Facebook, the world leader in social networking sites, won a major patent for the news distribution services in social networks known as ‘feed.’ The award is described as “Dynamically providing a news feed about a user of a social network.” With this new patent that was first requested in 2006, Facebook can now run after other social networks that employ the same tool.

Nick O’Neill of All Facebook describes it as: “Essentially it includes the generation of feed stories followed by the limiting of viewers of those stories. As many avid followers of the social networking space know, the feed (also called the “stream”) has become one of the central components of online social activity. The entire Twitter product, for example, is a feed.”

The ‘feed’ has become a common tool on the web and is a key to the functioning of other networks like Twitter and LinkedIn. The system of ‘feed’ lets a user automatically share with online friends and fellow members of the social networks his or her updates.

The patent owners or inventors of the ‘feed’ are the top brass at Facebook: founder Mark Zuckerberg, Ruchi Sanghvi, Andrew Bosworth, Chris Cox, Aaron Sittig, Chris Hughes, Katie Geminder, and Dan Corson.

The patent infringement claims that digital platform Facebook can pursue in the future include feed filters, feed advertising, and searching the feed. The right acquired by Facebook over the ownership of ‘feed’ could open the door to legal disputes with rivals.

By all indication, Facebook just had the good fortune of acting earlier on claiming an Internet technology. It is a defensive strategy, to say the least. Others had been bound to acquire the property, as well, anyway. Unfortunately for them, they are now the ones facing potential lawsuits.

But, let’s leave it to the techies. For sure, there are many ways to tweak the ‘feed.’

Photo Courtesy of eston in Flickr