BUSINESS VALIDATION BASED SOCIAL WEBSITE ACCOUNT AUTHENTICATION
Methods of the present inventions allow for verifying the authenticity of social website accounts. An example embodiment of a business validation based social website account authentication method may comprise the steps of receiving a request (that may include a business name and a business email address) to verify the authenticity of a social website account, validating the business name and business email address, and determining whether the domain name is registered to and under control of the business. If the business name and business email address are both validated, and the domain name is registered to and under control of the business, the social website account's authenticity may be certified.
1 . A method comprising the steps of:
A) receiving, by at least one server computer communicatively coupled to a network, a request to verify the authenticity of a social website account, said request comprising a business name and a business email address comprising a domain name;
B) validating, by said at least one server, said business name;
C) validating, by said at least one server computer, said business email address;
D) determining, by said at least one server computer, whether said domain name is registered to and under control of said business name; and
E) responsive to a determination that said business name is validated, said business email address is validated, and said domain name is registered to and under control of said business name, certifying, by said at least one server computer, the authenticity of said social website account.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said social website comprises a micro-blogging website.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said social website comprises a software application selected from the group consisting of a micro-blogging application, a chat application, a forum application, a social networking application, a blog application, and an instant messaging application.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein said software application comprises a server-side software application.
5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein said software application comprises a client-side software application.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said business validating step B) comprises the step of searching at least one public business record for said business name.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said business email address validating step C) comprises the steps of:
i) sending an email message containing a hyperlink to said business email address; and
ii) receiving an HTTP request originating from said hyperlink.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining step D) comprises the steps of:
i) analyzing a WHOIS data for said domain name;
ii) identifying an administrative contact from said WHOIS data;
iii) contacting said administrative contact; and
iv) receiving confirmation from said administrative contact that said domain name is registered to and under control of said business name.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein said WHOIS data comprises an administrative contact email address.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein said contacting step iii) comprises sending an email message to said administrative contact email address.
11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein said administrative contact email message comprises a hyperlink.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein said receiving step iii) comprises receiving an HTTP request originating from said hyperlink.
13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining step B) comprises sending an email message to said business email address, said email message comprising at least one instruction for verifying that said domain name is registered to and under control of said business name.
14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein said email message comprises at least one instruction to modify a CNAME record for said domain name.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein said determining step B) further comprises determining that said CNAME record was modified according to said at least one instruction by analyzing a DNS record for said domain name.
16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein said email message comprises at least one instruction to upload an HTML file to a webpage resolving from said domain name.
17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein said email message further comprises said HTML file.
18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein said email message further comprises a file name for said HTML file.
19 . The method of claim 16 , wherein said determining step B) further comprises determining that said HTML file has been uploaded to said webpage.
20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said request further comprises, an employee name, a business address, or a business telephone number.
21 . The method of claim 20 , further comprising the step of, responsive to a determination that said business name is not validated, said business email address is not validated, or said domain name is not registered to and under control of said business name, performing a manual business validation process.
22 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising the step of, responsive to a positive result from said manual validation process, certifying, by said at least one server computer, the authenticity of said social website account.