Facilitating personas in communication exchange environments

Abstract

Methods, systems, and software are disclosed herein for facilitating personas in communication exchange environments. Aspects of the disclosure include search requests to search for relevant personas. In response to each of the search requests, different contact sources are searched for any relevant contacts. Any relevant personas can then be returned having contact information assembled from the relevant contacts.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computing device comprising:
 one or more computer readable storage media;   one or more processors operatively coupled with the one or more computer readable storage media; and   program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media that, when executed by the one or more processors, direct the computing device to at least:
 cause display of multiple personas in a user interface of a personal information management application, wherein each of the multiple personas corresponds to a persona identity, and wherein the persona identity corresponds to two or more contacts represented in two or more contact sources; 
 subsequent to a selection in the user interface of a persona of the multiple personas: 
 identify the persona identity corresponding to the persona; and 
 obtain contact information associated with the persona identity from the two or more contacts represented in the two or more contact sources; and 
 cause display of the contact information obtained from the two or more contact sources in the user interface. 
   
     
     
         2 . The computing device of  claim 1  wherein the contact information comprises a first email address obtained from a first contact source of the two or more contact sources, further comprises a second email address from a second contact source of the two or more contact sources that differs from the first contact source. 
     
     
         3 . The computing device of  claim 2  wherein the first contact source is a contacts folder associated with a personal account of a user, and the second contact source is a directory service associated with an enterprise account of the user. 
     
     
         4 . The computing device of  claim 2  wherein the first contact source is a contacts folder associated with a user and the second contact source is a social network service associated with the user. 
     
     
         5 . The computing device of  claim 1  wherein the contact information comprises an email address obtained from a first contact source of the two or more contact sources, and wherein the contact information further comprises a phone number obtained from a second contact source of the two or more contact sources that differs from the first contact source. 
     
     
         6 . The computing device of  claim 1  wherein the program instructions further direct the computing device to cause display of the multiple personas subsequent to an input for identifying a recipient of a communication. 
     
     
         7 . The computing device of  claim 1  wherein the contact information comprises an aggregate of the two or more contacts. 
     
     
         8 . A method of operating a communication exchange system to facilitate personas in a communication exchange environment, the method comprising:
 causing display of multiple personas in a user interface of a personal information management application, wherein each of the multiple personas corresponds to a persona identity, and wherein the persona identity corresponds to two or more contacts represented in two or more contact sources;   subsequent to a selection in the user interface of a persona of the multiple personas:
 identifying the persona identity corresponding to the persona; and 
 obtaining contact information associated with the persona identity from the two or more contacts represented in the two or more contact sources; and 
   causing display of the contact information obtained from the two or more contact sources in the user interface.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the contact information comprises a first email address obtained from a first contact source of the two or more contact sources, further comprising a second email address from a second contact source of the two or more contact sources that differs from the first contact source. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the first contact source is a contacts folder associated with a personal account of a user, and the second contact source is a directory service associated with an enterprise account of the user. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the first contact source is a contacts folder associated with a user, and the second contact source is a social network service associated with the user. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the contact information comprises an email address obtained from a first contact source of the two or more contact sources, and wherein the contact information further comprises a phone number obtained from a second contact source of the two or more contact sources that differs from the first contact source. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8  further comprising causing display of the multiple personas subsequent to an input to an input for identifying a recipient of a communication. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the contact information comprises an aggregate of the two or more contacts. 
     
     
         15 . One or more computer readable storage media having stored thereon program instructions that, when executed by a computing system, direct the computing system to at least:
 cause display of multiple personas in a user interface to a personal information management application, wherein each of the multiple personas corresponds to a persona identity, and wherein the persona identity corresponds to two or more contacts represented in two or more contact sources;   subsequent to a selection in the user interface of a persona of the multiple personas:   identify the persona identity corresponding to the persona; and   obtain contact information associated with the persona identity from the two or more contacts represented in the two or more contact sources; and   cause display of the contact information obtained from the two or more contact sources in the user interface.   
     
     
         16 . The one or more computer readable storage media of  claim 15  wherein the contact information comprises a first email address obtained from a first contact source of the two or more contact sources, further comprises a second email address from a second contact source of the two or more contact sources that differs from the first contact source. 
     
     
         17 . The one or more computer readable storage media of  claim 16  wherein the first contact source is a contacts folder associated with a personal account of a user, and the second contact source is a directory service associated with an enterprise account of the user. 
     
     
         18 . The one or more computer readable storage media of  claim 16  wherein the first contact source is a contacts folder associated with a user and the second contact source is a social network service associated with the user. 
     
     
         19 . The one or more computer readable storage media of  claim 15  wherein the program instructions further direct the computing system to cause display of the multiple personas subsequent to an input for identifying a recipient of a communication. 
     
     
         20 . The one or more computer readable storage media of  claim 15  wherein the contact information comprises an aggregate of the two or more contacts.