Patent ID: 8925106

Claim:
A method of determining which users are allowed to add content into a web-based collection and to view content from the web-based collection, the content including photos and/or videos, the method comprising: receiving, by a processor as output by an administrator of the web-based collection, a list of users who are authorized to provide content onto a website, the list of users including a first group and a second group; receiving, by the processor, a request from a first user to provide selected content to the website; determining, by the processor, whether the first user making the request is on the list of users, and if so, allowing the first user to provide selected content to the website; receiving, by the processor, a request from a second user to view the content on the website; determining, by the processor, whether the second user is on the list of users or is associated with any user on the list of users, wherein determining that the second user is associated with any user on the list of users includes determining that the second user is within a first degree of association with any user in the first group or within a second degree of association with any user in the second group, wherein determining that the second user is associated with any user on the list of users includes the administrator of the web based collection using a user interface to set a value corresponding to the first degree of association and the second degree of association for each user on the list of authorized users, and wherein the value can be set by the administrator of the web-based collection to be any integer number; and if the determining is that the second user is on the list of users or is associated with any user on the list of users, allowing the second user to view the content on the website, and if not, disallowing the second user to view the content on the website.