Patent ID: 8909706

Claim:
A method, comprising, by one or more computing systems: maintaining a profile for each of one or more users of a social networking system, each profile identifying a connection to one or more other users of the social networking system and including information about the respective user; receiving, from a remote system, a request to access information and modify the profile of a particular user of the social networking system, the request including a federated access token generated by the remote system, and the federated access token including an identifier of the particular user for the social networking system and an access option specified by the particular user, wherein the request is sent in response to detecting a physical token at a remote device connected to the remote system, and wherein the access option indicates one or more modifications to the profile of the particular user permitted to be made by the remote device; validating the request; and establishing, if the request is validated, a federated access session with the remote device, wherein the federated access session allows the remote device to access social network information of the particular user and modify the profile of the particular user.