Facebook has secured a patent to a feature that many of its competitors have adopted in recent years the news feed.
The patent, officially granted on Tuesday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, governs a “method for displaying a news feed in a social network environment."
Facebook applied for the patent back in August 2006, about a month before the social networking site opened its doors beyond college students to all Internet users.
Among the eight investors listed on the patent is Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Also included are: Ruchi Sanghvi, principal product manager; engineer Andrew Bosworth; director of product Chris Cox; design strategist Aaron Sittig; co-founder Chris Hughes; director of user experience and design Katie Geminder; and engineer Dan Corson.
“The launch of News Feed in 2006 was a pivotal moment in Facebook's history and changed the way millions of people consumed and discovered information on the site," a Facebook spokeswoman said in a Friday e-mail. “We're humbled by the growth and adoption of News Feed over time and pleased with being awarded the patent."
The method covered in the patent includes “generating news items regarding activities associated with a user of a social network environment and attaching an informational link associated with at least one of the activities, to at least one of the news items, as well as limiting access to the news items to a predetermined set of viewers and assigning an order to the news items."
The patent, officially granted on Tuesday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, governs a “method for displaying a news feed in a social network environment."
Facebook applied for the patent back in August 2006, about a month before the social networking site opened its doors beyond college students to all Internet users.
Among the eight investors listed on the patent is Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Also included are: Ruchi Sanghvi, principal product manager; engineer Andrew Bosworth; director of product Chris Cox; design strategist Aaron Sittig; co-founder Chris Hughes; director of user experience and design Katie Geminder; and engineer Dan Corson.
“The launch of News Feed in 2006 was a pivotal moment in Facebook's history and changed the way millions of people consumed and discovered information on the site," a Facebook spokeswoman said in a Friday e-mail. “We're humbled by the growth and adoption of News Feed over time and pleased with being awarded the patent."
The method covered in the patent includes “generating news items regarding activities associated with a user of a social network environment and attaching an informational link associated with at least one of the activities, to at least one of the news items, as well as limiting access to the news items to a predetermined set of viewers and assigning an order to the news items."
