Patent ID: 8918460

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: maintaining, on a storage device, a participant list of users of an electronic communications system to be used by a first user of the electronic communications system; determining, using at least one processor, communications strengths between the first user and each of the users included in the participant list of users, wherein the communications strengths for a particular user is based on at least two criteria selected from: a degree of separation between the first user and the particular user; a determination that the particular user is a direct addressee of a message from the first user; a determination that the particular user is an indirect addressee of a message from the first user; an amount of time corresponding to messages exchanged between the first user and the particular user; a frequency of messages sent between the first user and the particular user: or a determination that the particular user both sends messages to the first user and receives messages from the first user: identifying, using the at least one processor, a first subset of users from the participant list of users that have a threshold communications strength; identifying, using the at least one processor, a second subset of users from the participant list that have a communications strength below the threshold communications strength; causing a visual display of a first group of users, the first group of users comprising users in the identified first subset of users and excluding users in the identified second subset of users; updating a previously determined communications strength for the particular user from the second subset of users based on additional information corresponding to the at least two criteria; determining that the updated communications strength for the particular user is above the threshold communications strength; moving the particular user from the second subset of users to the first subset of users; and adding the particular user to the visual display of the first group of users.