Patent ID: 8473553

Claim:
A computer-implemented method, comprising: sending an instant message communication from a first device of a first person to a plurality of other persons in a topic-based community; receiving at the first device a number of response instant message communications as responses from the plurality of other persons in which the responses respectively form private instant message communication threads between the plurality of other persons and the first person; responsive to the private instant message communication threads initially being viewable by the first person, merging the private instant message communication threads received at the first device of the first person into a merged threaded view that is viewable by the first person and each of the plurality of other persons; and preventing an identified private instant message communication thread of the private instant message communication threads from being merged into the merged threaded view that is viewable by each of the plurality of other persons, responsive to a particular one of the plurality of other persons selecting to prevent the identified private instant message communication thread from being merged into the merged threaded view, both the private instant message communication threads and the identified private instant message communication thread being immediately and automatically available to the first person on the first device without requiring permission to view and access the private instant message communication threads and the identified private instant message communication thread; wherein the identified private instant message communication thread corresponds to the particular one of the plurality of other persons.