Patent ID: 8103659

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for tailoring search results, comprising: under the control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions, among a plurality of users identified as sharing at least one perspective with a distinguished user, segmenting the plurality of users into a plurality of perspective groups, each perspective group including users having similar characteristics; for each of the plurality of perspective groups, compiling information indicating the relevance of items among a universe of items to users included in the perspective group; assigning a distinguished user to at least two of the plurality of perspective groups; receiving a search query from the distinguished user, the query including a search request for an item; in response to receiving the search query, displaying to the distinguished user a first query result that is responsive to the search query and is tailored to members of a first perspective group to which the distinguished user has been assigned, the tailoring being in accordance with the information compiled for the first perspective group; displaying, in response to receiving the search query including the search request for the item, in addition to, and concurrently with, the displayed first query result, indications of two or more perspective groups other than the first perspective group, the two or more perspective groups including a second perspective group to which the distinguished user has been assigned and at least one perspective group to which the distinguished user has not been assigned, the second perspective group being displayed based at least in part on an affinity level weighting of the distinguished user for the second perspective group, the at least one perspective group to which the distinguished user has not been assigned being displayed based on a relevance of the item included in the search request to the at least one perspective group; receiving input from the distinguished user specifying the second perspective group from the indications of two or more perspective groups; and in response to receiving the distinguished user input specifying the second perspective group, displaying to the distinguished user a second query result that is responsive to the search query and is tailored to members of the second perspective group to which the distinguished user has been assigned, the tailoring being in accordance with the information compiled for the second perspective group.