Methods and Systems Providing an Interactive Social Ticker

1 . A user interface for use in one or more processor-based devices, said user interface comprising:

an interactive, social ticker shared among a plurality of users, said interactive social ticker including an animated flow of selectable content.

2 . The user interface of claim 1 wherein said animated flow of selectable content comprises;

a first interactive flow; and

a second interactive flow, wherein said selectable content includes items moveable among said first and second interactive flows.

3 . The user interface of claim 2 wherein said first interactive flow comprises general interest content, and wherein said second interactive flow includes socially filtered content shared among said plurality of users.

4 . The user interface of claim 3 further comprising:

a third interactive flow including items filtered based at least in part on user preferences.

5 . The user interface of claim 1 , wherein said user interface is displayed upon a screen of a handheld device.

6 . The user interface of claim 1 , wherein said user interface is displayed upon a screen of a desktop device.

7 . The user interface of claim 1 , wherein said animated flow simulates water movement, and wherein said selectable content comprises items rendered to simulate floating on said water.

8 . The user interface of claim 7 further comprising a beach area adjacent said water, said beach area including one or more selectable buttons.

9 . The user interface of claim 1 wherein said user interface is displayed upon a screen of said processor-based device, and wherein control is provided by a directional input control adjacent to a display area.

10 . The user interface of claim 1 wherein items of said selectable content are moved within a display space of said user interface using a drag and drop action.

11 . The user interface of claim 1 wherein said interactive social ticker comprises an information flow that includes public content and content shared within a social group.

12 . The user interface of claim 11 wherein said social ticker further comprises content provided based on personal interest information about a user.

13 . The user interface of claim 1 wherein said selectable content is selected from the list consisting of:

widgets;

tiles;

icons;

text;

pictures; and

videos.

14 . A user interface for use in one or more processor-based devices, said user interface comprising:

a social ticker that receives items of content, integrates the items of content into an animated flow, and shares the items of content among a plurality of animated flows on a plurality of devices.

15 . The user interface of claim 14 , wherein said user interface is displayed upon a screen of a handheld device.

16 . The user interface of claim 14 , wherein said social ticker further comprises a public information flow including items of general interest content.

17 . The user interface of claim 14 , wherein said social ticker further comprises a personal information flow including items filtered for personal interest.

18 . The user interface of claim 14 , wherein at least one of said items of content includes a preview mode wherein selection of said at least one item results in a truncated view of underlying content of said at least one item.

19 . The user interface of claim 14 , further comprising:

a dialog box for creating content and inserting said created content into said animated flow.

20 . The user interface of claim 14 , wherein said user interface is in communication with a database which provides said items of content to said user interface.

21 . The user interface of claim 14 , wherein said user interface is included in an application that is in communication with a web server for providing said items of content.

22 . The user interface of claim 14 wherein said interactive social ticker comprises an information flow that includes public content and content shared within a social group.

23 . The user interface of claim 14 wherein said social ticker further comprises content provided based on personal interest information about a user.

24 . A user interface for use in one or more processor-based devices, said user interface comprising:

an animated flow of information items across a screen of a device, said animated flow providing for selection of said items, wherein selection of one of said items causes said item to expand and present information content within said screen.

25 . The user interface of claim 24 wherein said items of information items in said flow are selected from the list consisting of:

widgets;

tiles;

icons;

text;

pictures; and

videos.

26 . The user interface of claim 24 , wherein said user interface is displayed upon a screen of a handheld device.

27 . The user interface of claim 24 , wherein said animated flow comprises:

a first interactive flow; and

a second interactive flow, wherein said information items are moveable among said first and second interactive flows.

28 . The user interface of claim 27 wherein said first interactive flow comprises general interest content, and wherein said second interactive flow includes socially filtered content shared among a plurality of users.

29 . The user interface of claim 24 wherein said animated flow comprises an interactive social flow shared among a plurality of users, wherein said users of said plurality of users create content in said interactive social flow.

30 . The user interface of claim 24 wherein said animated flow includes public content and content shared within a social group.

31 . The user interface of claim 24 wherein said animated flow further comprises content provided based on personal interest information about a user.

32 . A method for operating a processor-based server computer, said method comprising:

receiving a communication from a first processor-based device, said communication providing an information item and indicating that said information item is to be placed in an interactive social ticker;

receiving a communication from a second processor-based device; and

in response to said communication from said second processor-based device, sending said informational item to said second processor-based device with an indication that said informational item is to be placed in an interactive social ticker on a screen of said second processor-based device.

33 . The method of claim 32 wherein said communication from said second processor-based device comprises polling.

34 . The method of claim 32 further comprising:

receiving information from said first processor-based device indicating one or more user preferences.

35 . The method of claim 32 , wherein said information item received from said first processor-based device comprises a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), said method further comprising:

comparing said URL against a blacklist database.

36 . The method of claim 32 wherein said processor-based server computer sets communication intervals for said first processor-based device.

37 . The method of claim 32 further comprising:

receiving from said first processor-based device a request for an advertisement sponsored by a third party.

38 . The method of claim 37 further comprising:

receiving said advertisement from said third party; and

providing said advertisement to said first processor-based device in response to said request.

39 . A computer program product having a computer readable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for providing a user interface, said computer program product comprising:

code for rendering a social ticker on said user interface;

code for receiving items of content using said user interface;

code for integrating the items of content into an animated flow on said social ticker; and

code for sharing the items of content among a plurality of animated flows on a plurality of devices.