As is well known, communications networks provide a means for users to communicate with one or more other users. Users of a communication system are typically provided with numerous services, such as calls, data communication such as messaging and/or multimedia services, or simply provide users with a gateway to another network, such as the Internet. In relation to any one service, various communication systems, such as public switched telephone networks (PSTN), wireless communication systems, e.g. global system for mobile communications (GSM), general packet radio service (GPRS), universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), wireless local area network (WLAN) and so on, and/or other communication networks, such as an Internet Protocol (IP) network, may simultaneously be concerned in providing a connection. An end-user may access a communication network by means of any appropriate communication device, such as user equipment (UE), a mobile station (MS), a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a personal computer (PC), or any other equipment operable according to a suitable network protocol, such as a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) or a wireless applications protocol (WAP) or a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). The user equipment may support, in addition to call and network access functions, other services, such as short message service (SMS), multimedia message service (MMS), electronic mail (email), Web service interface (WSI) messaging and voice mail and one-way messages such as WAP PUSH messages.
Communications services involving more than two users are generally referred to as group communications services, and include the “push-to-talk over cellular” (PoC) service also known as the PTT (push-to-talk service), the instant messaging (IM) service, IRC (“Internet Relay Chat”), and the ICQ (“I Seek You”) service. In the case of the IM service, users are allowed to send messages to one or more in a list of predetermined users (a so-called “private list”) in a conversational mode, and because they are transmitted “instantly”, the transfer of messages back and forth is fast enough for participants to maintain an interactive conversation. The IRC service is a system for chatting that involves a set of rules and conventions and is implemented via client/server software. An IRC client can be downloaded to a user's computer, and the client is then used to connect to an IRC server in an IRC network to start or join an IRC chat group. The fourth group messaging application, ICQ (“I Seek You”), is a client application that provides information as to which “friends” and “contacts” are also online on the Internet, pages them, and operates so as to coordinate a “chat” session with them. The IM system is similarly arranged to generate alerts whenever a member of a given private list is online.
When designing a service, the objectives of the service provider—in terms of their effect on end users—have a significant bearing on the technology that is selected to support the service. For example, services that are designed to deliver information to a selected group of users (with a view to triggering a particular action to be taken on the part of the group members) make use of technology that is designed to match characteristics of the users with those of the information so as to improve the match between what the user receives and what the user wants to receive. Typically such information is delivered from a single source to many recipients, and any subsequent interactions proceed between the recipient and communications devices related to the information source.
As will be appreciated from the foregoing, in addition to transmitting information from one→one and one→many recipients, information can be distributed between members of a group so as to encourage discussion between—and thus impact on—group members, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the information. As described above and in international patent application having publication number WO2006/027407, known group communications methods involve discussions between predetermined or specified members of a group. Thus whilst known group communications services provide a means of increasing the impact of information on users, the extent of this impact is nevertheless limited to that achievable within a closed group of recipients.