Systems and methods for creating and participating in ad-hoc virtual communities

摘要

Systems and methods are described for creating and expiring ad hoc communities of mobile and fixed-line phone and Internet users for the purpose of facilitating one-to-many communication amongst the users in response to live events. Embodiments of the invention allow one-to-many communication by any individual participant in a community to all other participants in a community via standard messaging protocols, and further allow dynamically generated content to be distributed amongst the participants in the community. Such dynamically generated content may include interactive contests amongst participants, surveys of the participants, or the distribution of audio visual content generated from or transmitted via mobile devices used by the participants. Embodiments of the invention include systems and methods for preserving state data regarding the communities, participants, and events in order to facilitate concurrent participation in multiple communities.