Inferring user profile attributes from social information

摘要

User profile information for a user of a social networking system is inferred based on information about user profile of the user's connections in the social networking system. The inferred user profile attributes may include age, gender, education, affiliations, location, and the like. To infer a value of a user profile attribute, the system may determine an aggregate value based on the attributes of the user's connections. A confidence score may also be associated with the inferred attribute value. The set of connections analyzed to infer a user profile attribute may depend on the attribute, the types of connections, and the interactions between the user and the connections. The inferred attribute values may be used to update the user's profile and to determine information relevant to the user to be presented to the user (e.g., targeting advertisements to the user based on the user's inferred attributes).

主权项

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
selecting a user from a plurality of users of a social networking system, each user of the plurality of users being associated with a user profile comprising a set of user profile attributes, wherein the social networking system configures a user interface for a user to provide value for each user provided attribute and stores each user provided value as a user profile attribute; identifying, by a computer, one or more of a set of users who are connected to the selected user in the social networking system; inferring, by the computer, a value of a first user profile attribute of the user profile, the first user profile attribute storing a first type of information for the selected user, the first user profile attribute inferred based on values of a second user profile attribute of the user profiles of the one or more of the set of users connected to the selected user in the social networking system, the second user profile attribute storing a second type of information distinct from the first type of information; storing the inferred value of the user profile attributes in association with the user profile of the selected user; determining relevant information for the selected user based on the inferred value of the first user provided attribute of the user profile; and sending the relevant information to the selected user.