Patent ID: 7945674

Claim:
A method for handling a communication from a sender to an intended recipient, the method comprising: receiving a communication from a sender, wherein the communication is directed to an intended recipient; identifying the sender of the communication; identifying the intended recipient of the communication; accessing a contact list of the intended recipient, the contact list of the intended recipient being maintained in association with a different form of communication than the communication from the sender to the intended recipient and including at least a first user identifier associated with the different form of communication; accessing a contact list of the first user identifier, the contact list of the first user identifier including at least a second user identifier; determining, based in part on the accessed first contact list and the accessed second contact list, whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation; and displaying an interface to the intended recipient prior to displaying the communication to the intended recipient when the sender and the intended recipient are not linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation, wherein the interface comprises an interface element that allows the intended recipient to indicate that the communication should be displayed.