Query Construction on Online Social Networks

One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:

• send, to a client system of a first user, one or more query tokens to be presented to the first user, wherein each query token is based on a natural-language string and comprises references to one or more objects associated with an online social network, and wherein the one or more query tokens are selected based on user preferences of the first user;
• receive, from the client system, a selection of a query token of the one or more query tokens;
• determine one or more completion tokens that corresponds with the selected query token based on the references associated with the selected query token;
• send, to the client system, the one or more completion tokens to be presented to the first user;
• receive, from the client system, a structured query comprising the selected query token and a selected completion token;
• and
• send, to the client system, instructions for presenting one or more search results matching the structured query to the first user.

A system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and a memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors operable when executing the instructions to:
• send, to a client system of a first user, one or more query tokens to be presented to the first user, wherein each query token is based on a natural-language string and comprises references to one or more objects associated with an online social network, and wherein the one or more query tokens are selected based on user preferences of the first user;
• receive, from the client system, a selection of a query token of the one or more query tokens;
• determine one or more completion tokens that corresponds with the selected query token based on the references associated with the selected query token;
• send, to the client system, the one or more completion tokens to be presented to the first user;
• receive, from the client system, a structured query comprising the selected query token and a selected completion token;
• and
• send, to the client system, instructions for presenting one or more search results matching the structured query to the first user.