Method and networked system of interactive devices and services offered for use at participating social venues to facilitate mutual discovery, self-selection, and interaction among users

A method to facilitate social networking for parties who are physically present in venues, comprising the steps of:

• providing, in at least one hosting venue, a communication means for conveying data between a plurality of on-site communication devices and a general purpose computer server which provides means for secure user data storage and executes software providing message management means,
• granting, to a party of one or more persons physically present in the hosting venue, a duration-limited interval of status as an active user having, during said interval either exclusive access to one of said plurality of on-site communication devices or secure network access connecting a communication device provided by said active user to said communication means and message management means, together with exclusive access to secure user data associated with said active user by said message management means and stored by said means for secure user data storage,
• presenting to said active party a choice of possible actions including,
• defining a personal self-introduction and indicating it is to be posted for a predetermined interval as available for viewing by a plurality of active parties, and
• viewing a plurality of said posted self-introductions,
• upon receiving input selecting the action of defining said personal self-introduction, accepting input to define content of said personal self-introduction and causing it to be conveyed by said communication means to said server for storage in said party's secure user data and, upon receiving input indicating it is to be posted as available for viewing, causing it to be displayed, by said message management means, to said active parties,
• upon receiving input selecting the action of viewing self-introductions that were defined and posted for viewing, using said means for secure user data storage and said message management means provided by said general purpose computer server to retrieve, and said message management means and said communication means to cause to be displayed for viewing a plurality of posted personal self-introductions,
• during the display of said posted self-introductions, when a personal self-introduction is displayed, presenting to said viewing party an option to initiate communication with said posting party associated with said particular self-introduction,
• upon selection by said viewing party of said option to initiate communication, securing from said posting party consent for subsequent exchange of messages between himself and said viewing party, and
• upon indication by said posting party of said consent, using said means for secure user data storage, store data records configured to implement a link between said posting party and said viewing party as a mutually linked pair of parties known to each other,
• providing, by means of said link and said message management software, means for subsequent exchange of messages and communication between said mutually linked pair of parties,
• whereby self-introduction, mutual pair selection and subsequent communication between parties who are patrons of at least one hosting venue is facilitated.