Promoting content from an activity stream

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer-readable storage medium, for providing a method that includes receiving an indication from a user to promote an item that is included in an activity stream associated with the user, the activity stream being presented in a social context by a social application; receiving a request for an advertisement; determining the item is responsive to the request; determining one or more advertisements responsive to the request; ranking the item and the one or more advertisements; and providing the item in response to the request rather than the one or more advertisements and based at least in part on the rankings.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 - 26 . (canceled) 
     
     
         27 . A method comprising:
 receiving an indication from a user to promote one or more non-sponsored content items that are included in a first online publication;   receiving a request for one or more sponsored content items to be placed in one or more slots within a second online publication, wherein the second online publication is different from the first online publication that includes the one or more non-sponsored content items;   determining, by one or more processors, that the one or more non-sponsored content items are responsive to the request;   determining, by the one or more processors, one or more sponsored content items responsive to the request;   ranking the one or more sponsored content items and the one or more non-sponsored content items to determine a highest ranked sponsored content item and a highest ranked non-sponsored content item;   comparing, by the one or more processors, the highest ranked sponsored content item to the highest ranked non-sponsored content item; and   providing the non-sponsored content item in response to the request rather than the one or more sponsored content items based at least in part on the comparing.   
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein comparing is based on one or more criteria that relate to relevance of the one or more non-sponsored content items to the request. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the one or more criteria that relate to relevance of the one or more non-sponsored content items to the request include a relationship between the user and a publisher of the second online publication. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the one or more non-sponsored content items include metadata identifying the user who promoted the one or more non-sponsored content items. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the one or more non-sponsored content items include metadata identifying intended recipients of the one or more non-sponsored content items. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the one or more non-sponsored content items include metadata identifying one or more sources of the one or more non-sponsored content items. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the request for the one or more sponsored content items is received in response to a resource being displayed in the second online publication. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein the resource includes one or more search results. 
     
     
         35 . A system comprising:
 one or more processing devices; and   one or more storage devices storing instructions that are executable by the one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:
 receiving an indication from a user to promote one or more non-sponsored content items that are included in a first online publication; 
 receiving a request for one or more sponsored content items to be placed in one or more slots within a second online publication, wherein the second online publication is different from the first online publication that includes the one or more non-sponsored content items; 
 determining that the one or more non-sponsored content items are responsive to the request; 
 determining one or more sponsored content items responsive to the request; 
 ranking the one or more sponsored content items and the one or more non-sponsored content items to determine a highest ranked sponsored content item and a highest ranked non-sponsored content item; 
 comparing the highest ranked sponsored content item to the highest ranked non-sponsored content item; and 
 providing the non-sponsored content item in response to the request rather than the one or more sponsored content items based at least in part on the comparing. 
   
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein comparing is based on one or more criteria that relate to relevance of the one or more non-sponsored content items to the request. 
     
     
         37 . The system of  claim 36 , wherein the one or more criteria that relate to relevance of the one or more non-sponsored content items to the request include a relationship between the user and a publisher of the second online publication. 
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein the one or more non-sponsored content items include metadata identifying the user who promoted the one or more non-sponsored content items. 
     
     
         39 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein the one or more non-sponsored content items include metadata identifying intended recipients of the one or more non-sponsored content items. 
     
     
         40 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein the one or more non-sponsored content items include metadata identifying one or more sources of the one or more non-sponsored content items. 
     
     
         41 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein the request for the one or more sponsored content items is received in response to a resource being displayed in the second online publication. 
     
     
         42 . The system of  claim 41 , wherein the resource includes one or more search results 
     
     
         43 . One or more non-transitory computer storage devices storing instructions that are executable by one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:
 receiving an indication from a user to promote one or more non-sponsored content items that are included in a first online publication;   receiving a request for one or more sponsored content items to be placed in one or more slots within a second online publication, wherein the second online publication is different from the first online publication that includes the one or more non-sponsored content items;   determining that the one or more non-sponsored content items are responsive to the request;   determining one or more sponsored content items responsive to the request;   ranking the one or more sponsored content items and the one or more non-sponsored content items to determine a highest ranked sponsored content item and a highest ranked non-sponsored content item;   comparing the highest ranked sponsored content item to the highest ranked non-sponsored content item; and   providing the non-sponsored content item in response to the request rather than the one or more sponsored content items based at least in part on the comparing.   
     
     
         44 . The one or more non-transitory computer storage devices of  claim 43 , wherein comparing is based on one or more criteria that relate to relevance of the one or more non-sponsored content items to the request. 
     
     
         45 . The one or more non-transitory computer storage devices of  claim 44 , wherein the one or more criteria that relate to relevance of the one or more non-sponsored content items to the request include a relationship between the user and a publisher of the second online publication. 
     
     
         46 . The one or more non-transitory computer storage devices of  claim 43 , wherein the one or more non-sponsored content items include metadata identifying the user who promoted the one or more non-sponsored content items.