Patent ID: 8819536

Claim:
A method of forming a multi-user online collaboration, comprising: at a server system having one or more processors and memory storing programs executed by the one or more processors: receiving and processing a plurality of communications by a plurality of participants, including comparing the plurality of communications with collaboration launch criteria, the collaboration launch criteria including a threshold number of related communications consistent with a topic, the related communications being shared between the plurality of participants; when a received communication meets the collaboration launch criteria, inviting a respective participant in the received communication to generate the multi-user online collaboration; and generating the multi-user online collaboration upon receipt of a positive response from the respective participant, including initializing the multi-user online collaboration with one or more content items by: deriving the topic for the online collaboration from the plurality of communications by the plurality of participants; determining a configuration including page layout of the multi-user online collaboration in accordance with the topic for the online collaboration; retrieving at least one dynamic content item from a resource in accordance with the topic of the online collaboration, wherein the resource is distinct from the server system; incorporating the at least one dynamic content item into the multi-user online collaboration; extracting information from communications that occur as part of the multi-user online collaboration; and adding an event to a calendar based on the information extracted from the communications.