Automatic discovery of how and when people met

A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium embodying a set of instructions, that when executed by at least one processor, cause at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

• obtaining a plurality of signals from one or more databases, the plurality of signals comprising data associated with a user, the data comprising an electronic communication history between the user and a contact maintained by a contact management system, the electronic communication history comprising at least one of an electronic mail (e-mail) message, an instant message, a chat message, a social networking message, a short message service (SMS) message, and a phone call;
• determining a level of significance of each of the plurality of signals in providing a description of how the user met the contact maintained by the contact management system;
• responsive to at least one signal of the plurality of signals exceeding a threshold level of significance, determining a suggested entry for a data field of the contact management system, using the at least one signal, the determining of the suggested entry for the data field comprising:
• inferring, by analyzing the electronic communication history, how and when the user initially met the contact based on at least one of the e-mail message, the instant message, the chat message, the social networking message, the SMS message, and the phone call, and
• identifying a third party that introduced the user to the contact, the suggested entry being the description of how the user initially met the contact, the description specifying when the user initially met the contact and including an identifier of the third party that introduced the user to the contact;
• and
• automatically providing display data to display the suggested entry for the data field of the contact management system.

A system comprising:

• at least one processor for executing instructions;
• a memory device in communication with the at least one processor and storing instructions representing a suggestion module, which, when executed by the at least one processor is to perform operations comprising:
• obtaining a plurality of signals from one or more databases, the plurality of signals comprising data associated with a user, the data comprising an electronic communication history between the user and a contact maintained by a contact management system, the electronic communication history comprising at least one of an electronic mail (e-mail) message, an instant message, a chat message, a social networking message, a short message service (SMS) message, and a phone call;
• determining a level of significance of each of the plurality of signals in providing a description of how the user initially met the contact maintained by the contact management system;
• responsive to at least one signal of the plurality of signals exceeding a threshold level of significance, determining a suggested entry for a data field of the contact management system using the at least one signal, the determining of the suggested entry for the data field comprising:
• inferring, by analyzing the electronic communication history, how and when the user initially met the contact based on at least one of the e-mail message, the instant message, the chat message, the social networking message, the SMS message, and the phone call, and
• identifying a third party that introduced the user to the contact, the suggested entry being the description of how the user initially met the contact, the description specifying when the user initially met the contact and including an identifier of the third party that introduced the user to the contact;
• and
• causing the suggested entry to be displayed.