Patent ID: 8719290

Claim:
A method comprising: storing a sphere of influence data that is from a particular source and that indicates information about a first plurality of connections that are associated with a particular user; receiving, from the particular user, input that specifies one or more search criteria; performing a first search of the sphere of influence data based on the one or more search criteria, wherein performing the first search comprises comparing the one or more search criteria against a first subset of the sphere of influence data; after storing the sphere of influence data, sending, over a network, to a first external source that is different than the particular source, a request for connection information of the particular user; receiving, from the first external source, connection data that indicates one or more connections as connected to the particular user; in response to receiving the connection data, updating the sphere of influence data to include at least a portion of the connection data; after updating the sphere of influence data to include at least the portion of the connection data and without receiving input from the particular user, automatically performing a second search of the sphere of influence data based on the one or more search criteria, wherein performing the second search comprises comparing the one or more search criteria against a second subset of the sphere of influence data; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.