SELECTING CONTENT FOR PRESENTATION TO AN ONLINE SYSTEM USER BASED IN PART ON DIFFERENCES IN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE USER AND OF OTHER ONLINE SYSTEM USERS

摘要

An online system selects content for presentation to a user based on characteristics of the user, such as prior interactions with content by users having similar characteristics. To obtain information about interaction with a content item by users having a broader range of characteristics, the online system may increase an attribute of a content item used to select content based on a measure of dissimilarity between the user and other users who have previously been presented with the content item. The measure of dissimilarity may be determined based on differences between characteristics of the user and characteristics of users presented with the content item weighted by a temporal decay factor. For example, the online system increases an attribute of the content item by an amount directly related to the measure of dissimilarity and uses the increased attribute when determining whether to present the content item to the user.