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Social network with field level control of data exposure

  • US 9,953,302 B2
  • Filed: 08/03/2011
  • Issued: 04/24/2018
  • Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2004
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:

  • receiving, at a social networking server over a network, user data from a plurality of users;

    storing, via the social networking server in an associated database, the received user data;

    receiving, by the social networking server, information related to a user'"'"'s intent to utilize a service of a social network provided by the social networking server;

    creating, via the social networking server, a user profile for the user, said user profile comprising a plurality of data fields, a first portion of said data fields being specific to the intended service and accessible by other users accessing the user profile, a second portion of the data fields having features enabling their customization when other users access the user profile, said creation of said user profile comprising storing, within the plurality of data fields of the user profile, the received user data for the user;

    generating, via the social networking server, a social networking page for the user on the computerized social network, said generated social network page for the user comprising content associated with the received user data stored in the data fields of the user profile;

    communicating, via the social networking server, data field controls for only the second portion of data fields to the user via the social networking page, said communication comprising;

    causing, via the communication by the social network server, said second portion data field controls to be displayed to the user for selection via the social networking page, said second portion data field controls comprising selectable instruction options for controlling which content stored in the second portion of data fields is displayable on the social networking page of the user based on an identity of a visiting user of the social networking page, andcausing, via the communication by the social network server, exposure of functions specific to the computerized social network;

    receiving, at the social networking server, a selection of said second portion data field controls, said selection providing actionable instructions that control how the social networking server provides the stored second portion data field content to said visiting user;

    receiving, at the social networking server, function instructions that permit only certain functions of the exposed social networking functions to be enabled for said selected second portion data field controls;

    receiving, at the social networking server, a request to view said social networking page from the visiting user;

    analyzing, via the social networking server, said visiting user request, said analysis of the visiting user request comprising determining a version of the stored content of the social networking page that is accessible by the visiting user, said determination is based on said social networking server automatically executing, in response to said received request, said actionable instructions associated with the second portion data field controls for said stored content and generating, via said social networking server, said version based on said execution; and

    communicating, via the social networking server, said generated version of the stored content of the social networking page to the visiting user, wherein said version includes content of the first portion of data fields and only the content in the second portion data fields identified in the selected second portion data field controls as accessible to said visiting user in accordance with the function instructions.

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