Social competition engine

A method comprising:

• transmitting an indication of a challenge to a user device of a user, wherein the indication is to be displayed by the user device to the user, the indication comprising:
• a challenge description that describes the challenge that the user and other users of a social networking system may participate in, and
• a challenge stakes description that describes an award for a winner of the challenge;
• receiving, from the user device of the user, evidence indicating that the user has fulfilled the challenge;
• and
• transmitting the evidence to a plurality of user devices of a plurality of users of the social networking system, wherein the evidence is to be displayed by the plurality of user devices to the plurality of users.

A social networking system comprising:

• a communications interface to transmit and receive messages to and from a plurality of user devices of a plurality of users of a social networking system;
• a social competition engine module to utilize the communications interface to:
• receive, from a user device of a first user of the plurality of users, a challenge creation request message comprising:
• a challenge indication that describes a competition that the plurality of users may participate in,
• a challenge stakes indication that describes at least one of an award for a winner of the competition and a consequence for losers of the competition, and
• a set of user identifiers for a set of users including those of the plurality of users that are not the first user;
• notify each user of the set of users about the competition;
• receive one or more challenge acceptance messages from one or more user devices utilized by one or more of the first set of users, wherein each challenge acceptance message indicates that the respective user will participate in the competition;
• receive a challenge completion message indicating the winner of the competition;
• receive evidence indicating a fulfillment of the challenge stakes;
• transmit information about the winner of the competition to a set of one or more user devices of at least one of the plurality of users, wherein the information is to be displayed by the set of user devices;
• and
• transmit the evidence indicating the fulfillment of the challenge stakes to each of the set of user devices, wherein the evidence is to be displayed by the set of user devices.

A social networking system comprising:

• a communications interface to transmit and receive messages to and from a plurality of user devices of a plurality of users of a social networking system;
• a social competition engine module to utilize the communications interface to:
• transmit an indication of a challenge to a user device of the user, wherein the indication is to be displayed by the user device to the user, wherein the indication comprises:
• a challenge description that describes the challenge that the user and other users of the social networking system may participate in, and
• a challenge stakes description that describes an award for a winner of the challenge,
• receive, from the user device of the user, evidence indicating that the user has fulfilled the challenge, and
• transmit the evidence to a plurality of user devices of a plurality of users of the social networking system, wherein the evidence is to be displayed by the plurality of user devices to the plurality of users.