Method, medium, and system for managing recommendations in an online marketplace

Abstract

A method and a system to manage recommendations in an online marketplace are presented. A social shopping interface is provided at a publisher site accessed by a first user identified by a first user identifier. A recommendation of a listing describing an item for sale and including a second user identifier corresponding to a second user is accessed from a recommendation database. The recommendation, including at least a portion of the listing and the second user identifier are displayed to the first user at the publisher site via the social shopping interface.

1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, from a first user, a plurality of recommendations for products offered for sale;   communicating the plurality of recommendations to a plurality of users;   determining an outcome for each recommendation of the plurality of recommendations, the outcome including an action taken in response to the recommendation;   calculating, using a process of a machine, an expert score of the first user based on outcomes of the plurality of recommendations; and   identifying the first user as an expert based on the expert score.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining an outcome of the plurality of recommendations includes determining that a purchase occurred subsequent to detecting a viewing of a recommendation from the plurality of recommendations by a user of the plurality of users. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising tracking a number of purchases that occurred by the plurality of users subsequent to viewing a recommendation, wherein the calculating the expert score of the first user is based on the number of purchases by the plurality of users. 
     
     
         4 . The method of claim  0 , further comprising:
 receiving, from a plurality of other users, ratings corresponding to the recommendations by the first user; and   updating the expert score of the first user based on the ratings from the plurality of other users.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising updating the expert score of the first user based on the number of subsequent recommendations received from the first user. 
     
     
         6 . The method of claim  0 , further comprising visually distinguishing subsequent recommendations received from the first user, the subsequent recommendations being visually distinguished relative to recommendations received by other users. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the visually distinguishing of the subsequent recommendations received from the first user comprises highlighting the subsequent recommendations received from the first user. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the products are assigned to a single category of products, and wherein the first user is identified as an expert in the single category. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the recommendations include a web site identifier. 
     
     
         10 . The method of claim  0 , wherein the outcomes of the recommendations from the first user includes a purchase of at least one of the products. 
     
     
         11 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon that when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
 receiving, from a first user, a plurality of recommendations for products offered for sale;   communicating the plurality of recommendations to a plurality of users;   determining an outcome for each recommendation of the plurality of recommendations, the outcome including an action taken in response to the recommendation;   calculating an expert score of the first user based on outcomes of the plurality of recommendations; and   visually distinguishing subsequent recommendations received from the first user based on the expert score.   
     
     
         12 . The storage medium of  claim 11 , wherein determining an outcome of the plurality of recommendations includes determining that a purchase occurred subsequent to detecting a viewing of a recommendation from the plurality of recommendations by a user of the plurality of users. 
     
     
         13 . The storage medium of  claim 12 , further comprising tracking a number of purchases by the plurality of users that occurred subsequent to viewing a recommendation, wherein the calculating the expert score of the first user is based on the number of purchases by the plurality of users. 
     
     
         14 . The storage medium of  claim 01 , wherein the method further comprises:
 receiving, from a plurality of other users, ratings corresponding to the recommendations by the first user; and   updating the expert score of the first user based on the ratings from the plurality of other users.   
     
     
         15 . The storage medium of  claim 11 , wherein the method further comprise updating the expert score of the first user based on the number of subsequent recommendations received from the first user. 
     
     
         16 . The storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein the subsequent recommendations are visually distinguished relative to recommendations received by other users. 
     
     
         17 . The storage medium of  claim 11 , wherein the visual distinguishing subsequent recommendations received from the first user comprises highlighting the subsequent recommendations received from the first user. 
     
     
         18 . The storage medium of  claim 11 , wherein the products are assigned to a single category of products, and wherein the first user is identified as an expert in the single category. 
     
     
         19 . The storage medium of  claim 01 , wherein the outcomes of the recommendations from the first user includes a purchase of at least one of the products. 
     
     
         20 . A system comprising:
 a memory to store a plurality of recommendations, received from a first user, for products offered for sale in an online marketplace; and   one or more processors to implement:
 a retrieval module to communicate the plurality of recommendations for products to a plurality of users; 
 an expert module to calculate an expert score of the first user based on a number of purchases by the plurality of users resulting from the recommendations, the expert module further to identify the first user as an expert based on the expert score; and 
 a social shopping interface module, to generate a social shopping interface at a publisher site, the social shopping interface to display a set of recommendations, the set of recommendations including the plurality of recommendations from the first user, the plurality of recommendations from the first user being visually distinguished from the remainder of recommendations from the set of recommendations based on the first user being identified as an expert.