Method and System for Connecting People in a Social Network

Abstract

A system and method for connecting people in a social network using information from a user's digital address book. A social network member can unilaterally friend any contact in her address book. Optionally, a member can only friend a contact and be friended by a contact if she is in that contact's address book. An central server keeps track of friended members of the social network and contacts.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for connecting people on a social network, each person having a device with access to a global computer network and an address book with contacts, each contact having at least one unique identifier, the method comprising the steps of:
 (a) providing a central server that maintains a list of social network members with unique member identifiers;   (b) operatively connecting the device to the central server via the global computer network;   (c) registering the person with the social network as a member;   (d) friending a contact by (1) the central server accepting from the device the at least one unique identifier associated with the contact from the address book; (2) the central server determining if the unique identifier identifies another member; (3) if the unique identifier identifies another member, verifying that the member is in the contact's address book; (4) if the member is in the contact's address book, automatically providing access to the member for the contact; and (5) if the unique identifier does not identify another member, saving the unique identifier, and upon a new member registering, determining if the unique identifier of the new member is saved, and if so, automatically providing access to the member by the new member; and   (e) upon the person registering as a member, automatically friending a predetermined subset of the contacts.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the unique identifier is a phone number. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the unique identifier is a phone number combined with a hash value calculated from the contacts in the address book. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the predetermined subset of the contacts is all of the contacts. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising allowing the central server access to the address book, the central server retrieving the at least one unique identifier from contacts in the address book and sending it to the central server. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the central server accesses the address book through an application running on the device. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the central server accesses the address book through an application running on a server operatively connected to the global computer network. 
     
     
         8 . A system for connecting people on a social network, each person having a device with access to a global computer network and an address book with contacts, each contact having at least one unique identifier, the system comprising:
 (a) a central server that maintains a list of social network members with unique member identifiers;   (b) the device being connected to the central server via the global computer network;   (c) the central server running an application, the application including instructions for registering the person with the social network as a member;   (d) the application including instructions for friending a contact comprising the steps of (1) accepting from the device the at least one unique identifier associated with the contact from the address book; (2) determining if the unique identifier identifies another member; (3) if the unique identifier identifies another member, verifying that the member is in the contact's address book; (4) if the member is in the contact's address book, automatically providing access to the member for the contact; and (5) if the unique identifier does not identify another member, saving the unique identifier, and upon a new member registering, determining if the unique identifier of the new member is saved, and if so, automatically providing access to the member by the new member; and   (e) the application including instructions to automatically friend a predetermined subset of the contacts upon the person registering as a member.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the unique identifier is a phone number. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the unique identifier is a phone number combined with a hash value calculated from the contacts in the address book. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the central server has access to the address book to retrieve the at least one unique identifier from contacts in the address book. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the central server accesses the address book through an application running on the device. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the central server application accesses the address book.