Patent ID: 8589326

Claim:
A method to provide improved contactability in a communications environment comprising: aggregating information, with the cooperation of an information aggregation module, from one or more information sources, wherein the one or more information sources include one or more of a blog, a discussion forum, a social networking site, a micro-blog, and a web site; performing one or more of a conversation analysis, pattern analysis, context analysis, content analysis, usage pattern analysis, input type analysis, temporal relationship analysis, an analysis of history, and statistical analysis of the aggregated information, wherein the analysis performed includes an analysis of a contact modality of a last communication by a contactee; predicting one or more preferred contact modalities based on a predicted presence of the contactee, a predicted behavior of the contactee, and a content type, wherein the predicted presence of the contactee is based on an analysis of one or more keywords from conversations or calendar information contained in the aggregated information and wherein the predicted behavior of the contactee is based on known activities of the contactee during certain time periods and wherein the content type comprises a picture; applying one or more rules that at least one of override and supplement the one or more predicted preferred contact modalities; updating the one or more predicted preferred contact modalities; providing the one or more predicted preferred contact modalities to a contactor, the one or more predicted preferred contact modalities being predictive of a preferred contact modality for a specific time period and provided to the contactor based on an identity of the contactor; providing an icon to the contactor, the icon being representative of the preferred contact modality of the contactee; providing information regarding one or more of the predicted preferred contact modalities of the contactee to the contactor, the provided information comprising at least a specific time period of how long the one or more predicted preferred contact modalities may be valid; and using one or more of the predicted preferred contact modalities, initiating a communication from the contactor to the contactee.