Self-regulating social news feed

A method for modifying loudness points for a message, the method comprising;

• receiving a first message;
• receiving one or more loudness points from an originator of the first message, the originator having a predefined number of available loudness points;
• setting loudness points for the first message to the one or more loudness points from the originator of the first message;
• scheduling to automatically send the first message at a future time when the originator accumulates the one or more loudness points for the first message based on the one or more loudness points for the first message being greater than the available loudness points of the originator;
• sending the first message based on the one or more loudness points for the first message being equal or less than the available loudness points of the originator, the message remaining unsent when unassociated with the one or more loudness points;
• receiving a reply message to the first message from a recipient of the first message and associated loudness points for the reply message from the recipient;
• and
• adjusting the loudness points for the first message based on the associated loudness points received for the reply message from the recipient.

A method for modifying a loudness point total of a first user, the method comprising:

• retrieving a predefined number of loudness points available to the first user;
• determining a quality rating of the first user;
• adjusting the loudness points available based upon the quality rating of the first user;
• determining whether the first user has sent any messages, a message remaining unsent when unassociated with one or more loudness points and scheduling to automatically send the message at a future time when the first user accumulates the one or more loudness points associated with the message based on the one or more loudness points associated with the message being greater than the loudness points available to the first user;
• determining loudness points associated with any sent messages, each sent message associated with the one or more loudness points;
• reducing the loudness points available to the first user by the determined loudness points associated with any sent messages;
• receiving a reply message to each sent message from a second user, the second user having a predefined number of available loudness points;
• receiving one or more loudness points associated with the reply message;
• and
• modifying the one or more loudness points associated with each sent message by the one or more loudness points associated with the reply message.

An apparatus for sending messages with loudness points to self regulate transmission of messages, the apparatus comprising:

• a user interface module for generating and sending messages, the user interface module for receiving an input including a number of loudness points associated with a message from a first user, wherein the number is one or more, the message remaining unsent when unassociated with one or more loudness points;
• a loudness controller coupled to the user interface module for receiving the message and the one or more loudness points associated with the message, the loudness controller determining whether to send the message based upon the availability of the one or more loudness points associated with the message in a pool of loudness points available to the first user, the loudness controller scheduling to automatically send the message at a future time when the first user accumulates the one or more loudness points associated with the message based upon the unavailability of the one or more loudness points associated with the message in the pool of loudness points available to the first user, the loudness controller receiving a reply message from a second user, the second user having a pool of available loudness points, the loudness controller receiving one or more loudness points associated with the reply message, the loudness controller outputting messages sorted by associated loudness points, the loudness controller adjusting the one or more loudness points associated with the message based upon a quality rating and the one or more loudness points associated with the reply message;
• and
• a quality engine adapted to receive quality information and output quality ratings for users, the quality engine coupled to the loudness controller to provide the quality ratings.