Patent ID: 9342853
Filing Date: 2016-05-17
CPC Classification: G06Q

Claim Text:
1. A computer program product for managing contacts of a user of at least one social networking service, the user having a social connection to a first contact within a social network of the user and a social connection to a second contact within the social network of the user, wherein the first contact has a separate social connection to the second contact within a social network of the first contact, the computer program product comprising: one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media and program instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media, which when executed by a processor perform the actions of: determining that the first contact has lowered a strength of the social connection to the second contact within the social network of the first contact, where strength of a social connection corresponds to a level or amount of access to information that one member of the social network has with regard to information shared by another member of the social network; in response, determining a weight, based on a number of factors, corresponding to the action of the first contact lowering the strength of the social connection to the second contact, the number of factors including at least one of: strength of a social connection between the user and the first contact such that the stronger the social connection between the first contact and the user, the more weight is given to the action of the first contact lowering the strength of the social connection to the second contact, and a degree of change in the strength of the social connection between the first contact and the second contact as caused by the action such that the greater the change in access to information of the first contact allowed to the second contact, the more weight is given to the action of the first contact lowering the strength of the social connection to the second contact; and based, at least in part, on the determined weight, recommending, to the user, to lower a strength of the social connection to the second contact within the social network of the user, such that the second contact has less access to information provided by the user within the social network.