SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING INFORMATION FLOW BETWEEN MEMBERS OF AN ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORK

• US 20100257459A1
• Filed: 03/26/2010
• Published: 10/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Friendster Incorporated (Mol.com Bhd.)
• Inventors: GALBREATH, Nicholas, Lunt, Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 8,219,500 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/753
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/164 File meta data generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

An online social network is provided in which members of the online social network control who may view their personal information and who may communicate with them. The members control who may view their personal information by setting a visibility preference. A member may not view another member'"'"'s full personal profile if the measure of relatedness between the two is greater than the visibility preference of the other member. The members also control who may communicate with them by setting a contactability preference. A member may not communicate with another member if the measure of relatedness between the two is greater than the contactability preference of the other member.

Claims

1. A method of updating member information settings in a social network through an interface, comprising:

entering member profile information through the interface, wherein the member profile information includes personal information of a member;

entering contact information through the interface, wherein the contact information determine flow of member information to other members in the social network and flow of information to the member;

identifying relationship information with other members in the social network based on member profile information and contact information; and

updating a member database with the member profile information, contact information, and the identified relationship information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the member profile information includes at least a subset of:

family information, personal relationships, individual personal attributes, affiliations, employers, locations, age, and personal interests.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact information includes at least a subset of:

an email address, text messaging, voicemail, instant messaging, chat, physical address, and telephone numbers.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling the other members in the social network to view the member profile information in accordance with a degree of separation preference specified by the member through the interface.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling the other members in the social network to view the contact information in accordance with a degree of separation preference specified by the member through the interface.

6. A computer system in an online social network, comprising:

a database for storing member profile information received through an interface, wherein the member profile information includes personal information of a member, and for storing contact information received through the interface, wherein the contact information determine flow of member information to other members in the social network and flow of information to the member; and

a processing unit configured to identify relationship information with other members in the social network based on the member profile information and contact information stored in the database, and for updating the database with the member profile information, contact information, and the identified relationship information.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the member profile information includes at least a subset of:

family information, personal relationships, individual personal attributes, affiliations, employers, locations, age, and personal interests.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the contact information includes at least a subset of:

an email address, text messaging, voicemail, instant messaging, chat, physical address, and telephone numbers.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the processing unit is further configured to enable the other members in the social network to view the member profile information in accordance with a degree of separation preference specified by the member through the interface.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the processing unit is further configured to enable the other members in the social network to view the contact information in accordance with a degree of separation preference specified by the member through the interface.