Patent ID: 8150913

Claim:
A computer system that provides a service for controlled access over a network to user profiles having associated image content provided by registered users of the service, the computer system comprising: a networked server system accessible by remote user devices via the network, the networked server system comprising at least one processor and at least one memory; and at least one database accessible by the networked server system and configured to store the user profiles of the registered users, image content items associated with the user profiles, and relationship data that specifies access relationships established between the registered users; the networked server system being programmed, via executable program instructions, to: allow users to register with the service and the registered users to each create a user profile comprising profile information about the respective registered user and a plurality of image content items of data types corresponding to one or more of photo data or video data; allow a first registered user to identify other registered users via a user interface and to indicate a desire to establish an access relationship with the other registered users, wherein each access relationship allows the first registered user to access a user profile of an identified other registered user via the user interface and image content items of the identified other registered user via the user interface; establish access relationships between the first registered user and the other registered users without requiring the other registered users to individually approve the access relationships; allow the first registered user to select from the user interface the user profile of another registered user with respect to which an access relationship has been established with the first registered user, in response to which the networked server system provides the selected user profile for display to the first registered user in the user interface, wherein the selected user profile includes representations of at least some of the image content items associated with the selected user profile; allow the first registered user to select and view at least one of the image content items associated with the selected user profile in the user interface; and allow the first registered user to interact with the selected image content item via interactive controls of the user interface.