Incentivizing sharing in social networks

A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions comprising program code instructions for:

• receiving a request to generate an incentivized sharing deal for one or more products or services provided by a merchant, wherein the incentivized sharing deal comprises a deal in which a first user purchases a particular deal, shares the particular deal, and subsequently, upon sharing the particular deal with a threshold number of other users, including a second user, who also purchase the particular deal, receives an incentive, and in which the second user purchases the particular deal, shares the particular deal, and subsequently, upon sharing the particular deal with the threshold number of other users who also purchase the particular deal, receives the incentive;
• simulating, by a processor, each of a plurality of potential outcomes of one or more incentive scenarios that follow the purchase of the particular deal by the first user, the one or more incentive scenarios each indicative of one of a plurality of values for the threshold number of the other users, the threshold number of the other users being a number of other users that must purchase the particular deal for the first user to receive the incentive,
• wherein each function implementing the simulating is explicitly modular, enabling statistics to be mined or postulated for a given dataset and swapped, allowing comparison for differing behaviors of any desired scenario;
• determining, based on a first set of parameters, the threshold number of other users that are required to optimize a relationship between at least two additional parameters;
• and
• providing, over a network, the incentive sharing deal, the incentivized sharing deal comprised of the particular deal and an indication of a threshold number of users that upon sharing the particular deal with, results in reception of the incentive.

An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

• receiving a request to generate an incentivized sharing deal for one or more products or services provided by a merchant, wherein the incentivized sharing deal comprises a deal in which a first user purchases a particular deal, shares the particular deal, and subsequently, upon sharing the particular deal with a threshold number of other users, including a second user, who also purchase the particular deal, receives an incentive, and in which the second user purchases the particular deal, shares the particular deal, and subsequently, upon sharing the particular deal with the threshold number of other users who also purchase the particular deal, receives the incentive;
• simulating, by a processor, each of a plurality of potential outcomes of one or more incentive scenarios that follow the purchase of the particular deal by the first user, the one or more incentive scenarios each indicative of one of a plurality of values for the threshold number of the other users, the threshold number of the other users being a number of other users that must purchase the particular deal for the first user to receive the incentive,
• wherein each function implementing the simulating is explicitly modular, enabling statistics to be mined or postulated for a given dataset and swapped, allowing comparison for differing behaviors of any desired scenario;
• determining, based on a first set of parameters, the threshold number of other users that are required to optimize a relationship between at least two additional parameters;
• and
• providing, over a network, the incentive sharing deal, the incentivized sharing deal comprised of the particular deal and an indication of a threshold number of users that upon sharing the particular deal with, results in reception of the incentive.