BACKGROUND

Social media applications allow users all over the world to send one another digital compositions communicating thoughts and ideas on various topics. Often, a user's life event may prompt many of the user's contacts to create digital compositions celebrating or otherwise commenting on the life event. For example, many contacts may be interested in transmitting a celebratory post to a user on the user's birthday. However, the organization of data stored in traditional social media systems may be cumbersome and/or difficult to efficiently organize when a high number of digital compositions are created in response to a life event. The instant disclosure therefore identifies a need for improved systems and methods for digitally organizing and displaying social media compositions that relate to life events.

SUMMARY

As will be described in greater detail below, the instant disclosure describes various systems and methods for creating and maintaining an ephemeral digital story channel. In one example, a computer-implemented method may include (1) maintaining a primary story channel for a user of a social networking platform in which the user may post digital story compositions, (2) determining that a particular time period coincides with a life event of the user, (3) maintaining, during the time period, an additional story channel for the life event in which the user and the user's contacts may post digital story compositions, such that the social networking platform is maintaining both the primary story channel and the additional story channel during the time period, and (4) discontinuing, after the time period, the additional story channel while continuing to maintain the primary story channel. In one embodiment, maintaining the primary story channel may further include (1) maintaining a container configured to only include digital story compositions created by the user that the user has designated as intended for the primary story channel, and (2) posting the designated digital story compositions to one or more additional users. In this embodiment, each posted designated digital story composition may be designated as belonging to the primary story channel.

In some examples, determining that the time period coincides with the life event may further include (1) identifying the life event in a digital calendar maintained for the user by the social networking platform, and/or (2) identifying information describing the life event in a digital profile maintained for the user by the social networking platform. Additionally or alternatively, determining that the time period coincides with the life event may further include (1) receiving user input selecting the life event and associating the life event with the time period, and/or (2) identifying information describing the life event in a digital composition. In one embodiment, the life event may be a birthday.

In some examples, maintaining the additional story channel may include (1) maintaining an additional container configured to include (i) digital story compositions created by the user that have been designated as intended for the additional story channel, and (ii) digital story compositions created by the user's contacts that have been designated as intended for the additional story channel, and (2) posting the digital story compositions, which were designated by the user or that were designated by the user's contacts, to one or more additional users. In these examples, each posted digital story composition may be designated as belonging to the additional story channel.

In one embodiment, the method may further include (1) during the time period, posting a temporary prompt to add digital story compositions to the additional story channel, and (2) receiving user input to the temporary prompt initiating a story creation process to add digital story compositions to the additional story channel. In some examples, the life event may be an anniversary with an additional user. In these examples, maintaining the additional story channel may further include allowing the additional user's contacts to post digital story compositions to the additional story channel during the time period.

In one embodiment, a system for implementing the above-described method may include a stories module, stored in memory, that (1) maintains a primary story channel for a user of a social networking platform in which the user may post digital story compositions, (2) determines that a particular time period coincides with a life event of the user, (3) maintains, during the time period, an additional story channel for the life event in which the user and the user's contacts may post digital story compositions, such that the social networking platform maintains both the primary story channel and the additional story channel during the time period, and (4) after the time period, discontinues the additional story channel while continuing to maintain the primary story channel. In this embodiment, the system may also include a physical processor configured to execute the stories module.

In some examples, the above-described method may be encoded as computer-readable instructions on a non-transitory computer-readable medium. For example, a computer-readable medium may include one or more computer-readable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, may cause the computing device to (1) maintain a primary story channel for a user of a social networking platform in which the user may post digital story compositions, (2) determine that a particular time period coincides with a life event of the user, (3) maintain, during the time period, an additional story channel for the life event in which the user and the user's contacts may post digital story compositions, such that the social networking platform is maintaining both the primary story channel and the additional story channel during the time period, and (4) discontinue, after the time period expires, the additional story channel while continuing to maintain the primary story channel.

Features from any of the above-mentioned embodiments may be used in combination with one another in accordance with the general principles described herein. These and other embodiments, features, and advantages will be more fully understood upon reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and claims.

