Abstract: A content posting associated with a user of the social media service and including an embedded command is received. The posting can be submitted to the social media service as a status update or message to the social media account associated with the application. The content posting is processed to generate a request to one or more data sources to query for information or perform an action (e.g. update a data record). The response is parsed to extract data values which are inserted into pre-configured templates in accordance with the characteristics of the response delivery method preference set by the user and stored in a application user profile.

Abstract: A content posting associated with a user of the social media service is received. The posting can be submitted to the social media service as a status update or message to the social media account associated with the application. The content posting contains an embedded command. The content posting is processed to generate a request to one or more data sources. The request can be a query for information or an instruction to perform an action (e.g. update a data record). The request is sent to one or more data sources, and a response comprising data from the data source is received. The response is parsed to extract data values which are inserted into pre-configured templates in accordance with the characteristics of the response delivery method preference set by the user and stored in a application user profile. The response delivery method can be a social media service and/or other response delivery method (e.g. SMS or RSS feed).