US Patent 10171400 Using organizational rank to facilitate electronic communication

A system for electronic communications. Receiving a sender identifier and a recipient identifier. A first message is received from the sender identifier to send to the recipient identifier. Determining the relative ranking of the sender and the recipient. In response to determining that the recipient has a higher relative ranking than the sender, determining whether the first message contains an action item. In response to determining that the first message contains an action item, transmitting a second message to the sender. In response to receiving an indication from the sender to send the first message, sending the first message from the sender identifier to the recipient identifier.