1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, at a computer system, a relational user request from a user, wherein the relational user request is based upon a relationship type between the user and recipient users; identifying a rule corresponding to the relational user request, wherein the rule identifies a number of path lengths in a hierarchical social networking map between the user and the recipient users; retrieving, from the social networking map, a plurality of user identifiers based upon the identified rule; displaying the plurality of user identifiers to the user; receiving a collaboration message from the user in response to the displaying of the plurality of user identifiers, wherein the collaboration message includes a subsequent rule; filtering the plurality of user identifiers based upon the subsequent rule, the filtering creating a second query result that includes a subset of user identifiers; and sending the collaboration message to the subset of user identifiers included in the second query result.