Designating Automated Agents as Friends in Social Network Service

Abstract

A system is described in which a user can add one or more automated agents as “friends” in a social network service. In operation, an automated agent observes an information need expressed by the user via the social network service, e.g., in the form of an original message posted to the social network service; determines whether it is appropriate to reply to the information need; uses automated functionality to generate a reply message to the information need (if it is deemed appropriate to reply to the information need); and sends the reply message to a target destination, such as a social network page associated with the user. For example, without limitation, one type of automated agent performs a question-answering function. Another type of automated agent performs a social referral service.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, performed by an automated agent module executing on one or more computers, the method comprising:
 accessing a messaging module comprising user accounts of respective users registered to a messaging service, each user account comprising a respective contact list, the messaging service managing messages submitted thereto such that messages posted by a corresponding user account are delivered to the user accounts in the corresponding user account's contacts list;   receiving, by the automated agent module, a message sent to the automated agent module responsive to the message being posted from the user account to the messaging module, the automated agent module and the users in the user's contact list having been previously added to the user's contact list by the user using a contact adding/removing module of the messaging service, the message having been sent to the automated agent module due to the automated agent module being a contact in the contact list of the user;   responsive to receiving the message, analyzing content of the message to decide whether the automated agent module is to reply to the message;   responsive to deciding to reply to the message, generating a reply message by passing the content of the message, or indicia thereof, to a search engine and forming the reply message based on a corresponding search result of the search engine; and   posting the reply message to the user account in association with replies to the message from the user's other contacts.   
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , further comprising adding the agent module to the user's contact list based on the user interacting with the agent module. 
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1 , further comprising adding the agent module to the user's contact list based on the user interacting with a profile page associated with the agent module. 
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 1 , further comprising enabling the user to define setup information that defines conditions under which the agent module will respond to original messages posted to the messaging service. 
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 1 , further comprising determining whether the agent module will respond to the message by determining whether one or more human contacts have responded to the message. 
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 1 , further comprising determining, by the agent module, whether the message corresponds to a topic for which the agent module is configured to generate replies. 
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the agent module generates the reply message based at least in part on user information extracted from profile information of the user. 
     
     
         8 . A method performed by one or more processing devices to use an automated agent module executed by the one or more processing devices, the method comprising:
 detecting an original message posted by a user to an instant messaging system, wherein the user and contacts of the user post messages to the instant messaging system, the automated agent module having been designated as one of the contacts of the user of the instant messaging system, the contacts including the automated agent module and at least another user of the instant messaging system, wherein the instant messaging system responds to the original message by selecting and notifying at least two of the contacts of the original message, the selected contacts including the other user and the automated agent module;   based on the original message, generating, by the automated agent module, an automated reply message to the original message; and   submitting, by the automated agent module, the automated reply message to the instant messaging system, wherein the instant messaging system responds by providing the automated reply message to the user, wherein the automated reply message and a reply message from the other user are provided to the user as replies to the original message.   
     
     
         9 . A method according to  claim 8 , wherein the generating comprises:
 formulating a query based on the original message;   sending the query to a question-answering engine;   receiving a response from the question-answering engine; and   generating the reply message based on the response;   
     
     
         10 . A method according to  claim 8 , wherein the instant messaging system is provided by a social network service. 
     
     
         11 . A method according to  claim 8 , wherein the automated agent module determines to generate the reply based on a feature of the original message and/or the user. 
     
     
         12 . A method according to  claim 8 , further comprising graphically associating the automated agent module with the reply message in a user interface that posts the reply message. 
     
     
         13 . A method according to  claim 8 , wherein a determination whether to have the automated agent module reply to the original message is made based on content of the original message, a feature of another reply to the original message, and/or a feature of the user. 
     
     
         14 . A method performed by a messaging service, the messaging service comprising a plurality of servers, the messaging service maintaining lists of contacts of respective users of the messaging service, the messaging service enabling users thereof to add and remove users and automated agents to the contact lists, the method comprising:
 receiving a request to add an automated agent to the contact list of a user of the messaging service, the user's contact list having contacts comprising other users of the messaging service and the automated agent;   receiving an inquiry message posted by the user to the messaging service;   responding to the posting of the inquiry message by determining, based at least in part on the presence of the automated agent in the user's contact list, that the inquiry message is to be replied to by the automated agent, and in response sending the inquiry message or a notification thereof, via the messaging service, to the automated agent;   further responding to the posting of the inquiry message by sending the inquiry message or a notification thereof, via the instant messaging service, to a contact of the user that is a first user of the messaging service;   receiving a reply from the automated agent, the reply comprising information obtained or generated by the automated agent according to the inquiry message or notification thereof, the information corresponding to the inquiry message;   receiving a first reply to the inquiry message from the first user; and   providing the reply and the first reply to the user via the messaging service.   
     
     
         15 . A method according to  claim 14 , wherein a user interface displaying messages to the user indicates that the reply and the first reply are replies to the inquiry message. 
     
     
         16 . A method according to  claim 14 , wherein the automated agent communicates with a search engine in correspondence with the inquiry message or notification thereof, and in response receives information from the search engine that is incorporated into the reply. 
     
     
         17 . A method according to  claim 14 , further comprising adding the automated agent to the user's contact list using a mechanism that allows other users to be added to the user's contact list. 
     
     
         18 . A method according to  claim 14 , further comprising adding the automated agent to the user's contact list based on the user interacting with a profile page associated with the agent module. 
     
     
         19 . A method according to  claim 14 , further comprising enabling the user to define setup information that is used to make determinations of whether the agent module will respond to original messages. 
     
     
         20 . A method according to  claim 14 , further comprising determining whether the automated agent will respond to the inquiry message based on replies to the inquiry message from human contacts.