# US 2014/0208231 A1 · Selecting Configurations for Presentation of Story Units to Social Networking System Users > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2014/0208231 A1 - Document ID: US20140208231A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 13/747,301 - Filed: 2013-01-22 - Published: 2014-07-24 - Earliest claimed: 2013-01-22 - Assignees: Facebook, Inc. - Applicants: Facebook, Inc. - Inventors: Sophia Chung - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140208231A1 ## CPC - H04L 67/306: User profiles - G06Q 10/40: Business processes related to social networking or social networking services - H04L 67/12: specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks - H04L 67/535: {Tracking the activity of the user (network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34)} - H04L 67/75: Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR ## Abstract A social networking system selects a configuration for presenting a story unit describing one or more actions performed by one or more social networking system users. In particular, story units having a particular type are presented to social networking system users using different configurations. Interactions between the social networking system users and the story units presented using the different configurations are captured and analyzed. Based on the analysis, a configuration is selected and used for subsequently presented story units having the same particular type. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer-implemented method comprising: presenting one or more story units having a particular type to a plurality of users of a social networking system in an initial configuration, wherein a story unit includes one or more stories describing actions performed by a user of the social networking system and having a common characteristic; presenting one or more story units having the particular type to an additional plurality of users of the social networking system in an alternative configuration, the alternative configuration being different from the initial configuration; capturing one or more interactions by the plurality of users with the one or more story units presented in the initial configuration; capturing one or more interactions by the additional plurality of users with the one or more story units presented in the alternative configuration; and selecting a default configuration for story units having the particular type from the initial configuration and the alternative configuration based at least in part on the captured one or more interactions by the plurality of users with the one or more story units presented in the initial configuration and the captured one or more interactions by the additional plurality of users with the one or more story units presented in the alternative configuration. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more interactions with the one or more story units presented in the initial configuration are selected from a group consisting of: an indication of preference for a story unit, a sharing of a story unit, a commenting on a story unit, and any combination thereof. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more interactions with the one or more story units presented in the alternative configuration are selected from a group consisting of: an indication of preference for a story unit, a sharing of a story unit, a commenting on a story unit, and any combination thereof. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein selecting the default configuration for story units having the particular type from the initial configuration and the alternative configuration based at least in part on the captured one or more interactions with the one or more story units presented in the initial configuration and the captured one or more interactions with the one or more story units presented in the alternative configuration comprises: generating an interaction score for the initial configuration based at least in part on a number of users interacting with the one or more story units presented in the initial configuration; generating an interaction score for the alternative configuration based at least in part on a number of users interacting with the one or more story units presented in the alternative configuration; and selecting the default configuration based at least in part on the interaction score for the initial configuration and the interaction score for the alternative configuration. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein generating the interaction score for the initial configuration based at least in part on the number of users interacting with the one or more story units presented in the initial configuration comprises: associating weights with different types of interactions performed by the plurality of users; and generating the interaction score for the initial configuration based on a number for each of the different types of interactions performed by the plurality of users and the associated weights. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein at least one type of interaction from the different types of interactions is selected from a group consisting of: an indication of a preference, a share, a comment, and any combination thereof. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the common characteristic is a type of action. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the type of action is defined by an external system. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a request for a story unit from a viewing user; and responsive to the request, presenting a story unit having the particular type to the viewing user in the default configuration. ### Claim 10 A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving a story request from a viewing user; generating a story unit including a plurality of stories describing actions performed by one or more additional users connected to the viewing user, the story unit having a particular type determined from a characteristic common to each of the plurality of stories; selecting a configuration for the story unit from a plurality of configurations based at least in part on prior interactions between users of a social networking system and configurations of previously presented story units having the particular type; and presenting the generated story unit to the viewing user using the selected configuration. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the characteristic common to each of the plurality of stories includes describing a same type of action. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the characteristic common to each of the plurality of stories includes an association with a same external system. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein selecting the configuration for the story unit from a plurality of configurations based at least in part on prior interactions between users of a social networking system and configurations of previously presented story units having the particular type comprises: determining an interaction score for an initial configuration based on user interactions with previously presented story units using the initial configuration; determining an interaction score for an alternative configuration based on user interactions with previously presented story units using the alternative configuration; and selecting the configuration for the story unit from the initial configuration and the alternative configuration based at least in part on the interaction score for the initial configuration and interaction score for the alternative configuration. ### Claim 14 (depends on 10) The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the story unit includes one or more images associated with the plurality of stories. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the one or more images are arranged based on the selected configuration. ### Claim 16 A computer-implemented method comprising: presenting a plurality of stories each describing a type of action to a set of users of a social networking system in an initial configuration; presenting an additional plurality of stories each describing the type of action to an additional set of users of the social networking system in an alternative configuration; determining a level of interaction between the set of users and the plurality of stories presented in the initial configuration; determining a level of interaction between the additional set of users and the additional plurality of stories presented in the alternative configuration; and presenting a subsequent story describing the type of action to a viewing user using a configuration selected from the initial configuration and the alternative configuration based at least in part on (1) the level of interaction between the set of users and the plurality of stories and (2) the level of interaction between the additional set of users and the additional plurality of stories. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein determining the level of interaction between the set of users and the plurality of stories presented in the initial configuration comprises: determining a percentage of users presented with the plurality of stories that interacted with a story from the plurality of stories. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein determining the level of interaction between the additional set of users and the additional plurality of stories presented in the alternative configuration comprises: determining a percentage of users presented with the additional plurality of stories that interacted with a story from the additional plurality of stories. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein presenting the subsequent story describing the type of action to a viewing user using the configuration selected from the initial configuration and the alternative configuration comprises: selecting one of the initial configuration or the alternative configuration based at least in part on (1) the determined percentage of users presented with the additional plurality of stories that interacted with a story from the additional plurality of stories and (2) the determined percentage of users presented with the plurality of stories that interacted with a story from the plurality of stories. ### Claim 20 (depends on 16) The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the type of action is associated with a system external to the social networking system.