CONTENT ACCESS MANAGEMENT IN A SOCIAL NETWORKING SYSTEM FOR EXTERNALLY STORED CONTENT

A content access management system receives an access determination requested identifying an access rule and a requesting user. The access rule may be created in advance by the content owner at the content access management system. The access rule may allow access to content objects based on the requesting user's biographic information, geographic information, affiliation information, payment information, or any other user characteristic. The user information may be entered by the requesting user at a social networking system interface for purposes unrelated to the content object or content owner. The content access management system retrieves the identified access rule and retrieves requesting user information based on the access rule. An access determination is made based on the retrieved access rule and requesting user information, and is transmitted to the content owner.