Communicating notifications from a third party system to online system users via the online system

A method comprising:

• maintaining a user profile by an online system associated with a user of the online system;
• receiving, at the online system, information from a third party system comprising a device identifier associated with an authorization that allows the third party system to communicate with a client device, the authorization generated by the third party system in response to a request from the client device that authorized communication from the third party system to the client device associated with the device identifier;
• determining the user profile associated with the user includes a device identifier that matches the device identifier identified in the received information from the third party system;
• updating the user profile with the authorization allowing communication from the third party system to the client device associated with the device identifier in the user profile associated with the user;
• receiving, at the online system, a request from the third party system to communicate a notification to users of the third party system, the request including one or more criteria specifying user characteristics;
• verifying the user profile associated with the user includes:
• user characteristics that satisfy at least a threshold number of the one or more criteria included in the request;
• and
• the authorization allowing communication from the third party system to the client device associated with the device identifier included in the user profile;
• transmitting the notification to the client device associated with the device identifier included in the user profile associated with the user.

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

• maintain a plurality of user profiles by an online system, each user profile associated with a user of the online system and comprising characteristics of the user of the online system, at least a portion of the plurality of user profiles associated with a device identifier for a client device of a user
• receive, by the online system from a third party system, a plurality of device identifiers each associated with an authorization that allows the third party system to communicate with a client device, the authorization generated by the third party system in response to a request from the client device that authorized communication from the third party system to the client device;
• identify user profiles maintained by the online system that include a device identifier matching a device identifier received from the third party system;
• for each identified user profile, update the user profile with the authorization allowing communication from the third party system to the client device associated with the device identifier received from the third party system;
• receive, at the online system, a request from the third party system to communicate a notification to users of the third party system, the request including one or more criteria specifying user characteristics of the users to be satisfied for the users to receive the notification from the online system on behalf of the third party system;
• select a set of the identified user profiles that each include:
• the authorization allowing communication from the third party system, and
• the characteristics of the user of the online system satisfying at least a threshold number of the one or more criteria included in the request;
• and
• transmit the notification to client devices associated with device identifiers included in the selected one or more user profiles.