SELECTING CONTENT FOR ONLINE SYSTEM USERS BASED ON USER INTERACTIONS WITH THIRD PARTY APPLICATIONS

An online system stores information identifying interactions by online system users with an application provided by a third party system. The application includes a tracking mechanism specifying one or more interactions with the application. When a user performs a specified interaction with the application via a client device, the tracking mechanism communicates information describing the performed interaction from the client device to the online system. The online system stores interactions by the user with the application and generates one or more aggregations of interactions with the application that are communicated to the third party system. Each aggregation is associated with specific characteristics and identifies interactions by users having the specific characteristics with the application. Based on characteristics of users, the third party system may provide the online system with instructions for generating bid amounts for content associated with the advertisement to use when the online system selects content.

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates generally to online systems, and more specifically to selecting content for presentation to users of an online system.

An online system, such as a social networking system, allows users to connect to and communicate with other users of the online system. Users create profiles on an online system that are tied to their identities and include information about the users, such as interests and demographic information. The users may be individuals or entities such as corporations or charities. Content items are presented to various users by the online system to encourage users to interact with the online system.

Additionally, many online systems commonly allow users (e.g., businesses) to sponsor presentation of content on an online system to gain public attention for a user's products or services or to persuade other users to take an action regarding the user's products or services. Content for which the online system receives compensation in exchange for presenting to users is referred to as “sponsored content.” Many online systems receive compensation from a user for presenting online system users with certain types of sponsored content provided by the user. Frequently, online systems charge a user for each presentation of sponsored content to an online system user or for each interaction with sponsored content by an online system user. For example, an online system receives compensation from an entity each time a content item provided by the user is displayed to another user on the online system or each time another user is presented with a content item on the online system and interacts with the content item (e.g., selects a link included in the content item), or each time another user performs another action after being presented with the content item.

Sponsored content presented by an online system may identify an application associated with a third party system to encourage online system users to install the application on client devices or to perform interactions with the application. The third party system associated with the application may then obtain revenue from online system users installing the application or interacting with the application. For example, the third party system sponsors content presented to users of the online system identifying a product to purchase via the application, such as an item for use when interacting with the application.

While online systems may maintain information describing actions performed by their users, conventional online systems are limited to maintaining information describing actions performed by users through the online system or actions communicated to the online system for logging by third party systems. For example, a conventional online system stores interactions between its users and content presented by the online system. However, interactions by online system users with applications generate significant revenue for third party systems associated with the applications. Conventional online systems do not capture these interactions with applications, preventing conventional online systems from providing certain characteristics, such as demographic information, of online system users interacting with applications to third party systems associated with applications that would allow the third party systems to more effectively identify online system users interacting with the applications.

SUMMARY

An online system receives information describing interactions by users of the online system with an application provided by a third party system and executing on client devices associated with the users. The application includes a tracking mechanism including instructions that are executed by a client device executing the application when a user performs one or more interactions with the application provided by the third party system. When the instructions in the tracking mechanism are executed, information identifying the one or more interactions with the application is communicated from the client device to the online system. In various embodiments, the third party system specifies one or more interactions in the tracking mechanism so the tracking mechanism communicates information identifying a user when the user performs one or more of the specified interactions with the application. Example interactions specified by the third party system in the tracking mechanism include: installing the application, accessing the application via a client device, purchasing a product via the application, adding a product to an online shopping cart maintained by the application, viewing content via the application, adding a product to a list of products associated with the user by the application, subscribing to a service provided by the third party system via the application, communicating with one or more other users via the application, and sharing content provided by the application with another user.

When the user performs an interaction specified by the tracking mechanism with the application provided by the third party system via a client device, the client device executes instructions in the tracking mechanism that communicate information describing the interaction to the online system. Information communicated to the online system identifies the interaction, and may also identify content within the application involved in the interaction (e.g., a product, a content item, a service, etc.). As an example, the application includes an application programming interface call or other mechanism included in the application by the third party system that identifies an interaction with the application. In some embodiments, the application programming interface call is included in a software development kit or other set of instructions provided to the third party system by the online system. When the user performs the interaction specified by the application programming interface call with the content provided by the third party system via the client device, the client device executes the application programming interface call and communicates information describing the interaction to the online system.

Based on information received from the client device executing the application including the tracking mechanism, the online system retrieves information identifying the user who performed the interaction described by the information received from the tracking mechanism. To prevent the third party system from obtaining information identifying the user, the online system retrieves user identifying information associated with the user by the online system and stored on the client device on which the interaction was performed. In some embodiments, the tracking mechanism obtains user identifying information from an application executing on the client device associated with the online system and communicates the user identifying information to the online system along with information describing the interaction. For example, the tracking mechanism retrieves obfuscated (e.g., a hashed) user identifying information associated with the user by the online system and stored on the client device. Hence, the online system may retrieve user identifying information from obfuscated information identifying the user to the online system included in the information describing the interaction with the application.

The online system stores the information describing the interaction with the application provided by the third party system received from the tracking mechanism in association with the user identifying information for the user who performed the interaction. For example, the online system identifies a user profile associated with the user identifying information and stores the information describing the interaction with the content provided by the third party system in association with the user profile. As various users interact with the application provided by the third party system, the online system stores information associated with the users identifying their interactions with the application provided by the third party system received via one or more tracking mechanisms included in the application. Communicating information describing users' interactions with the application provided by the third party system to the online system allows the online system to associate interactions with the application with online system users without providing information identifying the users to the third party system.

To allow the third party system providing the application to more accurately identify users of the online system who frequently interact with the application, the online system generates an aggregation of interactions with the application by various online system users. The aggregation of interactions includes characteristics of users who performed various interactions with the application, but does not include information uniquely identifying users. In some embodiments, the online system generates multiple aggregations of interactions with each aggregation identifying interactions performed by users of the online system having one or more specific characteristics. For example, the online system generates an aggregation including interactions with the application by users associated with a specific location, an aggregation including interactions with the application by users having ages within a specific age range, an aggregation including interactions with the application by users having a specific gender, an aggregation including interactions with the application by users associated with client devices executing a specific operating system, or an aggregation including interactions with the application by users associated with a specific type of client device. An aggregation of interactions with the application may identify a number of various types of interactions with the application by users having the one or more specific characteristics. The online system communicates the generated one or more aggregations to the third party system providing the application, allowing the third party system to identify characteristics of users who performed different interactions with the application provided by the third party system. Communicating aggregations identifying interactions with the application performed by users having different characteristics to the third party system allows the third party system to identify how online system users with different characteristics interact with the application. For example, the online system communicates at least a threshold number of aggregations to the third party system, with each aggregation identifying interactions with the application by users of the online system having different characteristics, allowing a user associated with the third party system to more thoroughly analyze interactions with the application by online system users having different characteristics.

Based on the one or more aggregations, the third party system may determine instructions for determining a bid amount for an advertisement request (“ad request”) associated with the application in a selection process for users having characteristics matching the one or more characteristics of users in an aggregation. For example, the third party system determines a value for the aggregation based on interactions with the application identified by the aggregation. In various embodiments, the third party system associates various weights with different interactions in an aggregation and determines the value for the aggregation by applying weights to numbers of occurrences of various interactions in the aggregation corresponding to the weights and combining the numbers of occurrences of the various interactions after application of the weights. The third party system may associate different weights for an interaction with different aggregations. Hence, the third party system may associate a weight with an interaction in an aggregation and associate an alternative weight with the interaction in an alternative aggregation. As different aggregations are associated with different characteristics of users, the third party system may differently weight interactions with the application when performed by users having different characteristics.

In one embodiment, the third party system determines instructions for generating a bid amount for evaluating an advertisement request (“ad request”) associated with the application for presentation to a user based on a value for an aggregation including the user and a predicted number of times the user will interact with the application and transmits the instructions to the online system. When including the ad request associated with the application in a selection process for the user, the online system determines the predicted number of times the user will interact with the application based on information maintained by the online system and determine the bid amount for the ad request associated with the application from the predicted number of times the user will interact with the application and the instructions from the third party system. One or more selection processes selecting content for presentation to the user by the online system determine whether to present an advertisement from the ad request associated with the application to the user based at least in part on the determined bid amount.

The third party system may provide the online system with instructions for generating a bid amount for an ad request associated with the online system without receiving the one or more aggregations of interactions with the application. For example, the third party system transmits values for interactions with the application performed by users having different characteristics to the online system, which determines a bid amount for an ad request associated with the advertisement in a selection process for a user based on the values for the interactions and likelihoods of the user performing one or more of the interactions with the application. However, instructions for determining a bid amount transmitted from the third party system to the online system may specify any suitable manner of determining the bid amount. For example, the third party system identifies a budget and a minimum return on investment for presenting advertisements from ad requests associated with the application or a maximum time to recover the budget from presenting advertisements from ad requests associated with the application. Alternatively, the online system determines bid amounts for ad requests associated with the application in a selection process for a user based on an expected value to the online system of the user based on values associated with different interactions with the application specified by the online system and likelihoods of the user performing different interactions with the application based on information associated with the user by the online system. If the online system determines a bid amount for an ad request associated with the application, the third party system may transmit instructions to the online system for determining the bid amount, and the online system subsequently determines the bid amount for the ad request associated with the application based on the instructions received from the third party system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

System Architecture

FIG. 1is a block diagram of a system environment100for an online system140, such as a social networking system. The system environment100shown byFIG. 1comprises one or more client devices110, a network120, one or more third-party systems130, and the online system140. In alternative configurations, different and/or additional components may be included in the system environment100.

One or more third party systems130may be coupled to the network120for communicating with the online system140, which is further described below in conjunction withFIG. 2. In one embodiment, a third party system130is an application provider communicating information describing an application112for execution by a client device110or communicating data to client devices110for use by the application112executing on the client device. In other embodiments, a third party system130provides content or other information for presentation via a client device110. A third party system130may also communicate information to the online system140, such as advertisements, content, or information about the application112provided by the third party system130.

In some embodiments, a third party system130includes a tracking mechanism in the application112provided by the third party system130and executing on a client device110. The tracking mechanism is instructions that, when executed by the application112executed by the client device110, cause the client device110to communicate information describing interactions by a user of the online system140with the application112to the online system140. In various embodiments, the tracking mechanism specifies one or more interactions in the tracking mechanism, so the application112executes the tracking mechanism and communicates information to the online system140when the user performs one or more of the specified interactions with the application. In various embodiments, the tracking mechanism communicates information identifying a user when the user performs one or more of the specified interactions with the application and identifying the one or more specified interactions performed by the user. As further described below in conjunction withFIGS. 2 and 3, the online system140maintains information describing user interactions with the application112in association with a user of the online system140who performed the interactions with the application112. For example, the online system140stores information associated with a user identifying the application112and identifying interactions with the application112by the user identified by the tracking mechanism. The tracking mechanism may be an application program interface (API) call or other mechanism that is invoked by the application during execution. In some embodiments, the online system140provides the API call to a third party system130providing the application via a software development kit (SDK).

FIG. 2is a block diagram of an architecture of the online system140. For example, the online system140is a social networking system. The online system140shown inFIG. 2includes a user profile store205, a content store210, an action logger215, an action log220, an edge store225, an advertisement request (“ad request”) store230, a content selection module235, an analysis module237, and a web server240. In other embodiments, the online system140may include additional, fewer, or different components for various applications. Conventional components such as network interfaces, security functions, load balancers, failover servers, management and network operations consoles, and the like are not shown so as to not obscure the details of the system architecture.

The action logger215receives communications about user actions internal to and/or external to the online system140, populating the action log220with information about user actions. Examples of actions include adding a connection to another user, sending a message to another user, uploading an image, reading a message from another user, viewing content associated with another user, and attending an event posted by another user. As an example, content provided by a third party system130to users of the online system may be identified along with information identifying an online system user140by information received by the online system140, and the action logger215logs information identifying the content provided by the third party system130in the action log220in association with the identified user of the online system140. For example, the action logger215logs information describing interactions between a user of the online system140and an application112provided by a third party system130and executing on a client device110based on information communicated to the online system140by a tracking mechanism, such an application programming interface call, included in the application112. The tracking mechanism may communicate information to the online system140identifying one or more interactions with the application112by a user and information identifying the user to the online system120, and the action logger215stores information identifying the application112and the interactions with the application by the user112in association with the user, as further described below in conjunction withFIG. 3.

Additionally, the action logger215logs information interactions between online system users and advertisements presented to the online system users. For example, information describing a number of times a user of the online system140clicked on an advertisement or completed a purchase through interacting with an advertisement is logged by the action logger215in association with information identifying the user; times associated with the interactions may also be stored in association with information identifying the user and identifying the advertisement. In addition, a number of actions may involve an object and one or more particular users, so these actions are associated with the particular users as well and stored in the action log220.

The action log220may be used by the online system140to track user actions on the online system140, as well as actions on third party systems130that communicate information to the online system140. Users may interact with various objects on the online system140, and information describing these interactions is stored in the action log220. Examples of interactions with objects include: commenting on posts, sharing links, checking-in to physical locations via a client device110, accessing content items (including advertisements), and any other suitable interactions. Additional examples of interactions with objects on the online system140that are included in the action log220include: commenting on a photo album, communicating with a user, establishing a connection with an object, joining an event, joining a group, creating an event, installing an application, using an application, expressing a preference for an object (“liking” the object), and engaging in a transaction. Additionally, the action log220may record a user's interactions with advertisements on the online system140as well as with other applications operating on the online system140. In some embodiments, data from the action log220is used to infer interests or preferences of a user, augmenting the interests included in the user's user profile and allowing a more complete understanding of user preferences.

The action log220may also store user actions taken on a third party system130, such as an external website, and communicated to the online system140. For example, an e-commerce website may recognize a user of an online system140through a social plug-in enabling the e-commerce website to identify the user of the online system140. Because users of the online system140are uniquely identifiable, e-commerce websites, such as in the preceding example, may communicate information about a user's actions outside of the online system140to the online system140for association with the user. Similarly, a third party system130may include a tracking mechanism in content provided by the third party system130. When instructions included in the tracking mechanism are executed by a client device110, the client device110communicates information describing one or more interactions with content provided by the third party system130by a user to the online system140. The online system140retrieves user identifying information associated with the user by the online system140and stored on the client device110and stores the information describing the user's interactions with the content provided by the third party system130in association with the user in the action log220.

In one embodiment, the edge store225stores information describing connections between users and other objects on the online system140as edges. Some edges may be defined by users, allowing users to specify their relationships with other users. For example, users may generate edges with other users that parallel the users' real-life relationships, such as friends, co-workers, partners, and so forth. Other edges are generated when users interact with objects in the online system140, such as expressing interest in a page on the online system140, sharing a link with other users of the online system140, and commenting on posts made by other users of the online system140.

One or more advertisement requests (“ad requests”) are included in the ad request store230. An advertisement request includes advertisement content, also referred to as an “advertisement” and a bid amount. The advertisement content is text, image, audio, video, or any other suitable data presented to a user. In various embodiments, the advertisement content also includes a landing page specifying a network address to which a user is directed when the advertisement is accessed. The bid amount is associated with an ad request by an advertiser and is used to determine an expected value, such as monetary compensation, provided by an advertiser to the online system140if advertisement content in the ad request is presented to a user, if the advertisement content in the ad request receives a user interaction when presented, or if any suitable condition is satisfied when advertisement content in the ad request is presented to a user. For example, the bid amount specifies a monetary amount that the online system140receives from the advertiser if advertisement content in an ad request is displayed. In some embodiments, the expected value to the online system140of presenting the advertisement content may be determined by multiplying the bid amount by a probability of the advertisement content being accessed by a user.

Additionally, an advertisement request may include one or more targeting criteria specified by the advertiser. Targeting criteria included in an advertisement request specify one or more characteristics of users eligible to be presented with advertisement content in the advertisement request. For example, targeting criteria are used to identify users having user profile information, edges, or actions satisfying at least one of the targeting criteria. Hence, targeting criteria allow an advertiser to identify users having specific characteristics, simplifying subsequent distribution of content to different users.

In one embodiment, targeting criteria may specify actions or types of connections between a user and another user or object of the online system140. Targeting criteria may also specify interactions between a user and objects performed external to the online system140, such as on a third party system130. For example, targeting criteria identifies users that have taken a particular action, such as sent a message to another user, used an application, joined a group, left a group, joined an event, generated an event description, purchased or reviewed a product or service using an online marketplace, requested information from a third party system130, installed an application, or performed any other suitable action. Including actions in targeting criteria allows advertisers to further refine users eligible to be presented with advertisement content from an advertisement request. As another example, targeting criteria identifies users having a connection to another user or object or having a particular type of connection to another user or object.

The content selection module235selects one or more content items for communication to a client device110to be presented to a user. Content items eligible for presentation to the user are retrieved from the content store210, from the ad request store230, or from another source by the content selection module235, which selects one or more of the content items for presentation to the user. A content item eligible for presentation to the user is a content item associated with at least a threshold number of targeting criteria satisfied by characteristics of the user or is a content item that is not associated with targeting criteria. In various embodiments, the content selection module235includes content items eligible for presentation to the user in one or more selection processes, which identify a set of content items for presentation to the user. For example, the content selection module235determines measures of relevance of various content items to the user based on characteristics associated with the user by the online system140and based on the user's affinity for different content items. Based on the measures of relevance, the content selection module235selects content items for presentation to the user. As an additional example, the content selection module235selects content items having the highest measures of relevance or having at least a threshold measure of relevance for presentation to the user. Alternatively, the content selection module235ranks content items based on their associated measures of relevance and selects content items having the highest positions in the ranking or having at least a threshold position in the ranking for presentation to the user.

Content items eligible for presentation to the user may include advertisements from ad requests or other content items associated with bid amounts. The content selection module235uses the bid amounts associated with ad requests when selecting content for presentation to the user. In various embodiments, the content selection module235determines an expected value associated with various ad requests (or other content items) based on their bid amounts and selects content items associated with a maximum expected value or associated with at least a threshold expected value for presentation. An expected value associated with an ad request or with a content item represents an expected amount of compensation to the online system140for presenting advertisement content from the ad request or for presenting the content item. For example, the expected value associated with an ad request is a product of the ad request's bid amount and a likelihood of the user interacting with the ad content from the ad request. The content selection module235may rank ad requests based on their associated bid amounts and select ad requests having at least a threshold position in the ranking for presentation to the user. In some embodiments, the content selection module235ranks both content items not associated with bid amounts and ad requests in a unified ranking based on bid amounts associated with ad requests and measures of relevance associated with content items and with ad requests. Based on the unified ranking, the content selection module235selects content for presentation to the user. Selecting ad requests and other content items through a unified ranking is further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/545,266, filed on Jul. 10, 2012, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

For example, the content selection module235receives a request to present a feed of content to a user of the online system140. The feed may include one or more advertisements as well as content items, such as stories describing actions associated with other online system users connected to the user. The content selection module235accesses one or more of the user profile store205, the content store210, the action log220, and the edge store225to retrieve information about the user. For example, information describing actions associated with other users connected to the user or other data associated with users connected to the user is retrieved and used to select content items, such as content items describing actions associated with one or more of the other users. Additionally, one or more advertisement requests (“ad requests”) may be retrieved from the ad request store230. The retrieved stories, ad requests, or other content items, are analyzed by the content selection module235to identify candidate content items, including ad requests, eligible for presentation to the user. For example, content items associated with users who not connected to the user or content items associated with users for whom the user has less than a threshold affinity are discarded as candidate content items. Based on various criteria, the content selection module235selects one or more of the content items or ad requests identified as candidate content for presentation to the user. The selected content items or advertisements from selected ad requests are included in a feed of content that is presented to the user. For example, the feed of content includes at least a threshold number of content items describing actions associated with users connected to the user via the online system140.

In various embodiments, the content selection module235presents content to a user through a feed including a plurality of content items selected for presentation to the user. One or more advertisements may also be included in the feed. The content selection module235may also determine the order in which selected content items or advertisements are presented via the feed. For example, the content selection module235orders content items or advertisements in the feed based on likelihoods of the user interacting with various content items or advertisements.

The analysis module237analyzes information stored in the action log225describing interactions by online system users with the application112provided by the third party system130and executing on client devices110. In various embodiments, the analysis module237generates an aggregation identifying interactions performed with the application112by users of the online system140having one or more specific characteristics. For example, the analysis module237generates an aggregation identifying interactions with the application112by users of the online system140having a specific gender or by users of the online system140associated with a specific location. An aggregation generated by the analysis module237may identify a number of various interactions with the application112within a particular time interval by users having the one or more specific characteristics associated with the aggregation, but does not include information uniquely identifying the users having the one or more specific characteristics. In some embodiments, the analysis module237generates multiple aggregations that each identify interactions with the application112performed by users having different specific characteristics. For example, the analysis module237generates an aggregation including interactions with the application112by users associated with a specific location, an aggregation including interactions with the application112by users having ages within a specific age range, an aggregation including interactions with the application112by users having a specific gender, an aggregation including interactions with the application112by users associated with client devices110executing a specific operating system, or an aggregation including interactions with the application112by users associated with a specific type of client device. One or more aggregations generated by the analysis module237may be communicated to the third party system130providing the application112, allowing the third party system130to identify characteristics of users performing different interactions with the application112. As further described below in conjunction withFIG. 3, the third party system130may modify ad requests associated with the application112provided to the online system140based on one or more aggregations from the analysis module237.

Storing Interactions by Online System Users with Content Presented by Third Party Systems

FIG. 3is an interaction diagram of one embodiment of a method for providing a third party system130with information describing interactions by online system users with an application112provided by the third party system130. In other embodiments, the method may include different and/or additional steps than those shown inFIG. 3. Additionally, steps of the method may be performed in different orders than the order described in conjunction withFIG. 3in various embodiments.

A user of the online system140obtains305an application112from a third party system130. The application112includes a tracking mechanism, comprising instructions that, when executed by a client device110executing the application112communicate information describing interactions with the application112to the online system140. For example, the tracking mechanism is an application programming interface call included in the application from a software development kit provided to the third party system130by the online system140. In various embodiments, the tracking mechanism identifies one or more interactions with the application112provided by the third party system130and includes instructions that are executed by the client device110when a user performs one or more of the identified interactions with the application112provided by the third party system130. Example interactions specified by the third party system130in the tracking mechanism include: installing the application112, accessing the application112via a client device110, purchasing a product via the application112, adding a product to an online shopping cart maintained by the application112, viewing content via the application112, adding a product to a list of products associated with the user by the application112, subscribing to a service provided by the third party system130via the application112, communicating with one or more other users via the application112, and sharing content provided by the application112with another user. However, in various embodiments, the tracking mechanism identifies any suitable interaction in the tracking mechanism, so the instructions in the tracking mechanism may be executed when the user performs any suitable interaction with application112provided by the third party system130that is identified by the tracking mechanism. When the user performs an interaction with the application112matching an interaction identified by the tracking mechanism, the client device110executes the tracking mechanism (e.g., the application programming interface call) and communicates the information describing the interaction with the application112to the online system140.

The client device110installs310the application112obtained305from the third party system130. When the client device110receives315an interaction with the application112provided by the third party system130that matches an interaction specified by the tracking mechanism included in the application112, the client device110executes instructions in the tracking mechanism that transmit320information describing the interaction with the application112provided by the third party system130to the online system140. Information transmitted320to the online system140identifies the interaction with the application112. In some embodiments, the tracking mechanism transmits additional information associated with the interaction to the online system140. For example, the tracking mechanism transmits information identifying content presented by the application112involved in the interaction. As a particular example, if the received interaction was a purchase of a product via the application112, the transmitted information identifies the purchase as well as an identifier of the purchased product. Various methods may be used to transmit320the information describing the interaction with the content provided by the third party system130to the inline system. For example, after receiving315the interaction matching an interaction specified by the tracking mechanism, the client device110executes instruction in the tracking mechanism that execute an application programming interface call communicating information to the online system140from the client device110; hence, the third party system130may include an application programming interface call in an application provided by the third party system130that communicates information describing one or more interactions identified by the application programming interface call to the online system140. Additionally, the online system140retrieves information identifying the user who performed the interaction described by the information transmitted320by the tracking mechanism.

To prevent the third party system130from receiving information identifying the user who performed the interaction, the online system140retrieves user identifying information associated with the user by the online system140and stores325the information describing the interaction in association with the user identifying information. For example, the tracking mechanism obtains user identifying information from an application executing on the client device110and associated with the online system140and communicates the user identifying information to the online system140along with information describing the interaction. For example, the tracking mechanism retrieves obfuscated (e.g., a hashed) user identifying information associated with the user by the online system140and stored on the client device110and transmits320the obfuscated user identifying information to the online system140along with the information describing the received interaction with the application112provided by the third party system130. The online system140retrieves the user identifying information from the obfuscated user identifying information and stores325the information describing the interaction in association with the retrieved user identifying information to maintain a record of interactions by the user with the application112. For example, the online system140identifies a user profile associated with the user identifying information and stores325the information describing the interaction with the application112from the tracking mechanism in association with the user profile. Hence, as various users perform interactions with the application112provided by the third party system130matching interactions specified by one or more tracking mechanisms included in the content provided by the third party system130, the online system140stores325information associated with the users identifying their interactions with content provided by the third party system130, allowing the online system140to maintain interactions between the users and the content provided by the third party system130without providing information identifying the users to the third party system130. For example, the third party system130is unable to retrieve information maintained by the online system140in association with the users who performed the interactions, while the online system140maintains a record of the interactions by online system users with the application112provided by the third party system130.

The online system140analyzes stored information describing interactions by various users with the application112provided by the third party system130and executing on client devices110and generates330one or more aggregations identifying interactions performed with the application112by users of the online system140. Each aggregation identifies interactions with the application112by users having one or more specific characteristics. For example, an aggregation identifies interactions with the application112by users of the online system140having a specific gender or by users of the online system140associated with a specific location. In various embodiments, an aggregation generated330by the online system140identifies a number of various interactions with the application112within a particular time interval by users having the one or more specific characteristics associated with the aggregation, but does not include information uniquely identifying the users having the one or more specific characteristics. For example, an aggregation identifies a number of times users with ages in a specific age range and associated with a specific location accessed the application112and a number of times the users with ages in the specific age range and associated with the specific location purchased a product via the application112. Different aggregations generated by the online system140identify interactions performed by users with different specific characteristics. For example, the online system140generates an aggregation including interactions with the application112by users associated with a specific location, an aggregation including interactions with the application112by users having ages within a specific age range, an aggregation including interactions with the application112by users having a specific gender, an aggregation including interactions with the application112by users associated with client devices110executing a specific operating system, or an aggregation including interactions with the application112by users associated with a specific type of client device110(e.g., a specific model of the client device110, a form factor of the client device110—mobile communication device, desktop device, laptop device, tablet device, etc.).

One or more of the aggregations are transmitted335from the online system140to the third party system130providing the application112, allowing the third party system130to identify characteristics of users performing different interactions with the application112. As the aggregations do not include information allowing the third party system130to identify users of the online system140who performed the interactions identified by the aggregations, transmitting335one or more of the aggregations to the third party system130allows the online system140to maintain user privacy while also allowing the third party system130to analyze interactions with the application by online system users. Although the aggregations do not include information allowing the third party system130to identify users of the online system140, different aggregations describe interactions with the application112by users having different characteristics, allowing a user of the third party system130to evaluate interactions with the application112by online system140with different characteristics by analyzing different aggregations. For example, the third party system130identifies locations or age ranges associated with online system users who perform a maximum number of a certain interaction with the application or who more frequently perform the certain interaction relative to users associated with other locations or age ranges based on interactions identified by aggregations corresponding to different locations or age ranges. By analyzing the one or more aggregations, the third party system130may provide the online system140with advertisement requests (“ad requests”) having targeting criteria specifying characteristics of users who are most likely to perform one or more particular interactions with the application112when presented with advertisements from the ad requests. Hence, transmitting335aggregations to the third party system130allows the third party system130to analyze how online system users with characteristics corresponding to different aggregations interact with the application112, allowing the third party system130to better identify online system users likely to perform one or more particular interactions with the application112to be presented with advertisements from ad requests.

In some embodiments, the third party system130determines instructions for determining a bid amount for an ad request associated with the application112in a selection process performed by the online system140for users having characteristics matching the one or more characteristics of users in an aggregation. For example, the third party system130determines a value for the aggregation based on interactions with the application112identified by the aggregation. In various embodiments, the third party system130associates various weights with different interactions in an aggregation and determines the value for the aggregation based on weights associated with various interactions in the aggregation and a number of occurrences of the various interactions identified by the aggregation. For example, the third party system130applies a weight associated with an interaction with the application112to a number of occurrences of the interaction identified by the aggregation for various interactions and determines the value for the aggregation by combining the numbers of occurrences of the various interactions identified by the aggregation after application of the weights. The third party system130may associate different weights for an interaction with different aggregations, allowing the third party system130to different weight interactions with the application112by users having different characteristics. Hence, the third party system130may associate a weight with an interaction identified by an aggregation and associate an alternative weight with the interaction identified by an alternative aggregation.

The third party system130may determine and transmit340instructions for the online system140to generate a bid amount for evaluating an advertisement request (“ad request”) associated with the application112for presentation to a user having one or more characteristics matching characteristics associated with an aggregation based on a value for the aggregation determined by the third party system130and a number of times the user will interact with the application predicted by the online system140. However, the third party system130may transmit340any suitable instructions for determining a bid amount for evaluating an ad request associated with the application112for presentation to a user. For example, the third party system130transmits340instructions to the online system140identifying a budget and a minimum return on investment for presenting advertisements from ad requests associated with the application112or a maximum time to recover the budget from presenting advertisements from ad requests associated with the application112, and the online system140determines bid amounts for ad requests associated with the application112based on the instructions.

When including the ad request associated with the application in a selection process for the user, the online system140determines the predicted number of times the user will interact with the application based on information maintained by the online system140and determine the bid amount for the ad request associated with the application from the predicted number of times the user will interact with the application and the instructions from the third party system130. One or more selection processes selecting content for presentation to the user by the online system140determine whether to present an advertisement from the ad request associated with the application to the user based at least in part on the determined bid amount.

When the online system140identifies an opportunity to present one or more advertisements to a user having characteristics matching characteristics associated with an aggregation, the online system140determines a bid amount for an ad request associated with the application112based on the instructions received from the third party system130. For example, instructions received from the third party system130identify values for different interactions with the application112when performed by users having different characteristics, and the online system140determines a bid amount for an ad request associated with the advertisement in a selection process for a user based on the values for the interactions and likelihoods of the user performing one or more of the interactions with the application. As another example, the received instructions include a value for an aggregation including the user and one or more weights for modifying the value based on a predicted amount of a specific interaction with the application112(e.g., accessing the application); the online system140determines the predicted amount of the specific interaction by the user based on information associated with the user by the online system140and determines the bid amount for an ad request by modifying the value for the aggregation including the user based on the predicted amount of the specific interaction. However, instructions for determining a bid amount transmitted340from the third party system130to the online system140may specify any suitable manner of determining the bid amount. The online system140includes345the ad request associated with the application112in one or more selection processes selecting the one or more advertisements for presentation to the user with the determined bid amount for the ad request. As further described above in conjunction withFIG. 2, a selection process selects the one or more advertisements based at least part on the bid amounts associated with ad requests including various advertisements.

Alternatively, the online system140determines bid amounts for ad requests associated with the application112in a selection process for a user based on an expected value to the online system140of the user based on values associated with different interactions with the application112specified by the online system and likelihoods of the user performing different interactions with the application112based on information associated with the user by the online system112. The online system140subsequently includes345the ad requests in one or more selection processes in association with the determined bid amounts. If the online system140determines a bid amount for an ad request associated with the application112, the third party system130may transmit340instructions to the online system140for determining the bid amount, and the online system140subsequently determines the bid amount for the ad request associated with the application112based on the instructions received from the third party system130. Hence, the third party system130may specify bid amounts for ad request associated with the application112that are based at least in part on interactions by various online system users with the application112.

SUMMARY