Method of aggregating business and social networks
A method and system for facilitating relationships across multiple networks is described. The meta-network includes relationship information describing users, the networks to which such users belong, and the relationships that they have established within such networks. When a relationship is established in a network, it can be used to propagate relationships across any number of networks with the same or different users. The meta-network enhances the users' ability to search for information and manage their relationships across multiple networks. A user can search for other users according to one or more user-specified attributes. One or more users satisfying the user-specified attributes are identified, and a similarity measure may be determined for each of the identified users. A mapping interface is displayed to the user to enable the user to visually compare the identified users having a similarity measure within the displayed range. The mapping interface allows the user to invite one or more of the displayed users to establish a relationship with the user.
1. A system comprising:
a memory storing computer-executable instructions of:
a user registration component of a meta-network configured to register a user with the meta-network;
a network registration component of the meta-network configured to register with the meta-network a first network identifier (ID) of the user corresponding to a first network to which the user is registered and a second network ID of the user corresponding to a second network to which the user is registered;
an identification component of the meta-network configured to, after the first network ID has been registered with the meta-network, identify using the first network ID one or more users that are registered to the first network with which the user has established a relationship in the first network but has not established a relationship in the second network;
an interface component of the meta-network configured to display the identified users; and
an invitation component of the meta-network configured to receive a selection of the identified users and send an invitation to invite the selected users to establish a relationship with the user in the second network; and
a processor that executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein the meta-network stores information describing the user, a plurality of networks to which the user belongs, and relationships that the user has established in the plurality of networks.
3. The system of claim 1 further comprising an email component configured to receive at least one email address and send an invitation to a user associated with the at least one email address.
4. The system of claim 1 wherein the first network is the meta-network.
5. The system of claim 1 further comprising a search component configured to receive one or more user-specified attributes and identify users that are registered with a plurality of networks and that satisfy the user-specified attributes.
6. The system of claim 5 wherein the one or more user-specified attributes are weighted to indicate a level of importance.
7. A method for providing relationship information across multiple networks, the method comprising:
providing a meta-network through which users register their affiliations with the multiple networks;
receiving from a user a request to invite other users to establish a relationship with the user in a second network of the multiple networks;
identifying relationships that the user has established with other users in the multiple networks, each relationship in a first network between the user registered with the first network and another user registered with the first network such that the user and the other user do not have a relationship in the second network;
displaying the identified relationships with the other users so that the user can view relationships across multiple networks without the user having to access each network separately;
receiving from the user a selection of one of the other users; and
sending an invitation to the selected other user to establish a relationship with the user in the second network.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein the identifying relationships includes accessing the multiple networks to retrieve relationship information and storing the retrieved relationship information in a data store of the meta-network.
9. The method of claim 8 including periodically re-accessing the multiple networks to update the relationship information.
10. The method of claim 7 further comprising, receiving an invitation to establish a relationship with another user in a distinguished network with which the user is not registered;
registering the user with the distinguished network;
mapping a meta-network ID of the user to a distinguished network ID of the user corresponding to the distinguished network; and
establishing a relationship with the other user in the distinguished network.
11. The method of claim 7 wherein the meta-network is one of the multiple networks.
12. The method of claim 7 further comprising, in response to receiving a request to identify users satisfying one or more user-specified attributes, identifying at least one user registered with the meta-network that satisfies the one or more user-specified attributes; and displaying the at least one identified user.
13. The method of claim 12 wherein the one or more user-specified attributes are weighted to indicate a level of importance.
14. A computer-readable memory comprising instructions that, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to:
assign a user a meta-network identifier (ID);
map the assigned meta-network ID to a first network ID corresponding to a first network to which the user is registered and a second network ID corresponding to a second network to which the user is registered;
identify using the network ID one or more users that are registered in the first network and with which the user has established a relationship in the first network;
receive a selection of the identified users; and
send an invitation to invite the selected users to establish a relationship with the user in the second network with which the user is registered.
15. The computer-readable memory of claim 14 further comprising instructions that cause the computer system to:
in response to receiving an indication that at least one of the selected users has accepted the invitation, establish a relationship with the at least one selected user in the second network.
16. The computer-readable memory of claim 14 further comprising instructions that cause the computer system to receive an invitation to establish a relationship with another user in a distinguished network with which the user is not registered;
register the user with the distinguished network;
map the meta-network ID of the user to a distinguished network ID of the user corresponding to the distinguished network; and
store a mapping of the relationship in the meta-network.
17. The computer-readable memory of claim 16 further comprising instructions that cause the computer to send an indication that the received invitation is accepted.
18. The computer-readable memory of claim 14 wherein the second network is the meta-network.
19. The computer-readable memory of claim 14 further comprising instructions that cause the computer system to receive from the user one or more user-specified attributes;
identify at least one user registered with the meta-network that satisfies the user-specified attributes; and
display the at least one identified user.
20. The computer-readable memory of claim 19 wherein the one or more user-specified attributes are weighted to indicate a level of importance to the user.
21. The system of claim 1 wherein the relationship in the first network between the user and an identified user is established based on an invitation to join the first network and to establish a relationship in the first network.