ACCESSING THIRD-PARTY COMMUNICATION SERVICE VIA A SOCIAL NETWORKING SYSTEM

摘要

A user interface in a social networking system enables users to connect to and interact with each other using a third-party communication service, such as a VoIP or video chat service. A user initiates an interaction with another user in the social networking system, which passes the users' information to the third-party communication service provider to allow it to provide the requested service. The social networking system may pass an encrypted identifier for the users so that the third-party communication service does not have access to the real identities of the social networking system's users. A user of the social networking system may use this process to video conference with users of the third-party communication service, rather than just other users of the social networking system, and vice versa.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
maintaining user profiles for users of a social networking system, the user profiles including identifying information about the users; providing a first interface to a user of the social networking system for display, the first interface comprising selectable links associated with available connections that the user can establish a communication session with, the available connections comprising other users connected to the user in the social networking system; receiving a selection of a link from the user selecting a connection from the available connections; establishing shadow identifiers with a third-party communication service for the user and the selected connection; establishing, via the third-party communication service, a communication session between the user and the selected connection by referencing the user and the selected connection by the shadow identifiers; providing a second interface to the selected connection for display; and integrating the third-party communication service into the first and second interfaces using the shadow identifiers to identify the user and the selected connection, wherein the third-party communication service cannot access the identifying information about the user and the selected connection using the shadow identifiers.