Patent ID: 7587461

Claim:
A method comprising: on a message server computer having one or more processors and memory, for each conversation i in a plurality of n conversations (i=1, . . . , n), wherein each conversation i includes messages, wherein the messages include messages received by a user: determining a respective received message ranking value v j for each received message in the conversation, wherein: the respective received message ranking value v j is a function of at least one interaction metric m k for the respective received message: v j =ƒ( m k ), wherein m k is a value of the interaction metric for a k-th interaction metric, and the interaction metric m k is based on a predefined action performed by the user with regard to the respective received message; and determining a conversation ranking value r i for the conversation, wherein the conversation ranking value r i is a function of received message ranking values v j for all of the received messages in the conversation: r i =ƒ( v j ), ( j= 1 , . . . , m ), wherein r i is the conversation ranking value for an i-th conversation in the plurality of n conversations, and v j is the message ranking value for a j-th received message in the plurality of m received messages in the i-th conversation; and sorting the conversations in the plurality of n conversations in accordance with the determined conversation ranking values r i , (i=1, . . . , n).