Context-based object retrieval in a social networking system

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• providing, to a client device, a graphical user interface including a selector, the selector associated with an object type based on object types of objects from a plurality of prior user selections made by a plurality of different users within result sets of the selector;
• receiving a query that was entered into the selector on the client device by a user of an online system, the object type associated with the selector before the query is received;
• forming a result set by identifying objects matching the query, one or more of the objects associated with an object type;
• modifying the result set based at least in part on:
• comparisons of the object type associated with the selector with the object types of the objects in the result set, and
• connections of the user on the online system;
• and
• providing one or more objects of the result set to the client device for display in visual association with the selector in the graphical user interface.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer program instructions comprising:

• instructions for providing, to a client device, a graphical user interface including a selector, the selector associated with an object type based on object types of objects from a plurality of prior user selections made by a plurality of different users within result sets of the selector;
• instructions for receiving a query that was entered into the selector on the client device, the object type associated with the selector before the query is received;
• instructions for forming a result set by identifying objects matching the query, one or more of the objects associated with an object type;
• instructions for modifying the result set based at least in part on comparisons of the object type associated with the selector with the object types of the objects in the result set;
• and
• instructions for providing one or more objects of the result set to the client device for display in visual association with the selector in the graphical user interface.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions, the instructions when executed by a computer processor performing actions comprising:

• providing, to a client device, a graphical user interface simultaneously including a first selector and a second selector, the first selector being a graphical component of the graphical user interface and being associated with a first object type based on object types of objects from a plurality of prior selections made by a plurality of different users within result sets of the first selector, the second selector being a graphical component of the graphical user interface and being associated with a second object type different from the first object type based on object types of objects from a plurality of prior selections made by a plurality of different users within result sets of the second selector;
• receiving a query that was entered into the first selector on the client device by a user of an online system, the first object type having been associated with the first selector before the query was received;
• forming a result set by identifying objects matching the query, one or more of the objects being associated with an object type;
• modifying the result set based at least in part on:
• comparisons of the first object type associated with the first selector with the object types of the objects in the result set, and
• connections of the user on the online system;
• and
• providing a plurality of the objects of the result set to the client device for display in visual association with the first selector in the graphical user interface, wherein the provided plurality of objects comprise at least two different object types.