Providing a locality viewport through a social networking system

Abstract

A method of operation of a social filter system includes: identifying a user with a user account; identifying a socially connected account from the user account, the socially connected account having a social association; selecting a content of interest from a content store of contents of interest based on the social association; and sending the content of interest for displaying on a user device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 identifying a user associated with a first user account of a social networking system;   identifying a second user account that has social connection with the first user account according to a social connectivity graph of the social networking system;   selecting at least a content of interest (COI) from a content store of contents of interest (COIs) responsive to identifying the COI as being tagged in a user-generated post by the second user account to the social networking system; and   generating, for the first user account, a locality viewport that presents location-based information corresponding to a geographical region on a map, wherein the locality viewport presents the selected COI with a reference to the user-generated post to the first user account.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said selecting is based on comparing a timestamp of the user-generated post to a time threshold to determine a time-based relevancy of the COI relative to when the locality viewport is generated. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising presenting a plurality of relevant COIs from the content store on the locality viewport, wherein each of the relevant COIs corresponds to a geographical location within the geographical region, is tagged in a user-generated post to the social networking system, and the user-generated post is generated within a time threshold from when the plurality of relevant COIs are presented. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 identifying one or more media objects posted to the social networking system that corresponds to the plurality of relevant COIs in the geographical region; and   presenting the media objects in aggregate in the locality viewport in association with the geographical region.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 computing a popularity trend of the COI that measures an increase or a decrease in social associations with the COI; and   presenting the computed popularity trend in the locality viewport with the COI.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying a pattern of social associations between the second user account and the COI; and   displaying the identified pattern on the locality viewport.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining the second user account as an expert of the COI based on one or more user interactions between the second user account and the COI; and displaying the second user account in the locality viewport as the expert of the COI. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein determining the second user account as the expert includes counting a number of the user interactions between the second user account and the COI. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising generating an inquiry message from the first user account to the second user account, wherein the inquiry message is pre-populated with identifying information of the COI and a media content tagged in the user-generated post of the second user account. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user-generated post includes a post with a check-in tag, a photo tag, a geographical tag, a post tag, or any combination thereof. 
     
     
         11 . A computer-readable storage memory storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions comprising:
 instructions for identifying a first user account of a social networking system;   instructions for tracking a social association between a second user account and a content of interest (COI) associated with a geographical location;   instructions for generating a locality viewport for the first user account, wherein the locality viewport renders a map of a geographical region;   instructions for selecting the COI in the geographical region by determining that the second user account is directly connected, via a social connection, to the first user account in a social connectivity graph of the social networking system, determining a timestamp of the social association is within a recency threshold, and determining that the geographical location of the COI is within the geographical region; and   instructions for updating the locality viewport to present the COI.   
     
     
         12 . The computer-readable storage memory of  claim 11 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprises instructions for selecting, based on the social association and the social connection, a user interaction between the second user account and the COI to present on the locality viewport. 
     
     
         13 . The computer-readable storage memory of  claim 11 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprises:
 instructions for counting a number of one or more social associations involving the COI; and   instructions for sorting, for display in the locality viewport and based on the counted number of the social associations, the COI amongst one or more other contents of interest (COIs) corresponding to one or more locations within the geographical region.   
     
     
         14 . The computer-readable storage memory of  claim 11 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprises:
 instructions for counting a number of user accounts with at least one social association with the COI; and   instructions for sorting, for display in the locality viewport and based on a counted number of the user accounts, the COI amongst one or more other contents of interest (COIs) corresponding to one or more locations within the geographical region.   
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable storage memory of  claim 11 , wherein locality viewport provides access to a content page of the COI and a user-specific page of the second user account in the social networking system. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable storage memory of  claim 11 , wherein the locality viewport displays the COI in a visual view of the map. 
     
     
         17 . A computer system, comprising:
 non-transitory memory configured to store executable instructions;   one or more processors configured by the executable instructions to:
 identify a first user account of a social networking system and a geographical region interested by the first user account; 
 select one or more relevant contents of interest (COIs), each associated with a geographical location within the geographical region; 
 select one or more relevant user accounts, each having a social connection with the first user account according to a social connectivity graph of the social networking system and at least a social association with at least one of the relevant COIs; 
 identify one or more media objects tagged by the relevant user accounts and associated with the relevant COIs; and 
 generate for the first user account, a locality viewport that presents location-based information of the geographical region, wherein the locality viewport is configured to generate multiple view types corresponding to the geographical region, including a friend view that lists the relevant user accounts, an explorer view that lists the media objects, a content view that lists the relevant COIs, a visualization view that presents the location-based information on a map, or any combination. 
   
     
     
         18 . The computer system of  claim 17 , wherein the relevant COIs are selected by identifying the relevant COIs as being tagged in at least one user-generated post by at least one of the relevant user accounts. 
     
     
         19 . The computer system of  claim 17 , wherein the locality viewport is configured to identify the geographical region based on a global positioning system (GPS) location associated with the first user account. 
     
     
         20 . The computer system of  claim 17 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
 compute a popularity trend of at least one of the relevant COIs, wherein the popularity trend measures an increase or a decrease in social associations with the at least one of the relevant COIs; and   present the computed popularity trend in the locality viewport with the at least one of the relevant COIs.