Associating deals with events in a social networking system

Abstract

Social networking systems create representations of events associated with deals and populate attributes of the event based on information associated with the deal. Examples of attributes populated based on the deal include location for the event, potential participants for the event, or time for the event. The deal can be a social deal that is activated by participation of multiple users of the social networking system. The social networking system synchronizes potential or actual participants for the event with potential or actual participants of the social deal. The social networking system identifies events represented in the social networking system that are associated with the deal and suggests possible interactions with the entities to users associated with the deal. For example, the social networking system may request the user to become member of a social group associated with the deal, or purchase another deal associated with the current deal.

1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving a request for participation in a deal from a user of the social networking system;   creating a representation of an event in the social networking system, wherein the representation of the event comprises attributes populated based on information associated with the deal;   presenting information describing the event to the user, wherein the information comprises attributes of the event populated based on estimated values; and   receiving updates to one or more attributes of the event from the user.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining one or more connections of the user as potential participants for the event.   
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 3 , wherein the potential participants for the event are determined based on past events associated with deals similar to the deal. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 granting access to information describing the event to the potential participants determined for the event.   
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the representation of the event comprises a time of the event, the method further comprising:
 determining one or more suggestions for the time of the event based on a time associated with the deal.   
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the representation of the event comprises a location for the event, the method further comprising:
 determining one or more suggestions for the location of the event based on locations associated with the deal.   
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 6 , wherein the determining the suggestions for the location of the event comprise:
 determining one or more past events in which the user participated that are similar to the event; and   determining suggestions for the location of the event based on locations of the past events.   
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving request for information describing the event; and   providing information describing the deal in response to the request for information.   
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 sending a request to a calendar service to create a calendar entry for the event.   
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 sending a request to an external system of a business provider associated with the deal to schedule resources for the event.   
     
     
         11 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving a request for creation of a social deal from a user of the social networking system, wherein activation of the social deal requires multiple users to perform actions associated with the social deal;   sending a request to schedule an event, the event corresponding to an activity benefiting from the deal;   responsive to receiving information identifying potential participants of the social deal, sending a request to add each potential participant to the event; and   responsive to receiving a message confirming participation by a potential participant in the event, sending a request to confirm participation by the user in the social deal.   
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 responsive to receiving a message confirming participation by a potential participant in the social deal, sending a request to confirm participation by the user in the event.   
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 responsive to receiving a request to participate in the event from a new user, adding the new user as a potential participant in the social deal.   
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the representation of the event comprises a location for the event, the method further comprising:
 determining one or more suggestions for the location of the event based on a proximity of locations associated with the deal with locations associated with potential participants.   
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 granting access to information describing the event to the potential participants of the social deal.   
     
     
         16 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving information describing an action associated with a deal, the action performed by a user of a social networking system;   identifying an entity represented in the social networking system associated with the deal;   identifying an action associated with the entity that can be performed by users of the social networking system; and   sending a request to the user for performing the action associated with the entity.   
     
     
         17 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 16 , wherein the entity is a social group and the action is getting a membership in the social group. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 16 , wherein the entity is another deal and the action is participating in the deal. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 16 , wherein the entity is an image associated with the location of the deal and the action is one of retrieving the image, liking the image, or commenting on the image. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 16 , wherein the entity is an event and the action is sending an RSVP message for the event.