Patent ID: 8166407

Claim:
A method, comprising: enabling members of a social networking website to submit a request, through the social networking website, to initiate a temporary period, wherein the social networking website is hosted by a server and comprises a plurality of social networking webpages that are configured to provide real time interaction between the members; responsive to receiving an input from one of the members to request initiation of a particular temporary time period, selecting a start time and an end time for the particular temporary time period; temporarily modifying at least one of the social networking webpages hosted by the server to identify the member that sent the input for a duration corresponding to the selected times; and changing a mode of the social networking website for the particular temporary time period responsive to receiving the input; wherein changing the mode of the social networking website for the particular temporary time period further comprises triggering the social networking website to adjust points awarded to the members for interacting with each other within the duration corresponding to the selected times, and wherein in response to said triggering, member interactions sent using the social networking website before the start time or after the end time are scored at a first non-zero rate and member interactions sent using the social networking website within the duration are scored at a second non-zero rate that is greater than the first non-zero rate.