How Google's Patent Scores Authors and Posts on Messaging Systems
Google's 2013 patent describes a system for ranking authors and their posts on a messaging platform based on user interactions and subscriptions, influencing content visibility.
Original patent title: “Scoring authors of posts”
Google's 2013 patent describes a system for ranking authors and their posts on a messaging platform based on user interactions and subscriptions, influencing content visibility. Granted to Google LLC in 2013 with 36 claims and 150 forward citations.
Key facts
Coverage
What does this patent actually cover?
This patent describes a way for a messaging system, like a social media feed, to figure out how important authors and their posts are. It calculates a 'score' for each author based on how much other authors interact with their posts (like commenting or liking them). Crucially, an author's score can also be influenced by the scores of authors who subscribe to their posts. When a new post is made, it gets a score based on the author's score. This post is then sent to authors who have subscribed to that author. The system can even decide to show the post to authors who *haven't* subscribed, if the post's score meets certain criteria, essentially promoting popular or influential content.
The gap
What does this patent NOT cover?
- Does not cover systems where author scores are determined solely by external factors, not by interactions within the messaging system.
- Does not cover methods that don't consider authors subscribing to other authors' posts when calculating scores.
- Does not cover systems that don't assign a score to individual posts.
- Does not cover the transmission of posts only to authors who have explicitly subscribed to a specific author's stream.
- Does not cover methods that don't evaluate if a post's score meets a criterion for wider distribution.
These exclusions are unique to PatentBrief — derived from the actual claim language, not patent-office boilerplate.
What made this novel
The innovation lies in creating a dynamic scoring system where an author's influence is not just based on their own content's reception, but also on the influence of those who choose to follow them, creating a layered measure of authority and reach.
Schematic visualization of the patent's claim structure. Hand-drawn diagrams in progress for each landmark patent.
Where you've seen this
Real-world examples
Google+ (historical)
Modern social media feeds (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Instagram)
Content ranking in online forums
Author reputation systems on collaborative platforms
Why it matters
The bigger picture
This patent is foundational for understanding how online platforms, particularly social media and forums, manage content visibility and author influence. It provides a technical basis for algorithms that prioritize what users see, moving beyond simple chronological feeds to more dynamic, engagement-driven systems.
Filed
April 7, 2010
Granted
December 10, 2013
Market context
Who's building on this
Companies in this space
Google, as the assigneeassigneeThe entity that owns the patent — usually the inventor's employer or a company.Read more →, has integrated these principles into its own platforms. Major social media companies like Meta (Facebook, Instagram) and X (formerly Twitter) operate sophisticated content ranking systems that likely draw upon similar concepts, though their specific implementations are proprietary.
Market impact
This patent's concepts are integral to the design of virtually all modern social media and content-sharing platforms. It enabled the shift from simple chronological feeds to algorithmic curation, significantly impacting user engagement, content discovery, and the economics of online advertising by prioritizing content likely to hold user attention.
Claim 1 — Plain English
What this patent covers
This patent describes a way for a messaging system, like a social media feed, to figure out how important authors and their posts are. It calculates a 'score' for each author based on how much other authors interact with their posts (like commenting or liking them). Crucially, an author's score can also be influenced by the scores of authors who subscribe to their posts. When a new post is made, it gets a score based on the author's score. This post is then sent to authors who have subscribed to that author. The system can even decide to show the post to authors who *haven't* subscribed, if the post's score meets certain criteria, essentially promoting popular or influential content.
The clever bit
The innovation lies in creating a dynamic scoring system where an author's influence is not just based on their own content's reception, but also on the influence of those who choose to follow them, creating a layered measure of authority and reach.
What it does not cover
- Does not cover systems where author scores are determined solely by external factors, not by interactions within the messaging system.
- Does not cover methods that don't consider authors subscribing to other authors' posts when calculating scores.
- Does not cover systems that don't assign a score to individual posts.
- Does not cover the transmission of posts only to authors who have explicitly subscribed to a specific author's stream.
- Does not cover methods that don't evaluate if a post's score meets a criterion for wider distribution.
Patent timeline
Application submitted to the patent office
Application published, typically 18 months after filing
Patent officially issued
PatentBrief Score
Impact Score
High impact
Citation count
40/40
Highly cited
Claim breadth
20/20
Very broad protection
Recency
5/20
Granted 10–20 years ago
Assignee scale
20/20
Major company or institution
PatentBrief Impact Score — based on citation count, claim breadth, recency, and assignee scale. Not a legal assessment.
Heuristic Value Estimate
What this patent might be worth
$672K – $2.2M
Midpoint $1.3M · 3.8 yr remaining · industry ×1.6
Heuristic only — blends forward/backward citation counts, claim scope, time remaining, litigation history, and CPC-derived industry baseline. Real valuations need a professional appraisal.
The original legal language
Original claims
36 claims as filed with the patent office.
Concepts involved
Citations
Patent lineage
Cite this patent
Bunner, A. A., Jackson, T., Pongsajapan, J., Ho, E. S., Steiner, M. S., Coleman, K. J., McBride, S. E., Chen, A. T., & Cheng, J. S. (2013). How Google's Patent Scores Authors and Posts on Messaging Systems (U.S. Patent No. 8,606,792). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/8606792/facebook-timeline
Auto-generated from the patent record. Double-check author order and the issue date against the official USPTO document before submitting.
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Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What does How Google's Patent Scores Authors and Posts on Messaging Systems cover?
Google's 2013 patent describes a system for ranking authors and their posts on a messaging platform based on user interactions and subscriptions, influencing content visibility.
Who owns patent US 8606792?
Google LLC owns this patent, granted in 2013.
When does this patent expire?
This patent is expected to expire on December 10, 2033, when the invention enters the public domain.
What is patent US 8606792 cited by?
This patent has been cited by 150 later patents that build on its ideas.
What problem does this patent solve?
This patent is foundational for understanding how online platforms, particularly social media and forums, manage content visibility and author influence. It provides a technical basis for algorithms that prioritize what users see, moving beyond simple chronological feeds to more dynamic, engagement-driven systems.
What does this patent NOT cover?
Does not cover systems where author scores are determined solely by external factors, not by interactions within the messaging system.
Same assignee
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