Patent ID: 9736255
Date: 2017-08-15
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method comprising: receiving an electronic message from a user of a communications system; receiving a user-specified number of degrees of separation and replacing a default number of degrees of separation with the user-specified number of degrees of separation; determining, by at least one processor, co-users of the communications system having a degree of separation from the user that is less than or equal to the user-specified number of degrees of separation from the user based on actions performed by the user and the co-users using the communications system, wherein the degrees of separation indicate how users are linked within the communications system; allowing the co-users determined to have the degree of separation less than or equal to the user-specified number of degrees of separation from the user to access the electronic message; and preventing co-users having a degree of separation from the user that is greater than the user-specified number of degrees of separation from accessing the electronic message.