Following deals in a social networking system

Abstract

Social networking systems allow users to track deals offered by deal providers. A user can send a request to follow a deal to the social networking system. The social networking system sends information describing actions associated with the deal performed by other users connected to the user via the social networking system. The actions associated with the deals can be interactions of users with the deal or interactions of users with objects associated with the deal. Examples of interactions with a deal include liking the deal, commenting on the deal, and recommending the deal. Examples of interactions with objects associated with the deal include commenting on a business profile associated with the deal and being tagged in an image of a location associated with the deal. The social networking system may provide information describing these interactions via a channel used for reporting information, for example, newsfeed.

1 . A computer implemented method comprising:
 receiving a request to follow a deal from a user, the request comprising information identifying the user and information identifying the deal;   receiving information describing an interaction between users of the social networking system and one or more objects associated with the deal;   determining whether the interaction is performed by another user with whom the user has established a connection in the social networking system; and   responsive to determining that the interaction is performed by another user with whom the user has established a connection in the social networking system, reporting information describing the interaction to the user.   
     
     
         2 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 responsive to determining that the interaction is performed by another user outside the set of users with whom the user has established a connection in the social networking system, excluding the interaction from information reported to the user.   
     
     
         3 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more objects associated with the deal comprise a profile of a business associated with the deal and the interaction comprises checking in to a location of the business. 
     
     
         4 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more objects associated with the deal comprise a profile of a business associated with the deal and the interaction comprises one of making a purchase from the business, liking the business profile, commenting on the business profile, or recommending the business profile to a connection. 
     
     
         5 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more objects associated with the deal comprise an image of a location associated with the deal and the interaction comprises one of the other user being tagged in the image, commenting on the image, liking the image, or uploading the image. 
     
     
         6 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the information describing the interaction is reported to the user via a channel for reporting information to users of the social networking system. 
     
     
         7 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a significance score for the interaction, wherein an interaction is selected for reporting to the user based on the ranking score.   
     
     
         8 . The computer implemented method of  claim 7 , wherein the significance score for the interaction is based on an affinity between the other user performing the interaction and the user. 
     
     
         9 . The computer implemented method of  claim 7 , wherein the significance score for the interaction is based on past interactions related to deals between the user and the other user connected to the user. 
     
     
         10 . The computer implemented method of  claim 9 , past interactions related to deals comprise the user and the other user connected to the user participating in another deal. 
     
     
         11 . The computer implemented method of  claim 9 , past interactions related to deals comprise the user and the other user checking in to a location associated with another deal within a threshold time interval of each other. 
     
     
         12 . The computer implemented method of  claim 9 , past interactions related to deals comprise the user and the other user being tagged in an image of a location associated with another deal. 
     
     
         13 . The computer implemented method of  claim 7 , wherein the significance score for the interaction is determined based on a type of the interaction. 
     
     
         14 . The computer implemented method of  claim 13 , wherein a type of interaction indicating a purchase of the deal is assigned higher significance score than a type of interaction indicating recommending the deal. 
     
     
         15 . The computer implemented method of  claim 13 , wherein a type of interaction indicating recommending the deal scored higher than a type of interaction indicating liking the deal. 
     
     
         16 . The computer implemented method of  claim 13 , wherein a type of interaction indicating commenting on the deal is weighted more than a type of interaction indicating liking the deal. 
     
     
         17 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the interaction is a first interaction and the deal is a first deal, wherein the first interaction is selected over a second interaction with a second deal if the first deal is determined to expire before the second deal. 
     
     
         18 . A computer implemented method comprising:
 receiving a request to follow a deal from a user, the request comprising information identifying the user and information identifying the deal;   receiving information describing an interaction between users of the social networking system and a representation of the deal in the social networking system; and   responsive to determining that the interaction is performed by another user with whom the user has established a connection in the social networking system, reporting information describing the interaction to the user.   
     
     
         19 . The computer implemented method of  claim 18 , wherein the interaction comprises one of purchasing the deal, participating in the deal, liking the deal, commenting on the deal, checking in to a location associated with the deal, or recommending the deal to a connection. 
     
     
         20 . The computer implemented method of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 responsive to determining that the interaction is performed by another user outside the set of users with whom the user has established a connection in the social networking system, excluding the interaction from information reported to the user.   
     
     
         21 . The computer implemented method of  claim 18 , wherein the information describing the interaction is reported to the user via a channel for reporting information to users of the social networking system. 
     
     
         22 . The computer implemented method of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 determining a score for the interaction, wherein an interaction is selected for reporting to the user based on the ranking score.   
     
     
         23 . The computer implemented method of  claim 22 , wherein the score for the interaction is determined based on past interactions related to other deals between the other user and the user.