Patent ID: 8429090

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for processing a request for relationship information, the method executed by at least one computing device comprising a processor, the method comprising: receiving a request from a first user to view relationship information of a second user, the second user being part of a social network; identifying, with the at least one computing device, a type of relationship that the second user has with a set of users of the social network; identifying, with the at least one computing device, a first privacy rule established by the second user for the type of relationship between the second user and the set of users, the first privacy rule describing types of users allowed to view that the second user has a relationship with the set of users; identifying, with the at least one computing device, one or more second privacy rules established by the set of users for the type of relationship between the set of users and the second user, the one or more second privacy rules describing types of users allowed to view that the set of users have relationships with the second user; and responsive to the first user satisfying the first privacy rule and the one or more second privacy rules, transmitting, with the at least one computing device, relationship information to the first user including the type of relationship that the second user has with the set of users.