Patent ID: 8880523

Claim:
A method of operating an automated preference system comprising one or more processors, the method comprising: providing to an external web site a data snippet configured to query the preference system regarding a status of a content item available at the external web site; receiving the query regarding the status of the content item when the content item is displayed to a visitor to the external web site; operating the one or more processors to: determine whether the content item has been submitted to the preference system; and if the content item has been submitted to the preference system, retrieving stored preference information regarding the content item; and in response to the query, returning for display with the content item: a first control selectable by the visitor to submit the content item to the preference system, if the content item has not been submitted to the preference system; or a second control selectable by the visitor to submit a positive preference event to the preference system regarding the content item, if the content item has been submitted to the preference system.