Patent ID: 8355990

Claim:
A method, comprising: hosting at a computing device having a processor and a memory, content on behalf of content owners who own the content; enabling a registered user to share the content with a third party through a creation of a link to the content, wherein the link is tied to the registered user that caused the link to be created, and wherein the third party re-shares the link with at least one subsequent party; delivering the link to the third party via an email or short-message service (SMS) message; generating revenue through use of the content by one or more of displaying one or more advertisements with the content and charging a fee for the use of the content; identifying the registered user that is tied to the link when the link is used by the at least one subsequent party to retrieve the content; and sharing said revenue with the content owners and the registered user that is tied to the link to the shared content, wherein the revenue is shared between the content owners and the registered user that is tied to the link to the shared content in a first proportion when the revenue is generated from advertisements and in a second proportion when the revenue is generated from fees charged for use of the content.