Patent ID: 8738639

Claim:
A method performed by a directory system, comprising: receiving over a network from a user terminal a request to view a directory listing; retrieving the directory listing from a directory database; presenting to the user terminal the directory listing; receiving, from the user terminal, a selection of a listing from the directory listing associated with a desired business entity; determining whether the selected listing includes an identifier of audiovisual content comprising an advertisement for the business entity, wherein the identifier comprises location information for retrieving the audiovisual content; receiving over the network from the user terminal the identifier of audiovisual content; accessing the audiovisual content based on the received identifier; selecting a transmission method based at least in part on a characteristic of the user terminal; providing an electronic directory page for the selected listing, the electronic directory page comprising: a details display window on the page displaying data associated with the business entity and a favorites option for the selected listing; and a viewer display window on the page displaying the audiovisual content; providing the audiovisual content to the user terminal using the selected transmission method via the viewer display window; receiving, from the user terminal, a selection of the favorites option; and in response to the selection of the favorites option, storing a reference to the selected listing in a user record associated with a user of the user terminal, the user record contained in a user database maintained by the directory system.