Service for accepting and selectively exposing user-generated lists

摘要

An interactive system enables users to generate and submit lists of items (e.g., products selected from an electronic catalog) for viewing by other users. The user-generated lists are selectively suggested to users of the system based (or based in part) on ratings of the user-generated lists. These ratings may, for example, be based on explicit ratings of the lists by users, and/or measures of how effective the respective lists are at driving purchases of items. In some contexts, the system may select one or more user-generated lists to present to a user based on a set of items purchased, viewed, or otherwise selected by the user, or based on the results of a search query submitted by the user.

主权项

1. A method of accepting and exposing user-generated lists of items, comprising:
providing, in association with an electronic catalog of items, a user interface that includes functionality for users to interactively generate lists of items selected from the electronic catalog, and to submit the lists for viewing by other users, said user interface enabling each user to specify, on an item-by-item basis, a plurality of catalog items to include on a list, and to submit the list to a server; receiving user-generated lists of items, said user-generated lists generated and submitted by users via the user interface, said user-generated lists generated by respective users and identifying items selected from the electronic catalog by such users; exposing the user-generated lists to users of the electronic catalog, and monitoring associated user actions of users who access the exposed user-generated lists; generating list ratings of particular user-generated lists based at least partly on the monitored user actions of users who access the corresponding user-generated lists; and selecting, from the received user-generated lists, particular user-generated lists to recommend to users based at least partly on the list ratings, said selecting comprising selecting a user-generated list to present to a user based on the list rating of the user-generated list and based additionally on monitored user activity that evidences an interest of said user; said method performed by a computing system that comprises one or more physical servers.