Extending user relationships

1. A method for managing personal information management

(PIM) data amongst users in a network, the method comprising:

accessing a third-party application server to identify personal information management (PIM) data of a first user including a first network of contacts corresponding to an account of the first user of a social networking application hosted by the third-party application server;

accessing a third-party application server to identify PIM data of a second user including a second network of contacts corresponding to an account of the second user of the social networking application hosted by the third-party application server;

external to the third-party application server, allowing access to the first network of contacts of the first user by the second user in accordance with first user permission settings set by the first user; and

creating a link between the first user and the second user, wherein creating the link includes:

identifying shared calendar information common to the PIM data of the first user and the PIM data of the second user, respectively, wherein the shared calendar information includes embedded metadata, and

updating, based on the shared calendar information, the PIM data of the second user using the PIM data of the first user, wherein updating the PIM data includes:

reading the embedded metadata from the shared calendar information;

based on the metadata, acquiring additional information not expressly provided by the calendar data; and

automatically updating the shared calendar information to reflect the additional information.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, acting as a proxy with user credentials of the first user to access the third-party application server using the user credentials provided by the first user for the third-party application server.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the access is created following authorization specified in the first user permission settings.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, identifying a common relationship between the first and second user in the social networking application; wherein identification of the common relationship occurs automatically.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, identifying a common relationship between the first and second user in the social networking application; wherein identification of the common relationship occurs in response to a request from either the first user or the second user.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the creating a link between the first user and the second user further includes exchanging an encryption key.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the creating the link between the first user and the second user further includes sharing all PIM data about other users and to which each user individually has access.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the creating the link includes:

updating out-of-date PIM data maintained by the first user with respect to PIM data maintained by the second user, where the first and the second users have a common relationship; and

updating out-of-date PIM data maintained by the second user with respect to PIM data maintained by the first user, where the first and the second users have a common relationship.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising, external to the third-party application server, allowing access to the second network of contacts of the second user by the first user in accordance with second user permission settings set by the second user.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising allowing access to the PIM data of the first and second users, respectively, that also corresponds to a pre-defined privacy setting.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the pre-defined privacy setting is set by at least one of the first user or the second user.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the pre-defined privacy setting corresponds to the PIM data as a whole.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the pre-defined privacy setting corresponds to classes of PIM data.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first user permission settings specify a degree of separation of another user by whom the first network of contacts can be accessed.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving from one of the first user or the second user, a criterion for identifying a matching relationship between the first user and the second user;

identifying the matching relationship between the first user and the second user based on the criterion;

creating a link between the first user and the second user having the matching relationship in accordance with first user permission settings set by the first user.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the criterion includes location data, employment data or family relationship data.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising automatically determining a degree of importance associated with the shared calendar information based on the additional information.

18. A method for managing personal information management (PIM) data amongst users in a network, the method comprising:

accessing personal information management (PIM) data corresponding to a first user from a social networking application;

accessing PIM data corresponding to a second user;

identifying a matching relationship in the PIM data of the first user and the second user; and

creating a link between the first user and the second user based on the matching relationship,

wherein the first user and the second user are both members of a network community hosted by the social networking application,

wherein creating the link includes:

identifying shared calendar information common to the PIM data corresponding to the first user and the PIM data corresponding to the second user based on the matching relationship, wherein the shared calendar information includes embedded metadata; and

updating, based on the shared calendar information, the PIM data corresponding to the second user using the PIM data corresponding to the first user, wherein updating the PIM data includes:

reading the embedded metadata from the shared calendar information;

based on the metadata, acquiring additional information not expressly provided by the calendar data; and

automatically updating the shared calendar information to reflect the additional information.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein:

accessing the PIM data corresponding to the first user includes accessing a first third-party application server to identify personal information management (PIM) data of a first network of contacts corresponding to an account of the first user of a real-time communication application hosted by the first third-party application server;

accessing the PIM data corresponding to the second user includes accessing a second third-party application server to identify PIM data of a second network of contacts corresponding to an account of the second user of a second application hosted by the second third-party application server; and

further comprising:

external to the first third-party application server and the second third-party application server, allowing access to the first network of contacts of the first user by the second user in accordance with first user permission settings set by the first user.

20. A system for managing personal information management (PIM) data amongst users in a network, the system comprising:

a processor;

a memory unit having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, causes the system to:

access a third-party application server to identify personal information management (PIM) data of a first user including a first network of contacts corresponding to an account of the first user of a social networking application hosted by the third-party application server;

access the third-party application server to identify PIM data of a second user including a second network of contacts corresponding to an account of the second user of the social networking application hosted by the third-party application server;

facilitate access to the first network of contacts of the first user by the second user external to the third-party application server, the access in accordance with first user permission settings set by the first user;

create a link between the first user and the second user, wherein creating the link includes:

identifying shared calendar information common to the PIM data of the first user and the PIM data of the second user, respectively, wherein the shared calendar information includes embedded metadata, and

updating, based on the shared calendar information, the PIM data of the second user using the PIM data of the first user, wherein updating the PIM data includes:

reading the embedded metadata from the shared calendar information;

based on the metadata, acquiring additional information not expressly provided by the calendar data; and

automatically updating the shared calendar information to reflect the additional information.