Aging of friends in social network

• US 9,652,523 B2
• Filed: 09/03/2014
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Candelore, Brant
• Primary Examiner(s): Ell, Matthew
• Application Number:
  US14/476,064
• Publication Number:
  US 20160063086A1
• Time in Patent Office: 986 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2291 User-Defined Types; Storage management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/23 Updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15

Abstract

Social network relationships are “aged” in that if a social network friend has not communicated with a user'"'"'s social network site in a certain amount of time, then the friend is downgraded to “acquaintance” level automatically. One result may be that the “acquaintance” does not see certain postings to the website. The “aging” setting can be programmable on the social networking site so that users can elect to employ the “aging” or not. The downgrading of social standing of people in social network allows a more streamlined and private way to communicate with those with whom the user has an on-going social network relationship. Similarly, based on aging, “close friends” can be automatically downgraded to just “friends”. When the aging happens, the aged friend may be cut off from certain postings, mimicking a natural way that relationships evolve.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

at least one computer storage that is not a transitory signal and that comprises instructions executable by at least one processor for;

accessing a list of contacts of a social network computer page associated with at least one page administrator;

reclassifying at least a first contact based at least in part on a period of inactivity related to the first contact; and

presenting on a display a user interface (UI) with at least first and second selectors respectively corresponding to first and second event categories from which to measure the period of inactivity.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable for:

responsive to the reclassifying, altering a level of social contact of the first contact.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the instructions are executable for:

altering the level at least in part by permitting the first contact to access only public postings on the social network computer page.

4. The device of claim 2, wherein the instructions are executable for:

altering the level at least in part by disallowing messaging through the page to and/or from the first contact.

5. The device of claim 2, wherein the instructions are executable for:

altering the level at least in part by preventing the first contact from viewing posts on the page.

6. The device of claim 2, wherein the instructions are executable for:

altering the level at least in part by unfollowing a social network page administered by the first contact.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the list includes at least first and second categories of contacts and the instructions are executable for:

presenting on a display a user interface (UI) with at least first and second selectors respectively corresponding to reclassifying contacts in the first and second categories of contacts based at least in part on a period of inactivity.

8. The device of claim 1, comprising the at least one processor.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable for:

presenting on a display a user interface (UI) with at least first and second selectors respectively corresponding to first and second periods of inactivity.

10. A device comprising:

at least one computer storage comprising instructions; and

at least one processor for accessing the storage to execute the instructions for;

automatically aging at least a first social network contact (SNC) responsive to the first SNC not having communicated with an end user'"'"'s social network site for a predetermined period;

responsive to the aging, downgrading a level of access to social network site accorded to the first SNC according to at least one aging rule;

presenting on an output device at least a first input element operable by the end user to select from members of the social network site which members of the social network site to subject to the automatically aging such that not all members of the social network site are subject to the automatically aging; and

presenting on the output device at least a second input element operable by the end user to determine the at least one aging rule.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the instructions when executed by the processor configure the processor for:

executing the downgrading at least in part by preventing the first SNC from viewing certain postings to the website.

12. The device of claim 10, wherein the instructions when executed by the processor configure the processor for:

receiving input from the administrator to establish the automatic aging.

13. A method comprising:

receiving input from an administrator of a social network computer page to alter a level of access of at least a first contact of the page based at least in part on predetermined inactivity related to the first contact;

based at least in part on the input and responsive to a determination that the predetermined inactivity has been satisfied, automatically altering the level of access; and

presenting on a display a user interface (UI) with at least first and second selectors respectively corresponding to first and second event categories from which to measure a period of the predetermined inactivity.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the input defines whether to automatically alter the level of access for any contact of the page.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the input defines a first contact category subject to automatically altering the level of access, the first contact category being among a group of plural contact categories.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the input defines the level of access.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the input defines the predetermined inactivity.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the input defines a period associated with the predetermined inactivity.

19. The method of claim 13, comprising presenting on a display a user interface (UI) with at least one selector selectable to establish the input.