Extendible user profiles

Abstract

Implementations described herein disclose a system for providing extendible user profiles for user groups by providing a group formation user interface to a group administrator, wherein the group formation user interface allows the group administrator to add group specific fields, creating a group table including the group specific fields, and linking the group table to the user profile tables.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of providing extendible user profiles, comprising:
 receiving a request from a group administrator to create a new group for a group of users of an application;   providing a group formation user interface to the group administrator, wherein the group formation user interface allows the group administrator to add group specific fields;   creating a group table including the group specific fields; and   linking the group table to user profile tables of the group of users.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising presenting a group join user interface to a user joining the group, wherein the group join user interface presents the group specific fields. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 receiving values of one or more of the group specific fields from the user joining the group; and   displaying the values of the group specific fields to other members of the group.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the group specific field overrides a field in the user profile table. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user profile table includes one or more group joined fields for the one of more groups joined by a user and the method further comprises adding the group to the group joined fields. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising linking the group table to the user profile table using based on the group join field. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a group specific field is shared between at least two or more groups. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the group specific fields are exposed to one or more other groups as specified by the user. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the group specific fields are exposed to one or more other groups as specified by the group administrator. 
     
     
         10 . A physical article of manufacture including one or more tangible computer-readable storage media, encoding computer-executable instructions for executing on a computer system a computer process, the computer process comprising:
 receiving a request from a group administrator to create a new group for a group of users of a social networking application;   providing a group formation user interface to the group administrator, wherein the group formation user interface allows the group administrator to add group specific fields;   creating a group table including the group specific fields;   linking the group table to user profile tables of the group of users; and   presenting a group join user interface to a user joining the group, wherein the group join user interface presents the group specific fields.   
     
     
         11 . The physical article of manufacture of  claim 10 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprising receiving values of one or more of the group specific fields from the user joining the group. 
     
     
         12 . The physical article of manufacture of  claim 11 , wherein the computer executable instructions further comprising displaying the values of the group specific fields to other members of the group. 
     
     
         13 . The physical article of manufacture of  claim 10 , wherein at least one of the group specific field overrides a field in the user profile table. 
     
     
         14 . The physical article of manufacture of  claim 10 , wherein the user profile table includes a group joined field including listing of one of more groups joined by a user and the method further comprises adding the group to the group joined field. 
     
     
         15 . The physical article of manufacture of  claim 14 , further comprising linking the group table to the user profile table using based on the group join field. 
     
     
         16 . The physical article of manufacture of  claim 10 , wherein one or more of the group specific fields are exposed to one or more other groups as specified by at least one of the user and the group administrator. 
     
     
         17 . A system for providing extendible user profiles, comprising:
 memory;   one or more processor units;   an extendible user profiles (EUP) module stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processor units, the EUP module configured to:
 provide a group formation user interface to the group administrator, wherein the group formation user interface allows the group administrator to add group specific fields for a group of users of a social networking application, and 
 receive a plurality of group specific fields from the group administrator; and 
   a user profile manager application stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processor units, the user profile manager application configured to:
 create a group table including the group specific fields, and 
 link the group table to a user profile table. 
   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the EUP module is further configured to present a group join user interface to a user joining the group, wherein the group join user interface presents the group specific fields. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the user profile manager application is further configured to add one or more groups to the group joined fields of the user profile table. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 17 , at least one of the group specific field overrides a field in the user profile table.