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.