A list of contacts is stored in at least one contact repository such as an address book of an electronic device. Contacts can be assigned an importance value. An importance value is determined for contacts based on criteria such as the recentness that a contact's information was updated or revised, how recently the contact was added to an electronic device's address book, whether a contact's website was recently accessed by an electronic device, the identity of a contact or the nature of the relationship between a contact and an electronic device. Contact importance criteria can be set in response to selections and inputs, for example via the use of slider bar on a display. Contacts can be dynamically ranked according to their importance and a ranked list of contacts can be displayed.