Ad hoc group chat using a social networking service
A method of conducting a real-time private group chat conversation using a social networking service to connect users to the conversation. A stream of text strings published by a public social networking service is monitored. The text strings are scanned to determine whether any of the strings include an action tag. If an action tag is found, a creator user account name that is attempting to initiate a private conversation is determined and a user account name and a title for the private conversation are read from the text string. A request is sent to the user account in the social networking service. The request includes the creator user account name and a URL for joining the private conversation. If the user account accepts the request by accessing the URL provided in the request from the social networking service, the user account is connected with the creator user account in a private conversation. Messages of the private conversation are communicated between all invited user accounts and the creator user account.
1. A method of conducting a real-time private group chat conversation using a social networking service to connect users to the conversation, the method comprising:
monitoring, using a controller, a stream of text strings published by a public social networking service;
scanning the text strings to determine whether any of the text strings include an action tag that includes a predetermined combination of characters;
responsive to determining that a first of the text strings includes the action tag, determining a creator user account name that is attempting to initiate a private conversation and reading at least one user account name in the first text string and a title for the private conversation to be initiated, the creator user account name being associated with an externally published creator user account in the social networking service and the user account name being associated with an externally published user account in the social networking service;
causing a request to be sent to the user account in the social networking service, the request including an indication of the request for the private conversation and the creator user account name and a uniform resource locator (URL) for joining the private conversation;
responsive to the user account accepting the request by directing a browser to access the URL provided in the request from the social networking service, connecting the user account with a creator user account associated with the creator user account name in a private conversation; and
communicating, using the controller, messages of the private conversation between the user account and the creator user account,
wherein the action tag starts with at least one non-alphanumeric character, includes at least one alphanumeric character, and is at the beginning of the text string such that the predetermined combination of characters are the first characters of the text string, and wherein the user account names are preceded by a hashtag.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
responsive to a second user account accepting the request by directing a browser to access the URL provided in the request, connecting the second user account with the creator user account in the private conversation; and
communicating, using the controller, messages of the private conversation among the user account, the second user account, and the creator user account without using the public social networking service.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a type of the browser;
based on the determined type of the browser, determining a type of device on which the browser is running;
based on the device type, determining a display size of a display device on the device; and
during the private conversation, dynamically adjusting an arrangement of subpages displayed in the browser based on the display size and an orientation of the device.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the orientation is portrait or landscape, and wherein the device is a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a portable cellular device having a wireless transceiver operable in one or more cellular frequency bands, or a tablet computer.
5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the orientation is portrait or landscape and wherein the subpages include an index subpage that displays an index of each of the private conversations in which the creator user account or the user account is participating and a conversation subpage that displays at least some of the messages of the private conversation exchanged between the user account and the creator user account such that the index subpage and the conversation subpage are arranged side-by-side in the landscape orientation and one after another in the portrait orientation.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the device is a portable cellular device or a tablet computer having a gyroscope configured to detect the orientation of the device relative to a person holding the device, and wherein the arrangement of the subpages is automatically and dynamically adjusted between the portrait and landscape orientations based on the detected orientation of the device using the gyroscope.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
responsive to the communicating the messages, inviting using the browser a plurality of additional externally published user accounts in the social networking service to join in the private conversation;
responsive to the additional user accounts accepting the invitation to join in the private conversation, communicating messages of the private conversation among the user account, the creator user account, and the additional user accounts, wherein the number of user accounts that can join the private conversation is unlimited.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the messages are text-based messages including alphanumeric characters, and wherein the messages are displayed in the respective browsers used by the user account and the creator user account to access the URL.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, receiving from the creator user account an indication to remove the user account from the private conversation, and responsive to receiving the indication to remove the user account, thereafter disallowing the user account from sending or receiving messages of the private conversation.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
responsive to the user account accepting the request, storing credential information associated with the user account including the user account name; and
retrieving the stored credential information associated with the user account in connection with a second request to join a second private conversation without requiring authorization of the user account to join the second private conversation.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-alphanumeric character is an exclamation point, the at least one alphanumeric character is the letter b, and the hashtag is an asperand symbol.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the public social networking service is an online networking service that allows authorized users of the social networking service to send and post text-based messages.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the controller is part of a server that is independent from the social networking service.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the social networking service is accessible from a uniform resource locator that includes twitter.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the text strings have a 140 maximum character limit, and wherein each of the messages of the private conversation have a limit greater than 140 characters.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user account and the creator user account are created and maintained by the social networking service that is external to the controller.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring is carried out using an application programming interface (API) connected to the social networking service.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user account receives the request as a text string from the social networking service.
19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communicating is carried out without passing any of the messages through the social networking service.
20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions for conducting a real-time private group chat conversation using a social networking service to connect users to the conversation, the instructions, when executed by one or more controllers, operable to:
monitor, using a controller, a stream of text strings published by a public social networking service;
scan the text strings to determine whether any of the text strings include an action tag that includes a predetermined combination of characters;
responsive to determining that a first of the text strings includes the action tag, determine a creator user account name that is attempting to initiate a private conversation and reading at least one user account name in the first text string and a title for the private conversation to be initiated, the creator user account name being associated with an externally published creator user account in the social networking service and the user account name being associated with an externally published user account in the social networking service;
cause a request to be sent to the user account in the social networking service, the request including an indication of the request for the private conversation and the creator user account name and a uniform resource locator (URL) for joining the private conversation;
responsive to the user account accepting the request by directing a browser to access the URL provided in the request from the social networking service, connect the user account with a creator user account associated with the creator user account name in a private conversation; and
communicate, using the controller, messages of the private conversation between the user account and the creator user account, the messages being displayed in the respective browsers used by the user account and the creator user account to access the URL,
wherein the action tag starts with at least one non-alphanumeric character, includes at least one alphanumeric character, and is at the beginning of the text string such that the predetermined combination of characters are the first characters of the text string, and wherein the user account names are preceded by a hashtag.