Patent ID: 8401009

Claim:
A method for device-independent point to multipoint communication, the method comprising: receiving from a first computing device of a first user a selection of one or more endpoints for receiving update messages; receiving, from the first computing device, a request to follow a second user; designating, by a computer processor, the first user as a follower of the second user in response to the request, wherein designating the first user comprises configuring an account of the first user to reference update messages broadcasted by the second user; receiving, from a computing device of the second user, a broadcast request to broadcast an update message in a first format, wherein the update message lacks identification of the first user as an intended recipient, and wherein the update message includes an identification of the second user as a sender of the update message; identifying, by the computer processor, a plurality of followers of the second user in response to the broadcast request, wherein the first user is among the plurality of followers; determining addressing information of each of the plurality of followers, wherein the addressing information of the first user identifies the endpoints for receiving messages; applying, for each of the plurality of followers, rules to the update message based on the addressing information; translating the update message into an appropriate format for each of the endpoints; and broadcasting the update message to each of the endpoints in the appropriate format.