System and method of using a proxy server to manage lazy content distribution in a social network

A method of selecting a particular resolution of digital content from a plurality of resolutions of the digital content, comprising:

• receiving a request for digital content from a respective recipient computing device which received an invitation to view the digital content;
• determining a recipient level of a plurality of recipient levels that corresponds to the respective recipient computing device based on a number of recipient nodes in a path of the invitation to view the digital content that propagated through a plurality of recipient computing devices from an originating computing device to the respective recipient computing device;
• selecting a first resolution of the digital content from a plurality of different resolutions of the digital content based on the recipient level, wherein each of the plurality of different resolutions of the digital content corresponds to a different recipient level;
• and
• effecting delivery of the first resolution of the digital content to the respective recipient computing device.

A server computing device comprising:

• a communication interface adapted to interface with a network;
• and
• a processor unit coupled to the communication interface and programmed to:
• receive a request for digital content from a respective recipient computing device which received an invitation to view the digital content;
• determine a recipient level of a plurality of recipient levels that corresponds to the respective recipient computing device based on a number of recipient nodes in a path of the invitation to view the digital content that propagated through a plurality of recipient computing devices from an originating computing device to the respective recipient computing device;
• select a first resolution of the digital content from a plurality of different resolutions of the digital content based on the recipient level, wherein each of the plurality of different resolutions of the digital content corresponds to a different recipient level;
• and
• effect delivery of the first resolution of the digital content to the respective recipient computing device.