Electronic recommendations of items in a social network, systems and methods

Abstract

A product is recommended by users of electronic devices by way of an applet which causes at least some of the electronic devices to display at least some information associated with the product. The users form a recommendation chain of a social network.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for recommending a product over a computer network comprising:
 providing a plurality of electronic devices in communication with a network;   initiating a recommendation network by creating an applet comprising computer executable code which when executed by a processor of at least one of the electronic devices causes the electronic device to display information associated with a product;   receiving a recommendation request from a user viewing a display of at least one of the electronic devices to recommend the product to at least one more user of at least one other of the electronic devices, wherein the user and the at least one more user form a recommendation network; and   recreating at least some of the applet wherein the step of recreating comprises modifying an electronic display of at least some of the electronic devices such that at least some information associated with the product is visually depicted on the display of at least some of the electronic devices.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising repeating the steps of receiving and recreating. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the step of receiving comprises receiving the recommendation request by way of the active advertisement object. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the applet includes computer executable code which when executed by a processor of an electronic device causes the electronic device to perform at least one of: display an online advertisement, display a button, display a form, display a link, display a graphical icon, display a post on a website, post a message on a social networking site, play multimedia elements, receive input from a user of the electronic device, transmit user input to an electronic device in communication with the network. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising determining a recommendation chain of users in the recommendation network. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  further comprising creating a report comprising information about the recommendations useful to an advertiser. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 receiving a purchase request; and 
 determining if a user of the recommendation network made the purchase request. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  further comprising determining a recommendation chain of users in the recommendation network leading to the purchase request. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7  further comprising rewarding at least one user of the recommendation chain. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising creating a report. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein at least some of the users of the recommendation network are only in communication with each other by way of a social network. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the recommendation request from the user includes a user selected electronic medium on which the applet will cause at least some information to be displayed. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the user selected electronic medium is a social network. 
     
     
         14 . A system for recommending a product over a computer network with a providing a plurality of electronic devices in communication with a network, the system comprising computer executable code modules stored in a memory of a computer wherein the code modules are executed by a processor of the computer which is in communication with the memory, the memory comprising:
 initiating a recommendation network by creating an applet comprising computer executable code which when executed by a processor of at least one of the electronic devices causes the electronic device to display information associated with a product;   receiving a recommendation request from a user viewing a display of at least one of the electronic devices to recommend the product to at least one more user of at least one other of the electronic devices, wherein the user and the at least one more user form a recommendation network;   recreating at least some of the applet wherein the step of recreating comprises modifying an electronic display of at least some of the electronic devices such that at least some information associated with the product is visually depicted on the display of at least some of the electronic devices; and   a reporting module for reporting on the recommendation network.   
     
     
         15 . The invention of  claim 14  further comprising:
 a purchase module for processing a purchase request of the product; and 
 a rewarding module for rewarding at least one user in the recommendation chain of the recommendation network. 
 
     
     
         16 . A physical computer storage device having stored thereon instruction for recommending a product over a computer network with a providing a plurality of electronic devices in communication with a network which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the steps of:
 initiating a recommendation network by creating an applet comprising computer executable code which when executed by a processor of at least one of the electronic devices causes the electronic device to display information associated with a product;   receiving a recommendation request from a user viewing a display of at least one of the electronic devices to recommend the product to at least one more user of at least one other of the electronic devices, wherein the user and the at least one more user form a recommendation network;   recreating at least some of the applet wherein the step of recreating comprises modifying an electronic display of at least some of the electronic devices such that at least some information associated with the product is visually depicted on the display of at least some of the electronic devices; and   repeating the steps of receiving and recreating.   
     
     
         17 . The physical computer storage device of  claim 16  having stored thereon instruction for recommending a product over a computer network which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to further perform the steps of report on a recommendation chain of users in the recommendation network leading to the purchase request.