Patent ID: 8554836

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, by a server system and from a computing device associated with a first user, a message that includes (1) user association information and (2) an indication of a software application executable by the computing device, wherein the user association information identifies a subset of users; publishing, by the server system, a post to the subset of users indicated by the user association information, wherein the post is based at least in part on the message; receiving, by the server system, a request for a version of the software application from a second user who is a member of the subset of users; determining whether the post was re-shared by a third user; responsive to determining that the post was not re-shared by the third user, storing, in a database of the server system, a referral association between the first user, the second user, and the version of the software application; and responsive to determining that the post was re-shared by the third user, storing, in the database, a referral association between the third user, the second user, and the version of the software application.