Patent ID: 8392335

Claim:
A method for determining a contact path between a first individual and a target individual, the method comprising: performing using a computer system: storing in a memory data associated with multiple individuals; tracking network communications of the individuals; determining a level of interaction between the individuals based on the network communications to develop a people network; determining a contact path between the first individual and the target individual using the level of interaction based on the network communications between the first individual, the target individual, and one or more intervening individuals based on the network communications, the contact path including one or more of the intervening individuals having at least a predetermined level of interaction with at least one of the first individual and the target individual and the contact path identifies one or more of the intervening individuals that represent a proposed path through the people network for the first individual to contact the target individual, wherein the one or more individuals of the contact path include one or more intervening individuals other than the first individual and the target individual; providing the contact path to the first individual; analyzing recency and frequency of communications between the individuals; and dynamically updating the people network based on the analysis of the recency and frequency of communications between the individuals.