Creating a Customized News Collection Based on Social Networking Information

A system for generating a customized news collection based on social groups, the system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• a non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the processors, cause the processors to perform operations comprising:
• receiving an indication of a request from a user for a customized news collection;
• receiving a selection of the one or more social groups from a plurality of social groups by the user as part of the request, wherein each of the plurality of social groups is associated with user account of the user maintained at a social networking service;
• selecting a set of news items according to one or more selection criteria in response to the request, the one or more selection criteria including the one or more social groups selected by the user, wherein the selection comprises:
• determining one or more contacts associated with the one or more social groups at a social networking service in response to receiving the selection;
• and
• identifying a set of news items including one or more news items that at least one of the one or more contacts interacted with from a plurality of news items available to the user in response to receiving the selection, wherein at least one of the one or more news items comprises a news item generated at a news service or provided for consumption at a news service, wherein the news service is distinct from the social networking service;
• and
• generating a news collection including a number of news items of the set of news items for provision to a user.

A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

• receiving a request from a user to view a customized news collection;
• determining one or more social groups based on the request, wherein each of the one or more social groups is selected by the user from a plurality of social groups with a user account of the user in a social networking service;
• determining one or more contacts associated with each of the selected one or more social groups at a social networking service in response to the selection;
• selecting a set of news items from a plurality of news items available for viewing by the user in response to the selection, the set of news items including one or more news items associated with the one or more identified contacts, wherein at least one of the one or more news items comprises a news item generated at a news service or provided for consumption at a news service and wherein the one or more news items associated with a the one or more identified contacts comprise at least a news item that at least one of the one or more identified contacts has taken an action towards or a news article that is determined to be important based on characteristics of a news item that at least one of the one or more identified contacts has taken an action towards;
• and
• generating a news collection including a number of news items of the set of news items for provision to a user in response to the request.