1. A method for managing personal information management (PIM) data amongst users in a network, the method comprising: accessing a third-party application server to identify personal information management (PIM) data of a first user including a first network of contacts corresponding to an account of the first user of a social networking application hosted by the third-party application server; accessing a third-party application server to identify PIM data of a second user including a second network of contacts corresponding to an account of the second user of the social networking application hosted by the third-party application server; external to the third-party application server, allowing access to the first network of contacts of the first user by the second user in accordance with first user permission settings set by the first user; and creating a link between the first user and the second user, wherein creating the link includes: identifying shared calendar information common to the PIM data of the first user and the PIM data of the second user, respectively, wherein the shared calendar information includes embedded metadata, and updating, based on the shared calendar information, the PIM data of the second user using the PIM data of the first user, wherein updating the PIM data includes: reading the embedded metadata from the shared calendar information; based on the metadata, acquiring additional information not expressly provided by the calendar data; and automatically updating the shared calendar information to reflect the additional information.