Managing Internet Advertising and Promotional Content

Abstract

Methods, systems and articles having machine-readable instructions can be implemented to manage advertising content using a computing device, for example, by retrieving a page of content from a network, the retrieved page including at least some advertising content, presenting the retrieved page of content to the user of the computing device, receiving user input via a user interface identifying at least a portion of the presented advertising content to be saved, saving the identified portion of advertising content, receiving user input via the user interface identifying some or all of the saved advertising content to share with another user, and causing the identified saved advertising content to be shared with the other user.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
 receiving, by a management system, from a computing device, a first communications message associated with a user account, the first communication message indicating a request to store a content item from within a web page of a third party, the web page rendered in a web browser software of the computing device, the request made by a plug-in component of the web browser software in response to a user selecting a graphical user interface (GUI) icon generated by the plug-in component and rendered by the web browser software as an overlay on the content item in the web page, the request including an indication of the content item, the plug-in component installed on the web browser software of the computing device, wherein the plug-in component generates the GUI icon for rendering by the web browser software in response to detecting the content item on the web page of the third party;   storing the content item with a unique identifier in a computing storage of the management system, the unique identifier substituted for an identifier associated with the content on the web page, the unique identifier preventing subsequent tracking of the content by the web page; and   transmitting a member page including the content item to the web browser software of the computing device for rendering by the web browser software for the user.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 enabling sharing of stored content items in the management system;   receiving a search query request from a target web browser software, the search query request to search the share enabled content items in the computing storage of the management system; and   transmitting a response to the target web browser software, the response comprising a list of share enabled content items matching the received search query.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 transmitting a notification to the target web browser software, the notification indicating a personalized content item.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 transmitting a notification to the member page, the notification indicating transmission of a personalized content item.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 transmitting one or more additional content items to the target web browser software, the one or more additional content items each having at least one characteristic matching a corresponding characteristic of the content item.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a message from the target web browser software indicating a rank value for a content item; and   storing an association between the rank value and the content item in a user account of the target user in the computing storage.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a message from the target web browser software indicating a group for the content item; and   storing an association between the group and the content item in a user account of the target user in the computing storage.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a message from the target web browser software having text notes for the content item; and   storing the text notes in a user account of the target user in the computing storage, the text notes associated with the content item.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a request from the web browser software to restrict access to a content item to a user account associated with the target user; and   storing a restriction indication with the content item, the restriction indication indicating to the management system to restrict access to the content item only to the user account associated with the target user.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 transmitting a share message to an external account associated with a user account of the target user, the share message indicating the content item; and   wherein the external account has a type that is indicated in the second communications message, the type selected from one of an email account and a social networking account.   
     
     
         11 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, comprising instructions, that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
 receive, by a management system, from a computing device, a first communications message associated with a user account, the first communication message indicating a request to store a content item from within a web page of a third party, the web page rendered in a web browser software of the computing device, the request made by a plug-in component of the web browser software in response to a user selecting a graphical user interface (GUI) icon generated by the plug-in component and rendered by the web browser software as an overlay on the content item in the web page, the request including an indication of the content item, the plug-in component installed on the web browser software of the computing device, wherein the plug-in component generates the GUI icon for rendering by the web browser software in response to detecting the content item on the web page of the third party;   store the content item with a unique identifier in a computing storage of the management system, the unique identifier substituted for an identifier associated with the content on the web page, the unique identifier preventing subsequent tracking of the content by the web page; and   transmit a member page including the content item to the web browser software of the computing device for rendering by the web browser software for the user.   
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 11 , comprising further instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
 enable sharing of stored content items in the management system;   receive a search query request from a target web browser software, the search query request to search the share enabled content items in the computing storage of the management system; and   transmit a response to the target web browser software, the response comprising a list of share enabled content items matching the received search query.   
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 11 , comprising further instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
 transmit a notification to the target web browser software, the notification indicating a personalized content item.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 11 , comprising further instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
 transmit a notification to the target web browser software, the notification indicating a personalized content item.   
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 11 , comprising further instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
 transmit one or more additional content items to the target web browser software, the one or more additional content items each having at least one characteristic matching a corresponding characteristic of the content item.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 11 , comprising further instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
 receive a message from the target web browser software indicating a rank value for a content item; and   store an association between the rank value and the content item in a user account of the target user in the computing storage.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 11 , comprising further instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
 receive a message from the target web browser software indicating a group for the content item; and   store an association between the group and the content item in a user account of the target user in the computing storage.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 11 , comprising further instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
 receive a message from the target web browser software having text notes for the content item; and   store the text notes in a user account of the target user in the computing storage, the text notes associated with the content item.   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 11 , comprising further instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
 receive a request from the web browser software to restrict access to a content item to a user account associated with the target user; and   store a restriction indication with the content item, the restriction indication indicating to the management system to restrict access to the content item only to the user account associated with the target user.   
     
     
         20 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
 receiving, by a management system, from a computing device, a first communications message associated with a user account, the first communication message indicating a request to store a content item from within a web page of a third party, the web page rendered in a web browser software of the computing device, the request made by a plug-in component of the web browser software in response to the user selecting a graphical user interface (GUI) icon generated by the plug-in component and rendered by the web browser software as an overlay on the content item in the web page, the request including an indication of the content item, the plug-in component installed on the web browser software of the computing device;   storing the content item with a unique identifier in a computing storage of the management system; and   transmitting a member page including the content item to the web browser software of the computing device for rendering by the web browser software for the user.