Determining reputations of users based on endorsements

Abstract

A method and system for evaluating the reputation of a member of a social networking system is disclosed. Consistent with an embodiment of the invention, one or more attributes associated with a social networking profile of a member of a social network are analyzed. Based on the analysis, a ranking, rating or score is assigned to a particular category of reputation. When requested, the ranking, rating or score is displayed to a user of the social network.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for displaying a reputation of a target member of a social networking system, the target member associated with a plurality of profile elements, the method comprising:
 storing one or more endorsements for the target member, each of the one or more endorsements associated with the plurality of profile elements;   receiving a search request, the search request having the target member as a search result;   computing a plurality of profile element endorsement counts, the plurality of profile element endorsement counts being counts of the one or more endorsements that are associated with each profile element in the plurality of profile elements, the computing of the plurality of profile endorsement counts being performed by one or more computer processors; and   generating a display profile of the target member for display, the display profile including a reputation visualization depicting a correspondence between the plurality of profile endorsement counts and the plurality of profile elements.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the correspondence between each of the plurality of profile endorsement counts and each the plurality of profile elements is represented with an icon. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising computing a network measure of influence for at least one profile element of the plurality of profile elements, and wherein the reputation visualization further includes representing the network measure of influence in conjunction with the at least one profile element. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the reputation visualization further depicts identifying information of each of one or more endorsers of the one or more profile elements, the one or more endorsers being one or more additional members of the social networking system who made the one or more endorsements associated with the plurality of profile elements. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the identifying information of each of the one or more endorsers comprises one or more photographs provided by each of the one or more endorsers. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the depicting of the correspondence between the plurality of profile endorsement counts and the plurality of profile elements includes separating the plurality of endorsement counts and the plurality of profile elements based on the values of the counts of the one or more endorsements. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the identifying information enables access to one or more profiles corresponding to the one or more endorsers. 
     
     
         8 . A system for displaying a reputation of a target member of a social networking system, the target member associated with a plurality of profile elements, the system comprising:
 a memory comprising a set of instructions;   one or more processors coupled to the memory and configured to, based on the set of instructions,   store one or more endorsements for the target member, each of the one or more endorsements associated with the plurality of profile elements;   receive a search request, the search request having the target member as a search result;   compute a plurality of profile element endorsement counts, the plurality of profile element endorsement counts being counts of the one or more endorsements that are associated with each profile element in the plurality of profile elements; and   generate a display profile of the target member for display, the display profile including a reputation visualization depicting a correspondence between the plurality of profile endorsement counts and the plurality of profile elements.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the correspondence between each of the plurality of profile endorsement counts and each the plurality of profile elements is represented with an icon. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , further comprising computing a network measure of influence for at least one profile element of the plurality of profile elements, and wherein the reputation visualization further includes representing the network measure of influence in conjunction with the at least one profile element. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the reputation visualization further depicts identifying information of each of one or more endorsers of the one or more profile elements, the one or more endorsers being one or more additional members of the social networking system who made the one or more endorsements associated with the plurality of profile elements. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the identifying information of each of the one or more endorsers comprises one or more photographs provided by each of the one or more endorsers. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the depicting of the correspondence between the plurality of profile endorsement counts and the plurality of profile elements includes separating the plurality of endorsement counts and the plurality of profile elements based on the values of the counts of the one or more endorsements. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the identifying information enables access to one or more profiles corresponding to the one or more endorsers. 
     
     
         15 . An apparatus for displaying a reputation of a target member of a social networking system, the target member associated with a plurality of profile elements, the apparatus comprising:
 means for storing one or more endorsements for the target member, each of the one or more endorsements associated with the plurality of profile elements;   means for receiving a search request, the search request having the target member as a search result;   means for computing a plurality of profile element endorsement counts, the plurality of profile element endorsement counts being counts of the one or more endorsements that are associated with each profile element in the plurality of profile elements; and   means for generating a display profile of the target member for display, the display profile including a reputation visualization depicting a correspondence between the plurality of profile endorsement counts and the plurality of profile elements.   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the correspondence between each of the plurality of profile endorsement counts and each the plurality of profile elements is represented with an icon. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , further comprising means for computing a network measure of influence for at least one profile element of the plurality of profile elements, and wherein the reputation visualization further includes representing the network measure of influence in conjunction with the at least one profile element. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the reputation visualization further depicts identifying information of each of one or more endorsers of the one or more profile elements, the one or more endorsers being one or more additional members of the social networking system who made the one or more endorsements associated with the plurality of profile elements. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein the identifying information of each of the one or more endorsers comprises one or more photographs provided by each of the one or more endorsers. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the depicting of the correspondence between the plurality of profile endorsement counts and the plurality of profile elements includes separating the plurality of endorsement counts and the plurality of profile elements based on the values of the counts of the one or more endorsements.