Patent ID: 8380796

Claim:
A computer-implemented method, comprising: providing a computer-based service that enables users to selectively establish contact relationships with other users such that each user can have one or more contacts; receiving, from each of a plurality of users of the computer-based service, affiliation data specifying an organization with which the respective user was affiliated and an associated date range of affiliation, said affiliation data submitted by the users via an interface to the computer-based service; receiving, from each of the plurality of users of the computer-based service via said service interface, multiple types of personal data of the respective user that can each be selectively exposed, on a contact by contact basis, to other users; for a first user of said plurality of users, using the affiliation data received from the plurality of users, including the date ranges of affiliation, to identify a set of users who were affiliated with a first organization during a time period in which the first user was affiliated with the first organization; outputting a listing of said set of users for presentation to the first user to assist the first user in identifying other users with which to establish contact relationships; receiving a request from the first user to establish a contact relationship with a second user selected by the first user, said request generated using the service interface; notifying the second user of said request, and creating a two-way contact relationship between the first and second users in response to the second user accepting said request; providing the second user an option, in connection with said two-way contact relationship, to grant permission, separately for each of the multiple types of personal data, for the first user to access the respective type of personal data of the second user; storing permission information representing selections made by the second user in response to said option, said permission information being specific to said contact relationship between the first and second users, and separately specifying, for each of the multiple types of personal data, whether the first user has permission to access the respective type of personal data of the second user; and providing the first user restricted access, via the service interface, to at least some of the personal data of the second user in accordance with said permission information.