Patent ID: 8812562

Claim:
A method for operating a social network, the method being implemented by one or more processors and comprising: maintaining a list comprising a plurality of participants, wherein each participant in the plurality of participants corresponds to one or more individuals, wherein the list also includes information associated with at least one of each participant or the one or more individuals that correspond to each participant; storing biographical information about each participant in the plurality of participants, including information about each participant's occupation, education and geographic residence; presenting a user with a plurality of categories from which the user may make a selection of a category from the plurality of categories, wherein the plurality of categories include a plurality of categories that relate to geographic destinations; receiving the selection of the category by the user; in conjunction with the selection of the category, receiving an electronic communication containing an inquiry of the user, the communication identifying geographic information that is relevant to the inquiry; after receiving the selection of the category by the user, selecting one or more participants from the list to receive the electronic communication based on (i) the selection of the category, (ii) the geographic information that is relevant to the inquiry, and (iii) the biographical information of each of the one or more participants; sending the inquiry to the selected one or more participants; enabling the one or more participants to provide a reply to the inquiry, the reply from each of the one or more participants including biographical information about that participant; and tracking a performance of at least one of the one or more participants in replying to the inquiry, including determining a feedback from the user for the at least one of the one or more participants and a time in which the reply from that participant was provided.