Points based social networking web site

Abstract

A points-based social networking site gives its users the opportunity to earn points by viewing other profiles, inviting their friends to join the site, commenting on other profiles, viewing advertisements, and other activities on the site. The points may be referred to as popularity points. The site may rank users by the number of popularity points they earn at the social networking site. The site may allow the creation of groups for schools, universities, cities, businesses, hobbies, and the like. Users can belong to one or more groups and may be ranked within each of their groups based on their number of popularity points. In some embodiments, the present invention may be designed as a stand-alone site, having a points-based recognition system. In other embodiments, the present invention may be incorporated into an already-existing social networking site, allowing the site to recognize users by points earned.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.