Patent ID: 8874674

Claim:
An apparatus configured to optimize social networking by offering to users social networking opportunities determined based on a review of user financial account data and social networking opportunity data, the apparatus comprising: a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer-readable program code stored therein; a processor operatively coupled to the computer readable storage medium and configured to execute the computer readable program code to: receive financial account data associated with a plurality of users' financial institution accounts; receive social networking account data associated with a plurality of users' social networking accounts; identify, based on the financial account data and the social networking account data, social networking opportunities for one or more of the users, wherein identifying the social networking opportunities comprises: monitoring transaction information associated with the users financial accounts and social network opportunities from the users social networking accounts, wherein the social network opportunities are associated with an individual or organization; and detecting a trigger indicating one or more user's interest in the social network opportunity by determining at least one transaction in a user's account that is associated with the individual or organization associated with the social network opportunity; and offer the user, based at least partially on the detected trigger, the identified social networking opportunities.