Patent ID: 8413180

Claim:
A method of communicating activity information to support user interaction in a communication network, the method comprising: accepting from a first user information identifying a second user; receiving from the first user at least one user-selected characteristic associated with media; receiving a media request from the first user via a communication network, wherein the media request relates to media to be sent directly via the communication network from of the second user to the first user; processing the media request from the first user via the communication network, the requested media having a pre-defined set of characteristics; notifying the second user, via the communication network, of the consumption of the requested media by the first user, if the pre-defined set of characteristics for the requested media matches the at least one user-selected characteristic; and refraining from notifying the second user, via the communication network, of the consumption of the requested media by the first user, if the pre-defined set of characteristics for the requested media does not match the at least one user-selected characteristic.