Dynamic place visibility in geo-social networking system

Abstract

In one embodiment, a user of a social networking system requests to search for a place near the user's current location. The social networking system generates a list of places near the user's current location, select a sub-set from the list of places based on visibility and activity of the user and the user's social contacts for each place in the list, and returns the sub-set to the user.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving a request, wherein the request comprises a user identifier associated with a first user and a geographic location;   accessing a data store of user-profile information to identify one or more direct social contacts of the first user;   accessing a data store of places in a social-networking system, each place having a corresponding web page, each place associated with at least one user of the social-networking system, and each place having a visibility state of a plurality of visibility states, wherein each of the plurality of visibility states is operative to control visibility of the respective corresponding web page to users of the social-networking system, and
 wherein accessing the data store of places comprises identifying a set of one or more nearby places, the one or more nearby places located within a threshold distance of the geographic location; 
   selecting a sub-set of the set of one or more nearby places based on the visibility state of each place, the at least one user associated with each place, and the one or more direct social contacts of the first user; and   providing the selected sub-set of the set of one or more nearby places to the first user.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of visibility states comprises:
 a first visibility state wherein the corresponding web page is visible to all users of the social-networking system;   a second visibility state wherein the corresponding web page is visible only to social contacts of the at least one user associated with the place;   a third visibility state wherein the corresponding web page is visible only to a creator of the place; and   a fourth visibility state wherein the corresponding web page is hidden from all users of the social-networking system.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the visibility state of each place is based at least in part on a respective visibility score of each place. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the visibility score of each place is based on user activity data associated with each respective place. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the user activity data associated with at least one place comprises checking-in to the at least one place. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the user activity data associated with at least one place comprises tagging other users in connection with a check-in to the at least one place. 
     
     
         7 . The method of claim . 4 , wherein the user activity data associated with at least one place comprises performing a search for the at least one place. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the user activity data associated with at least one place comprises creating the at least one place. 
     
     
         9 . The method of claim II, wherein the geographic location is a current location of the first user. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the request further comprises a character string; and
 wherein accessing the data store of places further comprises matching the character string to one or more place identifiers, wherein each of the one or more place identifiers corresponds to a respective place.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein matching the character string to the one or more place identifiers comprises determining a partial match between the character string and each of the one or more place identifiers. 
     
     
         12 . An apparatus comprising:
 a processor;   a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium coupled to the processor, the medium comprising instructions operative when executed to cause the processor to:
 receive a request, wherein the request comprises a user identifier associated with a first user and a geographic location; 
 access a data store of user-profile information to identify one or more direct social contacts of the first user; 
 access a data store of places in a social-networking system, each place having a corresponding web page, each place associated with at least one user of the social-networking system, and each place having a visibility state of a plurality of visibility states, wherein each of the plurality of visibility states is operative to control visibility of the respective corresponding web page to users of the social-networking system, and
 wherein accessing the data store of places comprises identifying a set of one or more nearby places, the one or more nearby places located within a threshold distance of the geographic location; 
 
 select a sub-set of the set of one or more nearby places based on the visibility state of each place, the at least one user associated with each place, and the one or more direct social contacts of the first user; and 
 provide the selected sub-set of the set of one or more nearby places to the first user. 
   
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the plurality of visibility states comprises:
 a first visibility state wherein the corresponding web page is visible to all users of the social-networking system;   a second visibility state wherein the corresponding web page is visible only to social contacts of the at least one user associated with the place;   a third visibility state wherein the corresponding web page is visible only to a creator of the place; and   a fourth visibility state wherein the corresponding web page is hidden from all users of the social-networking system.   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the visibility state of each place is based at least in part on a respective visibility score of each place. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the visibility score of each place is based on user activity data associated with each respective place. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the user activity data associated with at least one place comprises:
 checking-in to the at least one place.   tagging other users in connection with a check-in to the at least one place;   performing a search for the at least one place; or   creating the at least one place.   
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the geographic location is a current location of the first user. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the request further comprises a character string; and wherein accessing the data store of places further comprises matching the character string to one or more place identifiers, wherein each of the one or more place identifiers corresponds to a respective place. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein matching the character string to the one or more place identifiers comprises determining a partial match between the character string and each of the one or more place identifiers. 
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium embodying software that is operable when executed to:
 receive a request, wherein the request comprises it user identifier associated with a first user and a geographic location;   access a data store of user-profile information to identify one or more direct social contacts of the first user;   access a data store of places in a social-networking system, each place having a corresponding web page, each place associated with at least one user of the social-networking system, and each place having a visibility state of a plurality of visibility states, wherein each of the plurality of visibility states is operative to control visibility of the respective corresponding web page to users of the social-networking system, and   wherein accessing the data store of places comprises identifying a set of one or more nearby places, the one or more nearby places located within a threshold distance of the geographic location;   select a sub-set of the set of one or more nearby places based on the visibility state of each place, the at least one user associated with each place, and the one or more direct social contacts of the first user; and   provide the selected sub-set of the set of one or more nearby places to the first user.