WO2008012599A1 - System and method for facilitating the verification of the reality of a member of a virtual community - Google Patents

Abstract

Various systems and methods for facilitating the verification of the reality of a member of a virtual community are disclosed. A first embodiment of a method includes: receiving, from the first member, selection of a second member whom the first member wishes to have verify his/her own reality; sending, to the second member, a request to verify the reality of the first member; receiving, from the second member, a verification of the reality of the first member; displaying the second member on the profile of the first member to whom has been verified, wherein the second member is labeled as a verifier of the first member; and calculating a reality score of the first member, based upon the verification of the reality of the first member from the second member, wherein the reality score of the first member is a measure of the likelihood of the first member representing himself/herself accurately to other members of the virtual community.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING THE VERIFICATION OF THE REALITY OF A MEMBER OF A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to computer data and information systems accessed over the Internet, and more particularly, to social networking web sites.

BACKGROUND SECTION [0002] Over the past several years, the amount of personal information that individuals share online has increased dramatically. Many websites provide a virtual community that provides content focusing on a common interest or theme (e.g., a "fan site" for a television program or musical artist), and allows people to join the virtual community and share personal information with other members of the community. [0003] Online social networking sites have also been rapidly gaining in popularity (e.g. MySpace). Typically, members of an online social network communicate with one another and meet other members based on personal information, such as interests, hobbies, careers, and institutions past attended, captured in the other member profiles. [0004] A positive consequence of this general trend is the greater ability for groups of friends, families and other acquaintances to communicate online with, and about, each other as members of a social network. For example, a group of friends may share personal information with each other generally about common interests. Another benefit of online social networks is that members can more easily find others who share common interests, g'oals, lifestyles, etc., without being limited to an online community dedicated to a particular interest. Doing so allows members to expand their social networks. [0005] There remains, however, a dark and unfortunate side to Internet-based communications. Since the dawn of instant messaging and chat rooms, Internet personal communications has always come with its share of "cyber-stalkers." Pedophiles, scam artists, and other similarly-oriented individuals have taken advantage of the Internet's inherent anonymity to connect with others for inappropriate reasons. This problem, as very well documented in the media, is growing larger as more and more people take to the Internet to interact with others. This "dark side" of Internet personal communications remains the single largest hindrance to the leap from virtual interaction to real-life interaction. [0006] Attempts at authenticating or verifying an individual are not new. We, as citizens, authenticate ourselves every day by providing various pieces of personal information to those institutions attempting to authenticate our identity. This type of authentication (ie., "last four digits of your social security number"), however, authenticates an active user of a system to a stored record of the user. The goal being to eliminate the possibility of another person acting on behalf of the individual whose information is on file. This type of authentication, does not however, authenticate or verify whether information provided by a user about himself or herself is actually true (ie., age, gender, marital status). Phony identities are more the problem for virtual communities as opposed to identity theft. A solution to this problem that is not inconvenient, yet effective, has been invented and disclosed herein.

SUMMARY [0007] Various systems and methods for facilitating the verification of the reality of a member of a virtual community are disclosed. A first embodiment of a method includes: receiving a referral from the member of at least a first other individual, wherein the member intends to invite the at least first other individual to participate in the virtual community; inviting the at least first other individual to participate in the virtual community; receiving a request from the at least first other individual to participate in the virtual community; sending, to the at least first other individual requesting to participate in the virtual community, a request to verify the reality of the member which has sent the referral; receiving, from the at least first other individual, a verification of the reality of the member; displaying the at least first other individual on the profile of the member to whom has been verified, wherein the at least first other individual is labeled as a verifier of the member on the member's profile; and calculating a reality score of the member, based upon the verification of the reality of the member from the at least first other individual, wherein the reality score of the member is a measure of the likelihood of the member representing himself/herself accurately to other members of the virtual community. 08] A second embodiment of a method includes: receiving, from the first member, selection of a second member whom the first member wishes to have verify his/her own reality; sending, to the second member, a request to verify the reality of the first member; receiving, from the second member, a verification of the reality of the first member; displaying the second member on the profile of the first member to whom has been verified, wherein the second member is labeled as a verifier of the first member; and calculating a reality score of the first member, based upon the verification of the reality of the first member from the second member, wherein the reality score of the first member is a measure of the likelihood of the first member representing himself/herself accurately to the virtual community. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0009] The accompanying drawings incorporated in and forming a part of the specification, illustrate several aspects of the present invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention. [0010] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for providing an online social network, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. [0011] FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a first embodiment of a method for facilitating the verification of the reality of a member of a virtual community. [0012] FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a second embodiment of a method for facilitating the verification of the reality of a member of a virtual community. [0013] FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method for verifying the reality of a user of a virtual community in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. [0014] FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method for validating a reality- verifier of a user of a virtual community in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. [0015] FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for maintaining activity among users in a virtual community in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. [0016] FIG. 7 is a sample graphical user interface screen used for presenting a member's profile and reality- verifiers in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION [0017] In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form, rather than in detail, in order to avoid obscuring the present invention. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that logical, mechanical, electrical, and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. [0018] Some portions of the detailed descriptions that follow are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self- consistent sequence of acts leading to a desired result. The acts are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like. [0019] It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as "processing" or "computing" or "calculating" or "determining" or "displaying" or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices. [0020] The present invention can be implemented by an apparatus for performing the operations described herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computer, selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as, but not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and each coupled to a computer system bus. [0021] The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purpose systems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct a more specialized apparatus to perform the required method. For example, any of the methods according to the present invention can be implemented in hard- wired circuitry, by programming a general-purpose processor or by any combination of hardware and software. One of skill in the art will immediately appreciate that the invention can be practiced with computer system configurations other than those described below, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor- based or programmable consumer electronics, DSP devices, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The invention can also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. The required structure for a variety of these systems will appear from the description below. [0022] The methods of the invention may be implemented using computer software. If written in a programming language conforming to a recognized standard, sequences of instructions designed to implement the methods can be compiled for execution on a variety of hardware platforms and for interface to a variety of operating systems. In addition, the present invention is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the invention as described herein. Furthermore, it is common in the art to speak of software, in one form or another (e.g., program, procedure, application...), as taking an action or causing a result. Such expressions are merely a shorthand way of saying that execution of the software by a computer causes the processor of the computer to perform an action or produce a result. [0023] It is to be understood that various terms and techniques are used by those knowledgeable in the art to describe communications, protocols, applications, implementations, mechanisms, etc. One such technique is the description of an implementation of a technique in terms of an algorithm or mathematical expression. That is, while the technique may be, for example, implemented as executing code on a computer, the expression of that technique may be more aptly and succinctly conveyed and communicated as a formula, algorithm, or mathematical expression. Thus, one skilled in the art would recognize a block denoting A+B=C as an additive function whose implementation in hardware and/or software would take two inputs (A and B) and produce a summation output (C). Thus, the use of formula, algorithm, or mathematical expression as descriptions is to be understood as having a physical embodiment in at least hardware and/or software (such as a computer system in which the techniques of the present invention may be practiced as well as implemented as an embodiment). [0024] A machine-readable medium is understood to include any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, a machine-readable medium includes read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory devices; electrical, optical, acoustical or other form of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.); etc. [0025] One embodiment of the present invention may be implemented as computer software incorporated as part of an online social networking system. The system operates with a computer system using a Windows, Macintosh, UNIX, Linux or other operating system equipped with a Web browser application, or other Web-enabled device capable of connecting to the Internet or other network system. It should be noted that the term "Internet" is intended to encompass similar systems and nomenclature (i.e., World Wide Web or "www") comprising the capability to communicate and access information through a network, telephone connections, ISDN connections, DSL connections, cable modem, fiber optic network, etc. The present invention should not be limited in its communication nomenclature; the present invention is applicable to any system that is accessible by means of a Web browser, or other means of communicatively coupling one device or server to another. [0026] Turning now to FIG. 1 , illustrated is a block diagram of a system for providing an online social network, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. As shown, FIG. 1 illustrates a computer system 10, including an application server 30 and image server 20. The computer system 10 is connected to a network 1, e.g., the Internet, and accessible over the network 1 by a plurality of user interfaces (5 A, 5B, and 5C). A user interface shall be considered any device capable of communicating and interacting with the computer system 10 via the network 1 via either a wired and/or wireless communication link. Those skilled in the art will appreciate the commonly used term "Internet appliance" as another way to generically describe the various user interfaces (5A, 5B, and 5C). Non-limiting examples of user interfaces are desktop or laptop personal computers (PCs) 5A, hand-held PCs, PDAs 5C, smartphones, and cellular telephones 5B. [0027] The application server 30 manages a user profile database 42, a relationship database 44, and a search database 46. The user profile database 42 contains profile information for each of the users in the online social network managed by the computer system 10. The profile information may include, among other things: a unique user identifier, name, age, gender, location, hometown, contact information available to users in the community, references to image files, listing of interests, attributes, and past and current activities within which the user has been or is involved. [0028] The relationship database 44 stores information regarding the various relationships among users. For example, data acknowledging that one user is the verifier of N other users would be stored in the relationship database 44, as well as, all of an individual user's verifiers. Conversely, this information could be stored within the user profile database 42. The user profile database 42, the relationship database 44, and the search database 46 are updated to reflect inputs of new user information and edits of existing user information that are made through the user interfaces (5A, 5B, and 5C). [0029] The user profile database 42, the relationship database 44, and the search database 46 are depicted separately in the block diagram of FIG. 1 to illustrate that each performs a different function. The databases 42, 44, 46 may each represent a different database system, module, or software; or any two of the three or all three may be parts of the same database system, module, or software. [0030] The application server 30 also receives and processes information exchange requests received from the remote user interfaces (5A, 5B, and 5C). An information exchange request may be a request to create a new activity, a request to view an existing activity, a request to subscribe, or link, a user to an existing activity, and a request to initiate an electronic mail (email) or Short Message System (SMS) communication to a user. The application server 30 relies on the image server 20 to process certain CPU- intensive tasks required to display the data stored in the various databases 42, 44, and 46 on the user interfaces (5 A, 5B, and 5C). [0031] FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a first embodiment of a method 100 for facilitating the verification of the reality of a member of a virtual community. The method 100 begins by receiving a referral of a potential new member(s) from an existing, first member (Step 105). The referral can be communicated in a number of ways, for example, by email, SMS, instant message, telephone, facsimile, via a web page entry, or some other similar means. It should be noted that, generally, the specific manner in which particular information is communicated between the computer system (as referenced in FIG. 1) and a particular user of the system, is beyond the scope of the present invention. [0032] Once received, the information of the referred person(s), are used to query the profile database (See FIG. 1) to determine whether they are already members (Step 110), in which case the referring member is notified that the person(s) they have referred are already members to the virtual community (Step 112). The existing member(s) to whom have been referred are then qualified to determine whether they are able to serve as verifier's of the referring, first member (Step 113). This step is later described in further detail in FIG. 5. Should the referred member(s) qualify (Step 114), the method 100 proceeds to Step 130. Should a referred member not qualify the method 100 terminates for that particular member. [0033] If not already a member, each referred person is sent an invitation to join the virtual community (Step 115). The interested referred person(s) then fills out and sends an application to join the community, whereby it is received (Step 120) and subsequently approved by the governing body of the virtual community. The referred person(s) are then members of the community and provided 'Active' status (Step 125). [0034] The method 100 proceeds with sending, to the referred member(s) a request for verification of the reality of the referring member (Step 130). The reply is received from the referred member(s) (Step 135). The sequence of the actual verification of the reality of a member is better described in subsequent figures. [0035] Should the referred member verify the reality of the referring member (Step 140), the method 100 proceeds with displaying the referred member as a 'Verifier' on the profile of the referring member (Step 145). This is performed by establishing a verifier relationship between the two members, whereby the referred member (Verifier) verifies the referring member (Verified), and storing this relationship in the relationship database (See FIG. 1). Public disclosure of the relationship on one's profile accomplishes a number of things. First, public disclosure provides a level of accountability on behalf of the verifier and helps to instill trust from other users in the virtual community. Second, public display of verifiers helps create the impression of popularity of the verified member, the greater the number of verifiers, the more popular the verified member appears. In virtual communities, popularity is fairly important. [0036] Once a member verifies the reality of another member, the verified member's Reality Score, d , is recalculated (Step 150). A Reality Score is simply a means of quantifying or measuring the likelihood that an individual has presented him/herself truthfully. Any number of schemes and formulas could be used to reduce this to a quantified amount with some level of accuracy and resolution. As a non-limiting example, the Reality Score can be directly related to the number of other members, N, that verify one's reality: [0037] d_x = N [0038] Furthermore, the Reality Score of the verifying members could be used in the calculation of the Reality Score of the member being verified:

[0039] S, = ∑0,

[0040] The current Activity Levels, λ , of the verifying members can also be used in the calculation. This can cause a number of effects, most important of which is that the verified member now becomes personally invested in his/her verifying member's Activity Levels. This can help nurture a level of peer pressure among linked members to remain active in the community.

[0041] ^ = ∑V d,,

[0042] Once a member's Reality Score exceeds a certain pre-programmed level, X, (Step 155), the member's status is set to 'Real', and is displayed as such on his/her profile (Step 157). A number of benefits may also become available to a member once he or she reaches 'Real' status. Should the member's Reality Score not exceed the pre- programmed level, X, the method 100 simply ends. [0043] FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a second embodiment of a method 200 for facilitating the verification of the reality of a member of a virtual community. The method 200 is similar to method 100, except excludes the steps to invite and register a new member to the virtual community. [0044] FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method 300 for verifying the reality of a user of a virtual community in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. Method 300 is simply one embodiment of a method for verifying the reality of a user of a virtual community. As will be further discussed, a number of variations of method 300 could be implemented without departing from the scope of the present invention. It should be understood that these variations, and any combinations thereof, shall be included within the scope of the present invention. [0045] Method 300 provides further detail to Steps 130, 135, and 140 of method 100 of FIG. 2, and Steps 225, 230, and 235 of method 200 of FIG. 3. Method 300 begins with providing the verifier with a number of pieces of information related to the member to be verified (Step 305). Such information may include the name of the member, contact information (email address and/or telephone number and/or instant message screen name, etc.) of the member, and profile highlights of the member. Profile highlights may be, for example, location, age, sex, high school attended, college attended, personal features, such as hair color, height, etc. Some, or all, of these fields, or other fields, would be provided to the verifier and then asked whether they are collectively consistent with their knowledge of the member being verified (Step 310). [0046] If the verifier indicates that the various information is not consistent with their knowledge of the member being verified, the member does not get verified (Step 312), the incident may get recorded (Step 313), and the member who wished to be verified is notified (Step 314). [0047] If the verifier indicates that the various information is consistent with their knowledge of the member being verified, a photo of the member to be verified is then provided (Step 315). This photo would preferably be in the form of a digital image file easily sent via a communications network, such as the Internet. Typically, the member being verified would have previously provided this photo to the virtual community. Again the verifier is asked whether the information, along with the photo, is consistent with their knowledge of the member being verified (Step 320). If the verifier says no, the member is not verified (Step 322), the incident is recorded by the system (Step 323) and the member to be verified is notified (Step 324). Should the verifier find the information to be consistent, the member is then verified (Step 325). [0048] As mentioned above, variations from the method 300 may exist without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, Steps 305 and 315 can be combined such that a photo is sent along with contact information and a profile highlight of the member to be verified. Conversely, Steps 315 and 320 could be simply omitted. Other variations of method 300 may include simply sending a member's name and their photo to be used for verification. As one can see, a number of variations and combinations thereof exist and should all be construed to be within the scope of the present invention. [0049] FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method 400 for validating a reality-verifier of a member of a virtual community in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. The particular sequence of steps disclosed herein is merely for illustrative purposes, and in no way shall be construed as limited or exclusive. In other embodiments, the sequence of steps may occur out of order or concurrently, or perhaps one or more steps may not occur at all. AU such variations shall fall within the scope of the present invention. The method 400 proceeds with checking to see whether the verifier has exceeded a predetermined number of other members. If so, the verifier does not qualify as a verifier of the member presently seeking verification (Step 407). In this case, the incident is recorded (Step 408) by the system and the members are notified (Step 409). [0050] Limiting the number of members one person can verify serves an important function. It helps prevent the possibility of a dummy membership being formed to easily verify a number of other members. More importantly, it forces members who seek verification to go outside the current members of the community and recruit other individuals, which is always a goal when trying to build and grow a community. [0051] If the verifier has not exceeded the predefined limit, the method 400 proceeds to Step 410, where the system checks to see whether the member seeking verification is a verifier of the member being asked to serve as verifier. If so, the verifier does not qualify (Step 412), the incident is recorded by the system (Step 413), and the members are notified (Step 414). If not, the verifier is qualified (Step 415). [0052] Not allowing members to verify each other is another method to force members to look outside the community for verifiers. This, again, helps to grow the community. Other means of qualifying a verifier may be implemented along with or in replace of those described herein. Those described should be taken as non-exclusive examples. [0053] FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method 500 for maintaining activity among users in a virtual community in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. There are a number of advantages for incorporating a verifier's activity status into the Reality Score equation for the member being verified as disclosed in relation to FIG. 2. First, it creates a dependency on a member's verifiers to remain active in the community. This dependency causes peer pressure to keep each others actively involved in the community. Secondly, it makes it more difficult for an individual to create a number of dummy accounts to verify a fictitious profile. Having to maintain the activity level of a number of false verifier profiles may become too burdensome for an individual and thus deter them from pursuing such an activity. [0054] The method 500 begins when a verifier's activity status falls to "inactive" (Step 510). This can be triggered by a number of scenarios predefined by the system programmer. Should this occur, those members that have been verified by the member whose activity status has fallen will have their Reality Scores recalculated (Step 520). A notification of the incident is broadcast to all pertinent members (Step 530). These two steps will help to incite those verified by the member who has become "inactive" in the community to pressure this member into reengaging in the community (Step 540). [0055] FIG. 7 is a sample graphical user interface screen 600 used for presenting a member's profile in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. The screen 600 may be considered a graphical display of information communicated via the World Wide Web, using a variety of programming languages, including HTML and derivatives thereof. A web browser 601 is a client-side software application used to display web pages. The web browser 601 may be designed for a specific user interface (5A, 5B, or 5C), such as for a PC, a PDA, or a cell phone. [0056] The screen 600 includes a number of pieces of information, used primarily to convey to viewers information about a particular member. In particular, the member's user name or screen name 605 is displayed alongside an image or collection of images provided by the user. Profile highlights 610 can be displayed along with the screen name 605. A number of pieces of information provided by the member may be displayed. The particular fields of information are not critical to the present invention. [0057] Displayed alongside the profile of the member is a graphical indicator 615 that the member has obtained "Real" status by way of the methods described herein. As discussed "Real" status is an indication that there is some level of authenticity to member and his or her profile. [0058] Included on the screen 600 is a listing of the verifiers that have verified the particular member of interest. The listing of verifiers would include each verifier's screen name 620, activity level 630, and whether they themselves have obtained "Real" status 625. The screen names 620 may serve as hyperlinks to the verifier's member profile.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is: 1. A computer-implemented method for facilitating the verification of the reality of a first member of a virtual community, said method comprising: receiving, from the first member, selection of a second member whom the first member wishes to have verify his/her own reality; sending, to the second member, a request to verify the reality of the first member; receiving, from the second member, a verification of the reality of the first member; displaying the second member on the profile of the first member to whom has been verified, wherein the second member is labeled as a verifier of the first member; and calculating a reality score of the first member, based upon the verification of the reality of the first member from the second member, wherein the reality score of the first member is a measure of the likelihood of the first member representing himself/herself accurately to the virtual community.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: qualifying the second member for purposes of verifying the reality of the first member.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein qualifying further comprises: determining whether the second member has already verified the reality of a predetermined number of other members.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein qualifying further comprises: determining whether the second member's reality has been verified by the first member.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the reality score further comprises : calculating the reality score of the first member, based upon the verification of the reality of the first member from the second member and all other members that have verified the reality of the first member, whereby the more members that have verified the reality of the first member, the greater the reality score.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein calculating the reality score further comprises: calculating the reality score of the first member, based upon an activity level of each member that has verified the reality of the first member.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: setting the first member to real status once the reality score of the first member meets or exceeds a predetermined level; and displaying, on the first member's profile, the real status of the first member.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: awarding the first member predetermined privileges within the virtual community once the first member is set to real status.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein sending, to the second member, a request to verify the reality of the first member further comprises: sending, to the second member, the name and a profile highlight of the first member and a request to verify that name and profile highlight are related to the first member.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending, to the second member, a request to verify the reality of the first member further comprises: sending, to the second member, the name and image of the first member and a request to verify that the image and name sent are of the first member.