Search results based on your social circle has become something of a hot topic of late, but a new patent has awarded Facebook the ownership of this.

Specifically, the patent acquired by the leading social network covers ‘ranking search results based on the frequency of clicks on the search results by members of a social network who are within a predetermined degree of separation’. What this means for you is that your search results in Facebook – sponsored or organic – may become influenced by the way in which your friends behave on there; what they ‘like’, what groups they belong to, what applications they use and who they are friends with.

Although this patent was first applied for six years ago, it’s interesting that it seems to have played an influential part in the site’s current approach to their business – you may have noticed that a lot of what turns up in your page’s sidebar is based around what your friends have been up to, what they like and what they’ve joined, and with this patent in place, it’s likely that this will receive more prominence in the near future.

From an outside observer’s perspective, this could be an interesting experiment. How similar are we to our friends? Do we all click, ‘like’ and behave online in the same way as our friends? It’s certainly something which could be worth keeping an eye on, especially for internet marketing professionals.