Content Carousel in a Social Media Timeline

Abstract

Techniques of the disclosure are directed to a computing device creating and outputting, for display at client devices accessing a social media platform, targeted content. The computing device may receive candidate messages composed by users of a group of client devices, where the candidate messages each include a reference to the requisite product, brand, or market. If a candidate message has a determined interest score that satisfies a threshold interest score, the computing device includes the candidate message into a group of brand messages. The computing device may then send the targeted message to be output for display at another group of client devices, where the targeted message includes both an original portion and a carousel portion. The carousel portion includes a group of transitional windows, where each transitional window includes one of the brand messages from the group of brand messages.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 receiving, at a compute device, a set of candidate messages associated with a promoted entity;   selecting, by the compute device, a first candidate message from the set of candidate messages based on an interest score associated with the first candidate message, the interest score indicating a likelihood of a user interacting with the first candidate message; and   forming, by the compute device, a set of target messages including the first candidate message, wherein each target message in the set of target messages includes a reference to the promoted entity;   generating, by the compute device, for display in a vertical stream of a set of cards on a user device, a target card, the target card including a carousel portion having a set of transitional windows, such that during display on the user device:
 the set of transitional windows includes the set of target messages; 
 only one transitional window of the set of transitional windows is fully rendered at a time on the display of the user device; and 
 the set of transitional windows is displayed in a cyclical manner such that each transitional window of the set of transitional windows horizontally transitions to a next transitional window of the set of transitional windows; and 
   transmitting, by the compute device to the user device for display, the target card.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the set of transitional windows is a set of sequential transition windows, and wherein the horizontal transition from a last horizontal window of the set of sequential transition windows to the next transition window is a horizontal transition to a first transition window of the set of sequential transition windows. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the set of transitional windows is a set of sequential transition windows, and wherein the horizontal transition from a first horizontal window of the set of sequential transition windows to the next transition window is a horizontal transition to a last transition window of the set of sequential transition windows. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the horizontal transition is responsive to user input. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the target card includes a static portion that is unchanged during the horizontal transition. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one target message of the set of target messages includes video. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one target message of the set of target messages includes a hyperlink, further comprising receiving an indication of the user clicking on the hyperlink to access a webpage associated with that hyperlink. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one target message of the set of target messages includes a set of hyperlinks, further comprising receiving an indication of the user clicking on a first hyperlink of the set of hyperlinks to access a webpage associated with the first hyperlink. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the set of target messages include a set of hyperlinks, further comprising:
 when the user clicks on a first hyperlink of the set of hyperlinks, receiving an indication of the user clicking on the first hyperlink to access a first webpage associated with the first hyperlink; and   when the user clicks on a second hyperlink of the set of hyperlinks, receiving an indication of the user clicking on the second hyperlink to access a second webpage associated with the second hyperlink.   
     
     
         10 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, the instructions when executed cause at least one processor to:
 receive a set of candidate messages associated with a promoted entity;   select a first candidate message from the set of candidate messages based on an interest score associated with the first candidate messages, the interest score indicating a likelihood of a user interacting with the first candidate message; and   form a set of target messages including the first candidate message, wherein each target message in the set of target messages includes a reference to the promoted entity;   generate, for display in a vertical stream of a set of cards on a user device, a target card, the target card including a carousel portion having a set of transitional windows, such that during display on the user device:
 each transitional window in the set of transitional windows includes a different target message of the set of target messages; and 
 only one transitional window of the set of transitional windows is fully rendered at a time on the display of the user device; and 
   transmit, to the user device for display, the target card.   
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein at least one transitional window of the set of transitional windows includes time-lapse media, and wherein the time-lapse media is automatically played upon full rendering of that transitional window. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein at least one target message of the set of target messages includes a hyperlink, the instructions further comprising instructions to receive an indication of the user clicking on the hyperlink to access a webpage associated with that hyperlink. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein at least one target message of the set of target messages includes a set of hyperlinks, the instructions further comprising instructions to receive an indication of the user clicking on a first hyperlink of the set of hyperlinks to access a webpage associated with the first hyperlink. 
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein the set of target messages include a set of hyperlinks, the instructions further comprising instructions to:
 when the user clicks on a first hyperlink of the set of hyperlinks, receive an indication of the user clicking on the first hyperlink to access a first webpage associated with the first hyperlink; and   when the user clicks on a second hyperlink of the set of hyperlinks, receive an indication of the user clicking on the second hyperlink to access a second webpage associated with the second hyperlink.   
     
     
         15 . A compute device, comprising:
 at least one processor; and   at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that are executable by the at least one processor to:
 receive a set of candidate messages associated with a promoted entity; 
 select a first candidate message from the set of candidate messages based on an interest score associated with the first candidate messages, the interest score indicating a likelihood of a user interacting with the first candidate message; and 
 form a set of target messages including the first candidate message, wherein each target message in the set of target messages includes a reference to the promoted entity; 
 generate, for display in a vertical stream of a set of cards on a user device, a target card, the target card including a carousel portion having a set of transitional windows, such that during display on the user device:
 the set of transitional windows includes the set of target messages; and 
 only one transitional window of the set of transitional windows is fully rendered at a time on the display of the user device; and 
 
 transmit, to the user device for display, the target card. 
   
     
     
         16 . The compute device of  claim 15 , wherein the horizontal transition is responsive to user input, or occurs automatically after a predetermined amount of time. 
     
     
         17 . The compute device of  claim 15 , wherein at least one transitional window of the set of transitional windows includes time-lapse media, and wherein the time-lapse media is automatically played upon full rendering of that transitional window. 
     
     
         18 . The compute device of  claim 15 , wherein at least one target message of the set of target messages includes a hyperlink, the instructions further comprising instructions to receive an indication of the user clicking on the hyperlink to access a webpage associated with that hyperlink. 
     
     
         19 . The compute device of  claim 15 , wherein at least one target message of the set of target messages includes a set of hyperlinks, the instructions further comprising instructions to receive an indication of the user clicking on a first hyperlink of the set of hyperlinks to access a webpage associated with the first hyperlink. 
     
     
         20 . The compute device of  claim 15 , wherein the set of target messages include a set of hyperlinks, the instructions further comprising instructions to:
 when the user clicks on a first hyperlink of the set of hyperlinks, receive an indication of the user clicking on the first hyperlink to access a first webpage associated with the first hyperlink; and   when the user clicks on a second hyperlink of the set of hyperlinks, receive an indication of the user clicking on the second hyperlink to access a second webpage associated with the second hyperlink.