Patent ID: 9477374
Filing Date: 2016-10-25
CPC Classification: G06F,H04L

Claim Text:
1. A method executed on one or more computing devices for providing integrated instant messaging functionality in a social networking service, the method comprising: providing for display a plurality of selectable social group icons, each selectable social group icon representative of a respective social group of contacts selected from a collection of social contacts in an online social relationship with a first user account at a social networking service; receiving a user selection of a first social group icon of the plurality of selectable social group icons; expanding, in response to receiving the user selection, the first social group icon from a first size to a larger second size to reveal within the first social group icon a first social group of contacts associated with the first user account represented by the first social group icon, wherein each of the revealed contacts is graphically displayed within the first social group icon and has a user account at the social networking service and is associated with a social profile; determining, using the one or more computing devices, for each of the revealed contacts, if the revealed contact is associated with an instant messaging account maintained by an instant messaging service or the social networking service, and displaying a status for the revealed contact indicating whether the revealed contact is available for instant messaging communication with a user of the first user account using the instant messaging account; receiving a user selection of two or more revealed contacts that are available for instant messaging communication with the user, and a request to engage in instant messaging with the selected two or more revealed contacts; and in response to receiving the user selection of the two or more revealed contacts and the request to engage, initiating an instant messaging communication session between the user and the selected two or more revealed contacts.