Dynamic collaboration in social networking environment

Abstract

A method and system for facilitating collaboration between two groups without impairing or affecting the structure of the two groups is provided.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61 / 251,187 (entitled “Dynamic Collaboration in Social Networking Environment” and filed on Oct. 13, 2009), the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth verbatim herein and relied upon for all purposes.COPYRIGHT NOTICE[0002]A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to (copyright or mask work) protection. The (copyright or mask work) owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all (copyright or mask work) rights whatsoever.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0003]The present invention relates generally to social networking. More particularly, the present invention relates to dynamic collaboration in a social networking environment.BACKGROU...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011]Finally, collaboration groups, by their nature, may act as a collection point, a container, for the artifacts of the collaboration. For instance, the collaboration group's blogs, wikis, forums, media galleries, etc. may be filled with images, videos, thoughts, produced written works, etc. that constitute the work product of the collaborative effort. Furthermore, this work product may provide lasting value not only to the members of the collaboration group, but also to a broader community of users. As a result, an aspect of the present invention allows co-owners of the collaboration group to archive the collaboration group in a read-only state once the collaboration has finished. The co-owners may then decide whether the archived read-only version may be accessed by (a) the co-owners only, (b) the co-owners and members of the collaboration group, or (c) any user in the system.

Problems solved by technology

Social networking sites, such as FACEBOOK, NING, and MYSPACE, do not allow two groups to collaborate in a manner similar to the way groups would collaborate in a non-electronic manner.

The current paradigm as described above exhibits several drawbacks: Problem 1—The addition of users from one group into the other merely expands membership of a group, but does not create a dedicated group focused on a particular collaboration.

Problem 2—The addition of new users to an existing group for the sake of a particular collaboration (rather than to be a part of the broader activities of that group) fundamentally alters and arguably dilutes the original group.

Problem 3—Adding outside parties to a group is often inappropriate where group membership in the online group is based on real world relationships.

For example, a high school classroom would not allow individuals who are not part of the real world class to join the virtual world classroom group for the sake of collaborating with them.

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