How Facebook Ranks Search Results Based on Your Friends' Activity
A method for ranking search results by prioritizing links that your social network friends have clicked on previously.
Original patent title: “Ranking search results based on the frequency of access on the search results by users of a social-networking system”
A method for ranking search results by prioritizing links that your social network friends have clicked on previously. Granted to Facebook Inc in 2014 with 21 claims and 66 forward citations.
Key facts
Coverage
What does this patent actually cover?
This patent describes a search engine that personalizes results by looking at the behavior of people you are connected to in a social network. When you search for something, the system identifies web pages and checks if any of your friends or connections have clicked on those links before. It calculates a 'relevant click' score based on how often your friends clicked those links compared to how often the links were shown to them. The system then ranks the search results so that links favored by your social circle appear higher, and it can even visually highlight those results to draw your attention.
The gap
What does this patent NOT cover?
- Does not cover ranking search results based solely on global popularity or generic page authority.
- Does not cover search results ranked without using social graph connections or degrees of separation.
- Does not cover systems that do not track the ratio of clicks to displays for specific links.
- Does not cover search results that ignore the user's specific privacy or access preferences.
These exclusions are unique to PatentBrief — derived from the actual claim language, not patent-office boilerplate.
What made this novel
The system uses the click-through rate (clicks divided by displays) specifically filtered by the user's social graph, turning a generic search query into a personalized recommendation engine based on peer behavior.
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
Facebook Graph Search
Personalized news feed content ranking
Social-aware search result highlighting
Why it matters
The bigger picture
This patent represents the shift from 'one-size-fits-all' search engines to social-aware discovery. It was a key part of Facebook's efforts to keep users within their ecosystem by making search feel more relevant and trusted, as people are statistically more likely to engage with content their friends have already validated.
Filed
September 4, 2012
Granted
December 16, 2014
Market context
Who's building on this
Companies in this space
Meta (formerly Facebook) continues to refine these social-ranking algorithms. Other major platforms like LinkedIn and Pinterest also utilize similar social-graph-based ranking to prioritize content that is relevant to a user's professional or personal network.
Market impact
This technology helped solidify the 'social search' category, forcing traditional search engines to integrate more social signals into their ranking algorithms. It created a competitive moat for platforms with deep social graph data, as they could provide a layer of trust and personalization that standalone search engines could not easily replicate.
Claim 1 — Plain English
What this patent covers
This patent describes a search engine that personalizes results by looking at the behavior of people you are connected to in a social network. When you search for something, the system identifies web pages and checks if any of your friends or connections have clicked on those links before. It calculates a 'relevant click' score based on how often your friends clicked those links compared to how often the links were shown to them. The system then ranks the search results so that links favored by your social circle appear higher, and it can even visually highlight those results to draw your attention.
The clever bit
The system uses the click-through rate (clicks divided by displays) specifically filtered by the user's social graph, turning a generic search query into a personalized recommendation engine based on peer behavior.
What it does not cover
- Does not cover ranking search results based solely on global popularity or generic page authority.
- Does not cover search results ranked without using social graph connections or degrees of separation.
- Does not cover systems that do not track the ratio of clicks to displays for specific links.
- Does not cover search results that ignore the user's specific privacy or access preferences.
Patent timeline
Application submitted to the patent office
Application published, typically 18 months after filing
Patent officially issued
PatentBrief Score
Impact Score
Strong
Citation count
36/40
Highly cited
Claim breadth
14/20
Broad claimsclaimsThe numbered statements at the end of a patent that legally define what the inventor owns.Read more →
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
$328K – $1.0M
Midpoint $655K · 6.2 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
21 claims as filed with the patent office.
Concepts involved
Citations
Patent lineage
Cite this patent
Winner, J., Galbreath, N., & Lunt, C. (2014). How Facebook Ranks Search Results Based on Your Friends' Activity (U.S. Patent No. 8,914,392). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/8914392/facebook-events
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 Facebook Ranks Search Results Based on Your Friends' Activity cover?
A method for ranking search results by prioritizing links that your social network friends have clicked on previously.
Who owns patent US 8914392?
Facebook Inc owns this patent, granted in 2014.
When does this patent expire?
This patent is expected to expire on December 16, 2034, when the invention enters the public domain.
What is patent US 8914392 cited by?
This patent has been cited by 66 later patents that build on its ideas.
What problem does this patent solve?
This patent represents the shift from 'one-size-fits-all' search engines to social-aware discovery. It was a key part of Facebook's efforts to keep users within their ecosystem by making search feel more relevant and trusted, as people are statistically more likely to engage with content their friends have already validated.
What does this patent NOT cover?
Does not cover ranking search results based solely on global popularity or generic page authority.
Same assignee
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