User initiated deals in a social networking system

Abstract

Social networking systems allow users to initiate a deal associated with a provider. A user sends a deal proposal to the social networking system and provides information describing connections of the user that are potential participants of the deal. The social networking system may propose potential participants of the deal to the user. The social networking system determines whether the proposal is acceptable to the provider. The social networking system may send a request to the provider to determine whether the deal is acceptable to the provider. If the proposal is acceptable to the provider, information indicating acceptance of the proposal is sent to the user. If the proposal is not acceptable to the provider, a modified deal proposal may be sent to the user.

1 . A computer implemented method for creating deals initiated by a user of a social networking system, the method comprising:
 receiving a request to initiate a deal from a user of the social networking system, the request comprising information describing a proposal for the deal;   identifying a set of connections of the user as potential participants of the proposal for the deal;   sending information describing the identified set of connections to the user; and   receiving a selection from the user of one or more connections from the set of connections as participants of the deal.   
     
     
         2 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 associating the proposal of the deal with a provider;   sending a request to the provider to determine whether the proposal for the deal is acceptable to the provider; and   responsive to determining that the proposal for the deal is acceptable to the provider, sending a message to the user indicating acceptance of the proposal.   
     
     
         3 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 associating the proposal of the deal with a provider;   responsive to determining that the proposal for the deal is unacceptable to the provider, sending a modified deal proposal to the user.   
     
     
         4 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the information describing the proposal for the deal comprises one or more of a location, a time, and a price associated with the proposed deal. 
     
     
         5 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the set of connections of the user comprises:
 selecting one or more connections based at least in part on the user's affinity for the connections.   
     
     
         6 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the set of connections of the user comprises:
 determining a first distance value of a location of a first connection of the user with respect to a location associated with the deal;   determining a second distance value of a location of a first connection of the user with respect to the location associated with the deal; and   responsive to determining that the first distance value is less than the second distance value, selecting the first connection over the second connection.   
     
     
         7 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the set of connections of the user comprises:
 determining interests of the connections of the user; and   matching the interests of the connections of the user with information about the proposed deal.   
     
     
         8 . The computer implemented method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 identifying an additional set of connections based on the user's selection of the one or more connections; and   sending the additional set of connections to the user for making a further selection of connections as potential participants of the proposal for the deal.   
     
     
         9 . The computer implemented method of  claim 8 , wherein selecting the additional set of connections based on the user's selection of the one or more connections comprises:
 identifying a connection for the additional set based on an affinity of the user for the identified connection.   
     
     
         10 . The computer implemented method of  claim 8 , wherein selecting the additional set of connections based on the user's selection of the one or more connections comprises:
 identifying a connection for the additional set based on a location of the identified connection with respect to locations of the selected one or more connections.   
     
     
         11 . The computer implemented method of  claim 8 , wherein selecting the additional set of connections based on the user's selection of the one or more connections comprises:
 identifying a connection for the additional set based on a gender of the identified connection with respect to genders of the selected one or more connections.   
     
     
         12 . The computer implemented method of  claim 8 , wherein selecting the additional set of connections based on the user's selection of the one or more connections comprises:
 identifying a connection for the additional set based on matching of an age of the identified connection with ages of the selected one or more connections.   
     
     
         13 . The computer implemented method of  claim 8 , wherein selecting the additional set of connections based on the user's selection of the one or more connections comprises:
 determining a cluster of connections associated with the selected one or more connections, wherein a connection from the cluster has higher affinity with other connections of the cluster compared to connections outside the cluster; and   identifying connections for the additional set from the cluster.   
     
     
         14 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein determining whether the proposal of the deal is acceptable to the provider comprises:
 sending information describing the deal proposal to the provider; and   receiving from the provider, information describing whether the deal is acceptable to the provider.   
     
     
         15 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein determining whether the proposal of the deal is acceptable to the provider comprises:
 receiving criteria from providers for determining whether the deal proposal is acceptable to the provider; and   applying the criteria to determine whether the deal proposal is acceptable to the provider.   
     
     
         16 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the information describing one or more connections of the user is received from the user. 
     
     
         17 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the information describing one or more connections of the user is received from the connections of the user. 
     
     
         18 . A computer program product having a computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable code for creating deals initiated by a user of a social networking system, the code comprising:
 a dashboard manager configured to:
 receive a request for initiating a deal from a user of the social networking system, the request comprising information describing a proposal for the deal; 
   a deal proposal module configured to:
 identify a set of connections of the user as potential participants of the deal; 
 send information describing the set of connections to the user; and 
   the dashboard manager further configured to:
 receive a selection of one or more connections from the set of connections as participants of the deal. 
   
     
     
         19 . The computer program product of  claim 18 , wherein the deal proposal module is further configured to:
 associate the proposal of the deal with a provider;   determine whether the proposal for the deal is acceptable to a provider; and   responsive to determining that the proposal for the deal is acceptable to the provider, send a message to the user indicating acceptance of the proposal.   
     
     
         20 . The computer program product of  claim 18 , wherein the deal proposal module is further configured to:
 associate the proposal of the deal with a provider;   responsive to determining that the proposal for the social deal is unacceptable to the provider, send a modified deal proposal to the user.