Patent ID: 7401039

Claim:
A method, implemented in a computer-readable medium, comprising providing a set of tools to a plurality of members in a virtual community including: accepting a choice of investments from a first community member, each of said choice of investments including a motivation, said motivation specifying if said choice of investment was made responsive to another member in said virtual community; providing a first tool to indicate a selection effectiveness of said choice of investments of said first community member relative to those sectors in which each of the investments reside, wherein the first tool provides a graphical representation of the selection effectiveness; providing a second tool to evaluate the effectiveness of an influence of said virtual community on said first member's choice of investments, wherein the second tool provides a first graphical representation of the performance of all of said first community member's choice of investments and a second graphical representation of the said first community member's choice of investments excluding those investments that have a motivation specifying said choice of investment was made responsive to another member in said virtual community; providing a third tool to view a representation of a plurality of preferred community members; and providing a fourth tool to view a representation of a plurality of referred community members.