Patent ID: 9646267
Date: 2017-05-09
CPC Classifications: G06Q

Claim:
1. A method comprising: enabling input from a first person account of a first user to establish a first follow relationship from the person account to an entity in a social network, wherein the entity is disabled to establish a second follow relationship from the entity to the first person account until the first follow relationship from the first person account to the entity is established, the second follow relationship enabling the entity to publish content to the first person account in the social network; detecting an establishment of the first follow relationship with a limited visibility in the social network in lieu of an option to establish the first follow relationship with a public visibility in the social network, wherein the limited visibility disables a second user having a second person account from having visibility to the first follow relationship; detecting, by a processor, an establishment of the second follow relationship from the entity to the first person account with public visibility in the social network; and blocking the second user in the social network from obtaining visibility of the second follow relationship when the first follow relationship is invisible to the second user, wherein blocking the second user in the social network from obtaining visibility includes omitting the first person account from a list of users that the entity is following when the second user views a profile of the entity, wherein a third user having visibility to the first follow relationship is given visibility to the first person account being followed by the entity.