Patent ID: 8589491

Claim:
A computer implemented method comprising: identifying one or more interactions between a first user and a second user within a social networking system; scoring each respective interaction of the one or more interactions based on a group score and a time penalty, the group score based on a number of users in the respective interaction and the time penalty is based on a time between a current time and a time of a last interaction between the first user and the second user; determining a relationship ranking that measures an affinity of the first user towards the second user, the relationship ranking comprising the one or more interaction scores; assigning an expiration parameter to the second user, wherein the expiration parameter indicates when the second user should be disassociated from the first user, the assignment of the expiration parameter being based on a frequency of interaction between the first user and the second user; modifying the expiration parameter for the second user based on the identified one or more interactions between the first user and second user; and sending to a client for display an indicator representing the relationship ranking between the first user and the second user.