Patent ID: 8694656

Claim:
A method comprising: detecting a user operating a first client device at an intermediary server, wherein the intermediary server is communicatively coupled to one or more client devices including the first client device and further communicatively coupled to one or more other intermediary servers each communicatively coupled with one or more other client devices; establishing communication with at least one social networking server maintaining information corresponding to the user, the information comprising one or more of user preferences, a plurality of user connections, and user connection preferences corresponding to each of the plurality of user connections; querying the at least one social networking server for the information; receiving the information; and generating a local viewing social network for the user comprising: generating a user profile according to the information; detecting one or more local connections of the plurality of user connections operating a client device of the one or more client devices or the one or more other client devices; establishing direct communication between the user and at least one of the one or more local connections; receiving a user command from the user via one of keyboard, mouse, touch pad, and game controller, the user command implemented in a first protocol specific to the first client device to perform at least one function at a first one of the at least one social networking server, the at least one function including at least one of chatting, voice messaging, presence inquiries and updates, content sharing and synchronization, and device control and system messages; generating a command set comprising one or more API calls executable at the first one of the at least one social networking server for performing the at least one function; and sending the command set to the first one of the at least one social networking server.