User-targeted advertising

Abstract

Structured data sets including one or more attributes are identified, each structured data set associated with, for example, a particular user. Values corresponding the at least one of the one or more attributes in each structured data set are identified. A condition established by a content provider, for instance, an advertiser, is compared to the identified values to determine if the condition is satisfied. When the condition is satisfied, one or more content items are identified to the users associated with the structured data sets containing identified values satisfying the condition.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method performed by one or more processing devices, comprising:
 for each user among a plurality of users, generating a structured data set that includes a plurality of attribute-value pairs, with each attribute-value pair specifying a characteristic of the user;   receiving, from a content provider, a set of conditions that limit distribution of content to users having a matching structured data set having the attribute-value pairs that match the set of conditions specified by the content provider;   determining, by one or more data processors, how many of the users have the matching structured data set;   presenting, in a user interface provided to a content sponsor, a visual indication of how many of the users have the matching structured data set;   while presenting the visual indication of how many of the users have the matching structured data set, receiving, from the content sponsor, a revision to the set of conditions;   determining a number of the users having structured data sets that match the revised set of conditions; and   updating, within the user interface, the visual indication of how many of the users have the matching structured data set to present the number of the users having the structured data sets that match the revised set of conditions.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising comparing the revised set of conditions to one or more tags. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising determining a set of the users having one or more updated attribute-value pairs that satisfy the revised set of conditions. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising displaying one or more content items to the users associated with the matching structured data set. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein an attribute-value pair is selected from a group of attribute-value pairs comprising age, gender, number of friends, interests, zip code, and length of time since previous login. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the set of conditions identifies one or more required particular attribute-value pairs. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising comparing the one or more required particular attribute-value pairs with one or more updated attribute-value pairs of the users that have the matching structured data set. 
     
     
         8 . A system comprising:
 a data processing apparatus; and   a memory couple to the data processing apparatus having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:
 for each user among a plurality of users, generating a structured data set that includes a plurality of attribute-value pairs, with each attribute-value pair specifying a characteristic of the user; 
 receiving, from a content provider, a set of conditions that limit distribution of content to users having a matching structured data set having the attribute-value pairs that match the set of conditions specified by the content provider; 
 determining how many of the users have the matching structured data set; 
 presenting, in a user interface provided to a content sponsor, a visual indication of how many of the users have the matching structured data set; 
 while presenting the visual indication of how many of the users have the matching structured data set, receiving, from the content sponsor, a revision to the set of conditions; 
 determining a number of the users having structured data sets that match the revised set of conditions; and 
 updating, within the user interface, the visual indication of how many of the users have the matching structured data set to present the number of the users having the structured data sets that match the revised set of conditions. 
   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , the operations further comprising comparing the revised set of conditions to one or more tags. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , the operations further comprising determining a set of the users having one or more updated attribute-value pairs that satisfy the revised set of conditions. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8 , the operations further comprising displaying one or more content items to the users associated with the matching structured data set. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , the operations further comprising identifying a click through rate associated with the one or more content items. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein an attribute-value pair is selected from a group of attribute-value pairs comprising age, gender, number of friends, interests, zip code, and length of time since previous login. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the set of conditions identifies one or more required particular attribute-value pairs. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprising comparing the one or more required particular attribute-value pairs with one or more updated attribute-value pairs of the users that have the matching structured data set. 
     
     
         16 . One or more non-transitory machine-readable storage devices storing instructions that are executable by one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:
 for each user among a plurality of users, generating a structured data set that includes a plurality of attribute-value pairs, with each attribute-value pair specifying a characteristic of the user;   receiving, from a content provider, a set of conditions that limit distribution of content to users having a matching structured data set having the attribute-value pairs that match the set of conditions specified by the content provider;   determining how many of the users have the matching structured data set;   presenting, in a user interface provided to a content sponsor, a visual indication of how many of the users have the matching structured data set;   while presenting the visual indication of how many of the users have the matching structured data set, receiving, from the content sponsor, a revision to the set of conditions;   determining a number of the users having structured data sets that match the revised set of conditions; and   updating, within the user interface, the visual indication of how many of the users have the matching structured data set to present the number of the users having the structured data sets that match the revised set of conditions.   
     
     
         17 . The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage devices of  claim 16 , the operations further comprising:
 comparing the revised set of conditions to one or more tags; and   determining a set of the users having one or more updated attribute-value pairs that satisfy the revised set of conditions.   
     
     
         18 . The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage devices of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 displaying one or more content items to the users associated with the matching structured data set; and   identifying a click through rate associated with the one or more content items.   
     
     
         19 . The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage devices of  claim 16 , wherein the set of conditions identifies one or more required particular attribute-value pairs. 
     
     
         20 . The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage devices of  claim 19 , wherein the operations further comprising comparing the one or more required particular attribute-value pairs with one or more updated attribute-value pairs of the users that have the matching structured data set.