Methods and systems for utilizing activity data with clustered events

#The present disclosure generally relates to processing and presenting web content within an online social networking environment. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to methods and systems for clustering individual items of web content, and then utilizing user activity and profile data, in combination with a user's social network data, to both select clusters of content items for presentation to a user, and determine how the selected clusters of content items are presented to the user of an online social network.

#A social network service is a computer- or web-based application that enables users to establish links or connections with persons for the purpose of sharing information with one another. In general, a social network service enables people to memorialize or acknowledge the relationships that exist in their “offline” (i.e., real-world) lives by establishing a computer-based representation of these same relationships in the “online” world. With a social networking site or service, a user may have many options for sharing information with others. For example, a user may communicate a private message to a single user, for example, by directing an email to the user, or by posting the message to a web page only accessible to the recipient. In addition to sharing user-generated content, a social networking user may share information by sharing a link (e.g., a hyperlink or Uniform Resource Locator (URL)), directing the recipient to an external content source, such as a blog site, news site, or an audio or video clip of potential interest to the recipient. In addition to enabling one-to-one sharing, many social network services make it easy to share information with multiple users, including groups. For example, some social network services enable a user to post a message to, or share a link with, all users or some predefined set of users. With some social networks, users can self-organize into groups, such that like-minded individuals, or individuals with a common interest, can become members of the same group for purposes of sharing information and communicating with one another.

#As users of social network services become more accustomed to interacting with and via the services, and as users become accustomed to sharing more personal information using the services, the services have access to greater amounts of more personal user information. Consequently, opportunities exist to improve and enrich the overall experience by presenting to users the right mix of information at the right time.

#Some embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which:

#FIG. 1 shows some of the many relationships that an individual user of a social network service may have with other users and entities (e.g., groups, companies, topics, keywords, etc.) of the social network service consistent with some embodiments of the invention;

#FIG. 2 illustrates the concept of a cluster of web documents for use with some embodiments of the invention;

#Methods and systems for clustering individual items of web content, and then utilizing user activity and profile data, in combination with social network data, to select clusters of web content items for presentation to users of an online social network are described. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of different embodiments of the present invention. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in the art, that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details.

#For purposes of the present disclosure, an item of web content is meant to broadly encompass, as the name suggests, any individual item or unit of textual, visual, or aural content that may be processed, rendered and presented as part of the user experience with a website. In particular, the term “web content” is meant to encompass web documents and web pages, where a web document is defined more broadly than a web page and the two can be distinguished by at least some of the following characteristics. Whereas a web page is formatted in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) or XTML (eXtensible Hypertext Markup Language) and transferred using HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) or HTTPS (HTTP Secure), web documents are formatted with HTML, XHTML, or any other type of valid MIME Content-Type, such as an ISO OpenDocument, and transferred with HTTP, HTTPS, or any other Internet communication protocol. Additionally, a web page is traditionally displayed and viewed via a conventional web browser application, whereas a web document may be displayed or viewed within a web browser or any other MIME-compatible application, to include any number and variety of desktop, mobile or tablet-based applications.

#Consistent with some embodiments of the invention, using the various methodologies described herein, a social network service analyzes web documents relating to news stories or news events, to generate clusters of web documents based on unique news stories and/or events. By monitoring and detecting how various users interact with the web documents, the social network service attempts to present or recommend the cluster of web documents related to the news stories and/or events that are most likely to be of interest to a particular user. As such, the many illustrated examples presented herein refer to web documents, and more particularly, web documents associated with news stories and events. However, a great number and variety of other items of web content are equally applicable to the inventive subject matter. For instance, other examples of web content items with which the invention may be utilized include, but are not limited to: web pages, text, messages, tweets, photographs, graphics, videos content, and audio content. Furthermore, for purposes of the present disclosure, a “user” of a social network service is meant to include both registered users—such as those who have registered with a service and have obtained authentication information (e.g., username/email address and password)—and, unregistered users or guests to the social networking service site.