Managing information about relationships in a social network via a social timeline

1. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing computer program code for performing the steps:

maintaining in a computer system a plurality of relationships among a plurality of users of a social networking system, the relationships comprising a connection between a first user and a second user of the social networking system;

receiving, from the first user, information at a social networking system about an action, the information identifying the second user of the social networking system as associated with the action and timing information about the action;

generating a social timeline comprising a visual representation of actions in common between the first and second users, the actions in common comprising the action received from the first user identifying the second user ordered using the timing information; and

sending the social timeline for display to a viewing user of the plurality of users of the social networking system.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the actions in common comprise information about an event in common between the first user and the second user.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the actions in common comprise one or more of: having worked together, having been classmates, having dated, having been at school together, having traveled together, and having been on a team together.

4. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the viewing user is the first user.

5. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the viewing user has a connection in the social networking system with at least one of the first user and the second user.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein sending the social timeline is responsive to a request from the viewing user for a social timeline between the first and second users.

7. The computer program product of claim 1 , the storage medium further containing computer program code for performing the steps:

determining a group in which the viewing user is a member, wherein the social timeline is generated based on the determined group.

8. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the social timeline is generated according to privacy settings selected by at least one of the first and second users.

9. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the first and second users are identified based on a friends list displayed to the viewing user.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the friends list displayed to the viewing user is generated using a filter function.

11. The computer program product of claim 1 , the storage medium further containing computer program code for performing the steps:

selecting a picture associated with the action received from the first user identifying the second user; and

including the selected picture in the visual representation of the action.

12. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing computer program code for performing the steps:

maintaining in a computer system a plurality of relationships among a plurality of users of a social networking system, the relationships comprising a connection between a first user and a second user of the social networking system;

receiving, from a viewing user, information at a social networking system about an action, the information identifying the first user and the second user as associated with the action and timing information about the action;

generating a social timeline comprising a visual representation of actions in common between the first user and the second user, the actions in common comprising the action received from the viewing user identifying the first user and second user as associated with the action and ordered using the timing information; and

sending the social timeline for display to the viewing user of the plurality of users of the social networking system.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein one or more of the actions in common comprise information about an interaction between the first user and the second user, the interaction comprising one or more of: having worked together, having been classmates, having dated, having been at school together, having traveled together, and having been on a team together.

14. The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein sending the social timeline is responsive to a request from the viewing user for a social timeline between the first and second users.

15. The computer program product of claim 12 , the storage medium further containing computer program code for performing the steps:

determining a group in which the viewing user is a member,

wherein the generated visual representations are selected based on the determined group.

16. The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the social timeline is generated according to privacy settings selected by at least one of the first and second users.

17. The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the first and second users are selected based on a friends list displayed to the viewing user.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the friends list displayed to the viewing user is generated using a filter function.

19. The computer program product of claim 1 , the storage medium further containing computer program code for performing the steps:

selecting a picture for at least one of the actions in common between the first user and the second user; and

including the selected picture in the visual representation of the at least one of the actions in common between the first user and the second user.

20. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing computer program code for performing the steps:

maintaining in a computer system a plurality of relationships among a plurality of users of a social networking system, each relationship comprising a connection between at least two users of the social networking system;

receiving a plurality of data items from a subset of the plurality of users, each data item comprising information identifying a first user and a second user of the social networking system associated with an action;

receiving timing information about a time associated with one or more of the plurality of data items;

identifying the plurality of data items that identify the first and second users;

generating a visual representation for each of the identified data items, each visual representation comprising information identifying the first and second user that corresponds to the identified data item;

generating a social timeline, the social timeline comprising the visual representations, at least two of which are ordered chronologically using the timing information; and

sending the social timeline for display to a viewing user of the plurality of users of the social networking system.

21. The computer program product of claim 20 , the storage medium further containing computer program code for performing the steps:

determining a group in which the viewing user is a member, wherein the social timeline is generated based on the determined group.

22. The computer program product of claim 20 , wherein the social timeline is generated according to privacy settings selected by at least one of the first and second users.

23. The computer program product of claim 20 , wherein the first and second users are selected based on a friends list displayed to the viewing user.

24. The computer program product of claim 23 , wherein the friends list displayed to the viewing user is generated using a filter function.

25. The computer program product of claim 20 , wherein generating a visual representation at least one of the identified data items comprises:

selecting a picture for the at least one identified data item; and

including the selected picture in the visual representation of the at least one data item.