Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes receiving an indication that a user of the social-networking system watched at least a portion of a program, determining that the user intended to watch the program, and generating a story in response to the determination. The story is published to the social-networking system a predetermined amount of time after receiving the indication.

Abstract: A computer-implemented user notification method includes displaying, in a status area near a perimeter of a graphical interface, a notification of a recent alert event for a mobile device, receiving a user selection in the status area, and in response to the receipt of the user selection, displaying, in a central zone of the graphical interface, detail regarding a plurality of recent messaging events for the mobile device.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a request from a requesting user for communication-channel information from a client device, determining a set of communication channels based on an affiliation coefficient between a target user and the requesting user, wherein each of the communication channels is associated with one or more user-selectable elements of a plurality of user-selectable elements, calculating a score for each of the communication channels based on a social proximity between the target user and the requesting user, and sending to the client device instructions for presenting one or more of the user-selectable elements associated with each of the communication channels in an order based on the respective score of each of the communication channels.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method of authenticating a user with a computing device is disclosed. The method involves displaying a grid of selectable visually-distinguishable graphical elements on a device display, receiving from a user of the device a drawn pattern across the selectable graphical elements, comparing the received drawn pattern to information representing a stored authentication pattern for the user, and unlocking access to functions on the device if the received drawn pattern substantially matches the stored authentication pattern.

Abstract: Using pinch gestures to navigate user interface layers of an application. In particular embodiments, a pinch gesture may cause an application program to close a currently running user interface layer of the application and navigate to another user-interface layer of the application. In some implementations, a pinch gesture may cause an application to close.

Abstract: A client device receives advertisement content associated with an entity having a physical location and one or more instructions that, when executed, present information identifying the physical location. The client device displays an ad unit including the received advertisement content and a link associated with the instructions to present the information identifying the physical location. If a user selects the link, the client device presents information identifying the physical location, such as a map, within the ad unit. Additional instruction may be included in the advertisement that, when executed by the client device, execute an application installed on the client device to provide directions to the physical location.

Abstract: A computer-implemented user notification method includes displaying, in a status area near a perimeter of a graphical interface, a notification of a recent alert event for a mobile device, receiving a user selection in the status area, and in response to the receipt of the user selection, displaying, in a central zone of the graphical interface, detail regarding a plurality of recent messaging events for the mobile device.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a request from a requesting user for communication-channel information from a client device, determining a set of communication channels based on an affiliation coefficient between a target user and the requesting user, wherein each of the communication channels is associated with one or more user-selectable elements of a plurality of user-selectable elements, calculating a score for each of the communication channels based on a social proximity between the target user and the requesting user, and sending to the client device instructions for presenting one or more of the user-selectable elements associated with each of the communication channels in an order based on the respective score of each of the communication channels.

Abstract: An online system receives information describing actions performed by online system users, in which the information describes an actual physical location at which each action was performed. The online system retrieves user attributes associated with each user and trains a machine-learning model to predict a physical location of a user based on the information received at the online system and the user attributes. The online system receives information describing a geographic location (e.g., GPS coordinates) from a client device associated with a viewing user of the online system and identifies candidate physical locations within a threshold distance of the geographic location. The online system then uses the trained model to predict a physical location of the viewing user from the candidate physical locations based on user attributes associated with the viewing user and presents content to the viewing user based on the predicted physical location.

Abstract: A computer-implemented user notification method includes displaying, in a status area near a perimeter of a graphical interface, a notification of a recent alert event for a mobile device, receiving a user selection in the status area, and in response to the receipt of the user selection, displaying, in a central zone of the graphical interface, detail regarding a plurality of recent messaging events for the mobile device.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes sending a request from a first user for communication-channel information associated with a second user to a computing device, and receiving one or more user-selectable elements corresponding to each communication channel of a plurality of communication channels from the computing device, wherein the plurality of communication channels are determined based on an affiliation coefficient between the first user and the second user, wherein each communication channel is associated with a score calculated based on a social proximity between the first user and the second user, and wherein the one or more user-selectable elements corresponding to each communication channel of the plurality of communication channels are presented in an order ranked based on the respective score associated with the communication channel.

Abstract: The automatic transmission of communications between a mobile device and a social networking system is regulated based on the communication mode of the mobile device. A communication for transmission between the mobile device and the social networking system is detected. A communication switch setting, such as a switch position, is determined for the mobile device. A communication mode for the mobile device is determined based on the communication switch setting. For example, if the switch is in a first position, the mobile device is determined to be in a social mode. Likewise, if the switch is in a second position, the mobile device is determined to be a manual mode. If the mobile device is in the social mode, the communication is automatically transmitted. If the mobile device is in the manual mode, the communication is transmitted only in response to authorization from the user of the mobile device.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a social networking system automatically establish a connection to a target user by selecting an avatar representing the target user, and establishing a connection by a communication channel based on current context and one or more rules configured by the target user.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a computing device selects a number of location updates from users which corresponds to a place. Each location update includes data indicating a geographic location that a user was at, and a time corresponding to when the user was at the geographic location. The computing device selects a first subset of the location updates which have geographic locations within a particular geographic area. For each location update in the first subset, the computing device determines a corresponding user and time. The computing device selects a second subset of location updates, each location update in the second subset corresponding to a user from the first subset, and a time within a threshold time of the time of the location update in the first subset. The computing device generates a probability map based on a distribution of geographic locations corresponding to the location updates in the second subset.

Abstract: An online system or an application of the online system generates and provides user interfaces that include user interface elements configured to allow users to browse newsfeed stories. For example, users can browse newsfeed stories via scrolling actions. The user interface elements are further configured to control presentation of individual stories that include series of images. The user's scrolling action causes the images to be presented sequentially. The online system selects a particular image and configures a speed of presenting the images according to the user action. The online system further generates and provides user interfaces that present still images in a parallax effect by adjusting viewpoints of observing the still images. The viewpoints can be adjusted according to the user action. The online system further configures the user interfaces to present related stories in adjacent positions and to present 360-degree videos as well as panorama images.

Abstract: A social networking system provides relevant content objects at the request of social networking system users. Relevance scores are determined for content objects by matching user location, user interests, and other social information to the content, location, and timing associated with content objects. A ranked list of content objects can be provided to the user, where the content objects are relevant to them based on their interests, location, and other social information. The system provides a user interface that displays a map containing pins, where each pin represents a content object in actionable proximity to a user. The content objects selected to be presented as pins to the user are those content objects with sufficiently high relevance scores. Multiple pins for a nearby area can be clustered. The user can switch between zoom levels for the map, thereby showing pins at varying distances from the user's current location.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes accessing at least two determinations of the location of a mobile computing device, with each determined location having been determined without reference to explicit location information manually input by a user of the mobile computing device. At least one first determined location is compared with at least one second determined location, with comparisons being made between location determinations made based on different location determination input. A functionality associated with the mobile computing device is allowed if the first determined location corresponds to at least one of the second determined locations.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a computing server receives from a client computing device a first upload that includes a set of multimedia objects on the client computing device. The set of multimedia objects is selected by a user of the client computing device. While the upload of the set of multimedia objects is in progress, the computing server concurrently receives, from the client computing device, a second upload that includes metadata entered by the user. The metadata corresponds to a subset of the multimedia objects, the subset being selected by the user from the set of multimedia objects.

Abstract: In particular embodiments, one or more computer systems of a social-networking system determine a first media device of a first user of a social-networking system and determine a second media device of a second user of the social-networking system. The one or more computer systems access a social graph of the social-networking system, update the social graph based on the determined first and second media devices, and stream media from the first media device to the second media device using the updated social graph. The social graph includes nodes and edges connecting the nodes, the nodes including user nodes that are each associated with a particular user of the social-networking system and concept nodes that are each associated with a particular media device.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes, sending, to a client device of a user of an online social network for presentation to the user, one or more references corresponding to one or more content items of the online social network, respectively. Each reference is presented with one or more call-to-action elements. Each call-to-action element is a user-interface element that prompts an action from the user to initiate a particular function or process related to the content item via the online social network. The call-to-action elements for each content item are presented in ranked order based on a suitability of the call-to-action element to the content item. The method includes receiving a selection of a call-to-action element presented with a reference corresponding to a particular content item. The method includes executing the function or process related to the content item on the online social network prompted by the selected call-to-action element.