Patent ID: 7954124

Claim:
A communications network having a plurality of interconnected instant messaging (IM) users, comprising: a user interface associated with each user, wherein the user interface is for displaying video programming content and IM content, and wherein at least some of the displayed IM content identifies the displayed video programming content; an IM server for managing IM content in the form of IM messages among the interconnected users, the IM server operated by an IM service provider for receiving, displaying and sending IM messages among the users; a survey database connected to the IM server for receiving and storing data, the stored data relating to the displayed IM content and separate from the IM messages being received, displayed and sent among the users by the IM server; and a survey server separate from the IM server for receiving from the survey database the stored data relating to IM content displayed by the user interface, wherein the survey server may be used to aggregate IM content data and generate reports based on the aggregated IM content data for a survey organization, with the aggregated IM content and the reports separate from the IM content being displayed at each user interface, so that video programming activity by multiple users may be tracked at the survey server based on the aggregated IM content rather than on survey data provided separately by the users; wherein the survey server generates a report to be provided to a television programming entity, the report indicating how many IM users are watching a particular broadcast video program at a given point in time, and whether a number of IM users watching the particular broadcast video program is trending up or down.