Social Network Contact Aging Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Social networks lack a mechanism to naturally age relationships, mirroring human interactions, leading to public communication with friends and a lack of intimacy differentiation.
Innovation Solution
A device and method that reclassify social network contacts based on inactivity, altering access levels by limiting posting visibility, messaging, or unfollowing, using a processor to execute instructions on a computer-readable storage medium, allowing administrators to define categories and periods of inactivity for automatic aging.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If social networks allow people to friend others and create communities, then the quantity of contacts increases, but the intimacy and natural aging of relationships deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts access levels based on interaction history. The processor monitors communication patterns and automatically modifies permissions, transitioning from static friend lists to dynamic, evolving relationships that age naturally over time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of access level based on the parameter of interaction frequency. As contacts become less active, their access level parameter is automatically reduced, implementing relationship aging without manual intervention.
2Ease of operation
If social networks treat all friends equally, then ease of operation is improved, but intimacy differentiation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different access levels to different contacts based on their individual interaction histories. While the interface remains uniform, the underlying treatment of each contact is differentiated according to their relationship state.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically differentiates intimacy levels without user intervention. The processor self-manages relationship categorization by monitoring communication patterns and applying appropriate access controls based on established criteria.
3Adaptability or versatility
If social networks maintain all contacts indefinitely, then inclusivity is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts inactive contacts from the active community and applies reduced access levels. This separates highly active contacts who maintain full access from less active contacts who receive limited access, simplifying overall system management.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically discards (limits access for) inactive contacts after predetermined periods. Admins can recover access by resetting the inactivity timer or manually adjusting permissions, creating a self-managing contact lifecycle.
Data Source
AI summary
Social network relationships are “aged” in that if a social network friend has not communicated with a user's social network site in a certain amount of time, then the friend is downgraded to “acquaintance” level automatically. One result may be that the “acquaintance” does not see certain postings to the website. The “aging” setting can be programmable on the social networking site so that users can elect to employ the “aging” or not. The downgrading of social standing of people in social network allows a more streamlined and private way to communicate with those with whom the user has an on-going social network relationship. Similarly, based on aging, “close friends” can be automatically downgraded to just “friends”. When the aging happens, the aged friend may be cut off from certain postings, mimicking a natural way that relationships evolve.