Patent ID: 8335834

Claim:
A method of exchanging messages with a user in a user interface that distinguishes official messages from unofficial messages, the method comprising: receiving, at a message system, first messaging content addressed to an intended user from a first user; receiving, at the message system, second messaging content addressed to the intended user from a trusted user; determining, at the message system, that the first user has normal privileges to exchange the first messaging content; determining, at the message system, that the trusted user has special privileges that enable the trusted user to exchange trusted messages; configuring, at the message system, the first message to be rendered as an unofficial message using an unofficial format that renders the unofficial message with an unofficial label in an overview interface and an unofficial selected interface in response to selecting the first message in the overview interface; exchanging, at the message system, the first content as a first message; configuring, at the message system, the trusted message to be rendered using a trusted format that distinguishes unofficial messages from trusted messages using a trusted label that identifies the trusted message in the overview interface and a trusted selected interface in response to selecting the trusted message in the overview interface; and exchanging, based on determining that the trusted user has special privileges that enable the trusted user to exchange the trusted messages, the second messaging content as a trusted message.