116, interacting with a social networking site, performing searches, instant messaging, e-mail, and so forth. Communication module136may be implemented as a browser or other suitable application to obtain and output webpages118from the service provider102over the network108. Communication module136may also represent a component of another application used to obtain one or more services116from the service providers102. For example, communication module136may be configured as a component of a desktop social networking application of a client104.

As noted above, content, updates, and/or ads may be served to clients104based at least in part upon one-way public relationships established between the client's and objects. Content may be from the service provider102and/or from third party sources, such as the one or more content providers106depicted in the environment100. The one or more content providers106are depicted as having one or more processors138and memory140. Memory140may store a variety of content142that may be selectively provided to the client104based upon relationships to favorite objects. Examples of content142include but are not limited to album audio/video clips, webpages, artwork, band images, book images, artist/author pictures, descriptions, content metadata (e.g., dates, filenames, chapters, titles, author, notes, publisher, source), fans data and demographics, and so forth. Memory104is further illustrated as storing advertisements144, which may also be selectively provided to the client104based upon relationships to favorite objects. Various advertisements are contemplated including banner ads, audio/video ads, pop-up ads, and so forth. The content142and advertisements144may be provided in conjunction with a plurality of services102provided to a user by the service provider102.

Having considered devices and components of an example environment, consider now example techniques and user interfaces for one-way public relationships that may be implemented in the environment using the example components, as well as in other environments.

One-Way Public Relationship Examples

The following discussion describes example techniques and user interfaces for one-way public relationships that may be implemented utilizing the previously described systems and devices. Aspects of the procedures described below may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. The procedures are shown as a set of blocks that specify operations performed by one or more devices and are not necessarily limited to the orders shown for performing the operations by the respective blocks. In portions of the following discussion, reference may be made to the example environment100ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 2depicts a procedure200in an example implementation in which a service provider enables creation of one-way public relationships with objects in a social network. In at least some embodiments, procedure200may be performed by a suitably configured service provider, such as service provider102ofFIG. 1having a relation module130. In the discussion ofFIG. 2that follows, reference may be made to the example webpage depicted inFIG. 3.

A webpage is presented to a client that includes an object of a social networking service (block202). For example, a user such as Steve in the example above may interact with a communication module136of a client104to obtain webpages118from a service provider102. Steve may utilize an account with the service provider102to access webpages118corresponding to various services116. In at least some embodiments, the webpages118may be exposed in the course of Steve's interaction with a social networking service available from the service provider102. Service provider102may execute a service manager module114and/or a relation module130to provide the interaction with the social networking service, as well as other services116.

The social networking service may enable interaction with various objects. The objects may be associated with other users, groups, profile pages, user accounts, things (images, art, songs, books, posts, products) and so forth. Generally, an object has an owner (e.g., a book has an author, albums have a band, and so on) and may be associated with an account of the owner with the service provider102. The objects may be accessible though social networking pages of the corresponding owners and/or through various other webpages118output by the service provider102in the course of providing services116to clients104. For example, Steve may navigate to a profile page corresponding to the band “Foo Fighters” that has various objects including objects for the band, albums of the band, songs of the band, album art work, and postings of the band, to name a few.

Referring now toFIG. 3, an implementation300is illustrated showing an example webpage118that is operable to enable one-way public relationships. The webpage118in this instance is illustrated as incorporated within a user interface302that may be provided by the communication module136. For example, the communication module136may be configured as a browser operable to expose the user interface302to enable interaction with one or more service providers102and corresponding services116. To provide the interaction with services116, the user interface302includes a menu bar304, an address bar306, and a navigation portion308. The menu bar304is a portion of the user interface302that includes drop-down menus of commands, examples of which are illustrated as “file,” “edit,” “favorites,” “tools,” and “help.” The address bar306is configured to receive inputs to navigate to particular network addresses and/or display current network addresses, from which, the client104has received content that is being displayed. The navigation portion308may be operable to navigate to interact with a service provider102in various ways including selecting various services116, performing for webpages118, obtaining different webpages118corresponding to a social networking service, and so forth.

In the example ofFIG. 3, the webpage118within the user interface302is configured as profile page for the band “Foo Fighters” that may be exposed to Steve via social networking service, music service, or other services116from the service provider102. Although depicted as being part of the user interface302of a browser, a user interface comparable to the webpage118may also be provided by standalone applications of the client104, such as a desktop social networking application. In each case, the webpage118may make use of a relation module130configured to enable one-way public relationships discussed herein.

A control is exposed that is operable to establish a one-way public relationship with the object (block204). For instance, through interaction with various webpages118, Steve may make selections to become a fan of objects in a social networking environment. Various controls selectable to cause a one-way relationship to be established with corresponding objects may be exposed within webpages118in conjunction with the objects. The controls may be configured in a variety of ways. By way of example and not limitation, a control may be configured as a button, selectable text, an icon, a menu item, or another suitable control exposed via the webpage118.

In particular, the example webpage118inFIG. 3is depicted as having an add control310that appears in the profile page for “Foo Fighters”. The text “Become a Fan” appears by the add control310. Steve may select the add control310to initiate creation of a fan relationship with the “Foo Fighters”. Additionally or alternatively, the text “Become a Fan” may be selectable to create the fan relationship. In accordance with techniques described herein, the add control310and/other suitable controls may be configured to establish a one-way public relationship with a corresponding object.

Note that a fans list312of the webpage118is also illustrated that presents Steve with a list of friends in his social network that are fans of the “Foo Fighters”. The fans list312may be configured based upon friends associated with Steve and the one-way public relationships established between those friends and the “Foo Fighters”. The fans list312informs Steve about some of his friend's favorites and may assist Steve in deciding whether to become a fan himself.

In addition, the webpage118may include various other content portions related to the “Foo Fighters”. For example,FIG. 3depicts example content portions including a top songs list314, an albums list316and a “what's new” portion318configured to present postings and status updates. Note that various other selectable controls (not shown) that are configured to initiate creation of fan relationships, including one-way public relationships, may be associated with and appear with other objects. For example, selectable controls operable to establish one-way public relationships may be associated with songs in the top songs list314, albums in the albums list316, and/or with postings in the “what's new” portion318.

Responsive to operation of the control, the one-way public relationship is established between the client and the object (block206). Continuing the preceding example, Steve may decide to become a fan of “Foo Fighters”. To do so, Steve may select the add control310exposed in the example user interface118ofFIG. 3. In this example, the add control310is selectable to become a fan of the “Foo Fighters”, which may involve establishing a one-way public relationship between Steve and “Foo Fighters”. Note that selectable controls may be configured to create different types of social networking relationships including one-way public relationships and mutual friend relationships.

As noted, one-way public relationships enable a user to gain access to a social network and related information of another party without providing the other party with access to the user's own social network or adding the other party to the user's contacts. In other words, the relationship is “one-way”. Further, the other party's acknowledgement of the relationship with the particular user may not be required to establish a one-way public relationship between the user and the other party. One-way public relationships provide a mechanism for public entities such as bands, social organizations, authors, businesses, and so forth to leverage the popularity of social networks to interact with users (e.g., fans, members, customers), while overcoming privacy concerns that may keep some users from establishing mutual friend relationships with these public entities.

In contrast to the one-way public relationships, mutual friend relationships enable reciprocal sharing between parties. Both parties in a mutual friend relationship may have to agree to the relationship. Further, with mutual friend relationships, each party is given access to the other's social network and related information such as profile pages or other webpages, status updates, friends lists, favorites items, pictures, comments and so forth. Mutual friends may be added to a list of contacts that a user may have for use with one or more services116. Users may choose to create mutual friend relationships with people who they know well, such as family members, classmates, relatives, and close friends.

To create these and other social networking relationships, relation module130may operate responsive to interaction of a user with a suitably configured control. For instance, relation module130may establish social networking relationships by way of user accounts with the service provider102. The relation module130may be operable by a client104, by a service provider102, and/or in combination thereof. In particular, user selections of the controls may be detected by operation of a relation module130of service provider102and/or a client104.

When a user selection to add a favorite object is detected, relation module130may store or update relation data124associated with an account of the user to reflect a social networking relationship between the user and the object. The relation data124for an object may include at least data to identify the object and data to describe a type of relationship (e.g., one-way public, or mutual friend)

In one or more embodiments, configurable settings may be employed to determine a type of relationship to be established when a control operable to create a social networking relationship is selected. Profile data126associated with user accounts may include settings to select a default relationship type for one or more user actions. For instance, a user may configure account settings in their profile data126such that one-way relationships are established by default for objects they select as favorites. In this manner, a control can be configured to create a one-way public relationship in response to a single-click and without further action by a user. Alternatively, a user may instead choose to configure account settings to set mutual friend relationships by default.

In at least some embodiments, a user may configure account settings to present an option to select a type of relationship when a control operable to create a social networking relationship is selected. Accordingly, a dialog box, webpage or other suitable message may be presented when a control is selected that provides an option to choose a one-way public relationship or a mutual friend relationship for a corresponding object. Thus, a relationship to an object may be created in accordance with a user selection in response to an option to select a type of relationship.

In another example, a type of relationship to be established may be based upon attributes associated with a selected object. For instance, objects may include a relation-type attribute that indicates whether the object is public or private. An owner of an object may set the relation-type attribute to control the type of relationship that is created when users become fans of the object. When a user selects a control to become fan of an object, relation module130uses the attributes to determine a type of relationship to establish. In an embodiment, one-way public relationships are established for objects designated as public. For other objects, the default may be to establish a mutual friend relationship that enables reciprocal exchanges. Thus, a one-way public relationship may be selectively established based upon the attributes.

Consider again the example band profile page ofFIG. 3. Assume that Steve has configured his account with the service provider102to establish one-way public relationships by default. In this case, a selection of the example add control310may automatically establish a one-way public relationship between Steve and “Foo Fighters”. In particular, when Steve selects the example add control310ofFIG. 3, an entry for “Foo Fighters” may be created in relation data124corresponding to an account of Steve's with the service provider102. The relation data124that is created includes data to define the relationship as a one-way public relationship.

When one-way public relationships to objects are established, services are provided to the client using the one-way public relationships (block208). For example, a service provider102and/or content provider106may make use of one-way public relationships in various ways to provide related services to clients104. By way of example and not limitation, this may include serving content to the clients based on the one-way public relationship (block210) and/or providing status updates regarding the object to client (block212).

For instance, Steve may be able to post on a “Foo Fighters” social network page and obtain content and/or status updates related to “Foo Fighters” based on the one-way public relationship established in the preceding example. Further, the one-way public relationship may be employed by the service provider102to serve content and/or ads related to the “Foo Fighters” to Steve's account across various services116. The one-way public relationships may also be employed by the service provider102to push status updates for “Foo Fighters” to Steve's account.

By way of example, Steve may interact with a communication module136of a client104to obtain a webpage118that corresponds to his own profile page. Status updates regarding “Foo Fighters” may appear within Steve's profile page. A favorite item list may also appear that indicates that Steve is a fan of the “Foo Fighters”. In addition, service provider102may configure the profile page to include an advertisement in the profile that relates to “Foo Fighters”, such as an advertisement for an upcoming concert, a similar band, a music retailer, or another suitable advertisement.

Note once again that a mutual friend relationship is not established between Steve and “Foo Fighters.” Accordingly, “Foo Fighters” is not provided reciprocal access to Steve's social network and related information. Further examples related to using one-way public relationships to provide content, ads, and/or status updates across various services116may be found in relation to the following figures.

FIG. 4depicts a procedure400in an example implementation in which one-way public relationships are employed to configure webpages output for interaction with one or more services. In at least some embodiments, procedure400may be performed by a suitably configured service provider, such as service provider102ofFIG. 1having a relation module130. In the discussion ofFIG. 4that follows, reference may be made to the example webpages depicted inFIG. 5andFIG. 6.

A client is authenticated to interact with services from a service provider over a network (block402). For example, the user Steve in the foregoing discussion may have a user account through a service provider102that enables Steve to interact with a plurality of services116from the service provider102. Steve may execute a communication module136of a client104(e.g., a browser) to access his account and corresponding services116. As noted above, an authentication service of the service provider102may operate to authenticate users to access services116. This may involve requesting credentials (user name and password) from the client104when Steve attempts access to his account. Upon successful authentication (e.g., verification of the credentials), the client104is permitted to access Steve's account and corresponding services116. In at least some embodiments, authentication to a single account provides access to many service providers102and/or to an entire suite of services116.

One or more one-way public relationships are ascertained between the client and objects of a social networking service (block404). For instance, relation module130of service provider may operate to examine relation data124associated with an authenticated account to ascertain one-way public relationships corresponding to the account. The one-way public relationships may be established with objects in various ways, such as the examples discussed with respect to procedure200ofFIG. 2.

Consider the foregoing example of a one-way public relationship established by Steve with the band “Foo Fighters.” Relation module130identifies this relationship based upon relation data124stored in the account database120for Steve's account. One or more service providers102makes use of the ascertained one-way public relationships to provide related content, ads, and/or updates in conjunction with a plurality of services116.

In particular, webpages for interaction of the client with the services are configured based upon the ascertained one-way public relationships (block406). The webpages are communicated to the client to enable the interaction (block408). For example, a service provider102, by way of service manager module114, may configure webpages118for communication to a client104over a network108. At least some of the webpages118are configured based upon a one-way public relationship, such as the relationship that is ascertained between Steve and “Foo Fighters” in the preceding example. The webpages that are configured based on the one-way public relationship may include pages output for interaction with a social networking service, such as Steve's profile page and/or “Foo Fighters” profile page. Some example webpages corresponding to a social networking service are depicted inFIG. 5andFIG. 6, and discussed just below.

FIG. 5depicts an implementation500showing an example webpage118that is configured based upon one-way public relationships. The webpage118in this instance is illustrated as incorporated within a user interface502that may be provided by the communication module136. For example, the communication module136may be configured as a browser operable to expose the user interface502to enable interaction with one or more service providers102and corresponding services116.

In the example ofFIG. 5, the webpage118within the user interface502is configured as a profile page corresponding to the user Steve from the preceding examples. A comparable page may also be configured as other webpages, such as being a homepage of Steve's with a service provider102, a favorites page configured to present updates for items that Steve has selected as favorites, a social network homepage, or other suitable webpage provided via social networking service or other services116. The example webpage118includes a variety of portions that are configured based upon a one-way public relationship between Steve and “Foo Fighters.” For example, a status update504appears in a “what's new” section of the example webpage118. The status update504may be input by “Foo Fighters” on their own profile page. Service provider102may make use of relation data124to configure the webpage118to include the status update504. Note that a comparable status update may appear on “Foo Fighters” profile page.

The “what's new” section of the example webpage118also includes a fan entry506that indicates that Steve has become a fan of “Foo Fighters”. A corresponding fan entry506may also appear in home pages, profile pages, and/or other pages configured for Steve's mutual friends. Since the relationship to “Foo Fighters” is one-way, however, a comparable fan entry indicating that Steve has become a fan may not appear on “Foo Fighters” profile page. In other words, status updates regarding Steve may not be pushed to “Foo Fighters” or to other one-way relationships established by Steve. Status updates, such as the example fan entry506, may appear in various webpages corresponding to Steve presented in the course of user interaction with a social networking service and/or other services116from one or more service providers102.

Additional examples of portions of the webpage118that may be configured based upon a one-way public relationship include a suggestion list510, a list of favorites512, and an advertisement514. The suggestion list510includes one more suggestions that are based on one-way public relationships. The suggestion list510may enable service provider102to suggest content based on items that a user has expressed interest in. For instance, a fan of a band may also like music from similar bands. In the depicted example a music suggestion for “The White Stripes” may be based in part on Steve's one-way public relationship to “Foo Fighters.” Likewise, the example list of favorites512includes the “Foo Fighters” in accordance with the one-way public relationship. Further, the example advertisement514provides an offer to buy “Foo Fighters” tickets and may be selected in accordance with the one-way public relationship. Thus,FIG. 5illustrates some examples of portions of a webpage118that may be configured based upon a one-way public relationship.

FIG. 6depicts an implementation600showing another example webpage118that is configured based upon one-way public relationships. The webpage118in this instance is illustrated as incorporated within a user interface602that may be provided by the communication module136. For example, the communication module136may be configured as a browser operable to expose the user interface602to enable interaction with one or more service providers102and corresponding services116.

In the example ofFIG. 6, the webpage118within the user interface602is configured as profile page corresponding to a book entitled “Blink.”FIG. 6represents one example of a webpage118related to a public entity and/or a social network object (e.g., the book) that may be configured to include portions based upon one-way public relationships to the object. In particular, a webpage for an object may be customized for an authenticated user to include portions corresponding to the user's social network and one-way public relationships to the object. Examples of portions that may be customized include a fans portion604, an object details portion606, and an advertisement608.

In the illustrated example, the authenticated user is Steve. Accordingly, the webpage118for the book “Blink” includes portions corresponding to Steve's social network and the social network's relationships to the object. For instance, relation module130may be operable to indentify relationships of people in Steve's network to objects and configure webpages output to Steve based on the identified relationships. Relation module130may make use of user accounts and relation data124to understand the relationships that exist between users and objects.

In particular, the fans portion604shows friends of Steve who are also fans of the book. The fans portion604shows that eight people in Steve's network are fans and also shows that six hundred and five other people are also fans. The fans portion604is also illustrated as showing comments on the book from fans in Steve's network. Note that information related to Steve's network would not appear on a webpage for the book “Blink” that is presented to another user who is outside of Steve's network. Thus, the fans portion604may be configured to selectively include information regarding fans based upon one or more one-way public relationships between users and the book “Blink.”

Note also that the owner of the webpage118(e.g., publisher and/or author) may be able to use one-way relationships to obtain anonymous data regarding fans of the object. This anonymous data enables the owner to at least track a number of fans of the object and include this information on the webpage118. For example, the object details portion606is configured to list six hundred and thirteen fans of the book “Blink.” In addition, fans may provide ratings for an object, indicate that the object is a favorite, and/or rank objects one to another. For instance, the example object details portion606depicts a four star rating for the book and shows that eight people have indicated that this book is their favorite.

The anonymous data that is made available through one-way relationships may also include demographic information such as ages, location, income, education level, and so forth. Such demographic information may be used by the owner and/or service provider102to better understand people who have expressed interest in corresponding objects available through social networking service.

The example advertisement608ofFIG. 6provides a promotion for books and a link to an online retailer. The advertisement608may be selected in accordance with one-way public relationships between Steve and the book “Blink,” other books, and/or various other objects.

In at least some embodiments, content and/or ads for webpages served to Steve may be selected in accordance with the one-way public relationships to objects established by people in Steve's network. This may be the case even when Steve has not expressed interest in the objects on his own. In this manner, a service provider102anticipates that Steve may like certain things based upon the interests of his social networking friends. Accordingly, the service provider102may configure webpages for Steve with content and/or ads based on the one-way public relationships of other people in Steve's network.

Although some of the examples discussed herein relate to webpages for social networking service, webpages configured based on one-way public relationships may also include pages output in conjunction with other services116, such as an email service, an instant messaging service, an Internet search service, and/or a productivity service to name a few. For example, an internet home page corresponding to Steve may be configured to include content related to “Foo Fighters” based upon the one-way public relationship.

In addition, service provider102may be configured to distribute content related to one-way public relationships via various electronic communications including emails, instant messaging, text messages, mobile phone messages, voice mail, and so forth. In this example, the electronic communications are configured to include content, ads, and/or updates corresponding to one-way public relationships to an object. For instance, Steve may receive an email from the service provider102that includes a new posting made to the profile page of the “Foo Fighters” using the social networking service. This email may also include advertisements, song lists, promotions, and/or other content that is customized for Steve based on the one-way public relationship to “Foo Fighters.”

Having considered example techniques and user interface for one-way public relationships, consider now a discussion of an example devices that can be used to implement one or more embodiments.

Example Device

FIG. 7illustrates an example computing device700that may implement the various embodiments described above. Computing device700may be, for example, a client104ofFIG. 1, a server of a service provider102, or any other suitable computing device.

Computing device700includes one or more processors or processing units702, one or more memory and/or storage components704, one or more input/output (I/O) devices706, and a bus708that allows the various components and devices to communicate one to another. The bus708represents one or more of several types of bus structures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The bus708can include wired and/or wireless buses.

Memory/storage component704represents one or more computer storage media. Memory/storage component704may include volatile media (such as random access memory (RAM)) and/or nonvolatile media (such as read only memory (ROM), Flash memory, optical disks, magnetic disks, and so forth). Memory/storage component704may include fixed media (e.g., RAM, ROM, a fixed hard drive, etc.) as well as removable media (e.g., a Flash memory drive, a removable hard drive, an optical disk, and so forth).

One or more input/output devices706allow a user to enter commands and information to computing device700, and also allow information to be presented to the user and/or other components or devices. Examples of input devices include a keyboard, a cursor control device (e.g., a mouse), a microphone, a scanner, and so forth. Examples of output devices include a display device (e.g., a monitor or projector), speakers, a printer, a network card, and so forth.

Various techniques may be described herein in the general context of software or program modules. Generally, software includes routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and so forth that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. An implementation of these modules and techniques may be stored on or transmitted across some form of computer-readable media. Computer-readable media may include a variety of available medium or media that may be accessed by a computing device. By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media may comprise “computer-readable storage media”.

Software or program modules, including the favorites module130, communication module136, service manager module114, and other program modules, may be embodied as one or more instructions stored on computer-readable storage media. Computing device700may be configured to implement particular functions corresponding to the software or program modules stored on computer-readable storage media. Such instructions may be executable by one or more articles of manufacture (for example, one or more computing device700, and/or processors702) to implement techniques for one-way public relationships, as well as other techniques. Such techniques include, but are not limited to, the example procedures described herein. Thus, computer-readable storage media may be configured to store instructions that, when executed by one or more devices described herein, cause various techniques for one-way public relationships.

Computer-readable storage media includes volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in a method or technology suitable for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Computer-readable storage media can include, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, hard disks, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or another tangible media or article of manufacture suitable to store the desired information and which may be accessed by a computer.

CONCLUSION

Although the techniques for one-way public relationships have been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the appended claims are not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as example forms of implementing the techniques for one-way public relationships.