1. Your favorite bands: Easy. If I'm lucky, you use last.fm or iLike to track your favorite music, or you're on a concert service like Sonic Living.

In any case I can rely on your MySpace or Facebook profile for what you've listed as your favorite bands. (I'll have to play safe and only count the newer bands, since you probably haven't updated in a year.)

But if I see you at the other side of a cafe, you might have iTunes on and be sharing your music. Jackpot!

2. Your age: MySpace and Facebook are obvious, but you probably hid your birthday on there. But you didn't hide your graduation year on LinkedIn. Subtract 21 or 22 years and I'm set!

3. Your school friends: Even if I can't see your friend list, I can probably find some schoolmates of yours on Facebooks who list you as a friend, and then I just need to cross-reference, maybe look at those classmates' snapshots for ones that include you. Naturally, this works better the more recently you've graduated.

4. Your other friends: And where you work, and so on and so on. Good thing you joined the "network" for your city on Facebook! Now that I've told the site I'm from the same city, I can see more about you without actually being part of any organization with you!

5. Whom you're dating: Gotta check if you're single, right? After a MySpace/Facebook check, I'll search for photos of you and a significant other on SmugMug, Flickr, Webshots, Zooomr, and other sites that let me search by names.

I'll check Technorati to see if you have a blog, even just a quiet LiveJournal. By that point I'll be searching not just for your name but for any user names you use on other sites. You didn't think a username would protect your privacy, did you?

If I still can't figure it out, I'll search for your description on dating sites like Match.com and eHarmony. God forbid I find that, because you've probably opened a bit of your soul up! Good thing you can trust the people you meet on the Internet!

6. Extra bits: Googling your name and digging down (maybe adding keywords like "date" or "angry") will unearth what others have written about you. I can find some serendipitous bits on Spock, a new people-search site, thanks to my beta account (though you can do the same to me if you join — ask me for an invite at nick at lookshiny dot com).

Photo: Sumo gripp. Nick Douglas writes for Valleywag and Look Shiny. Like to stalk? Also see Stalking 2.0 at Mashable.com.

But also what they're doing to each other:

And what they're trying to hide:

I can even see when my friends add strangers as friends, when they join groups, when they upload photos, and how many tools are joining that "Largest Facebook Group Ever" group. It's thrilling. But the new feature misses some details.

Things Facebook should tell me

• When my friends disown me. To test, I had a friend delete me. He was then missing from my friend list, but the news feed didn't mention the change. So I still have to manually maintain my social anxiety by counting my friends each day and witchhunting whenever the number drops.
• When my friends are no longer single. So I can stop writing "Let's make out" on their wall and start writing "Let's have an affair." [I know this one exists. Shut up.]
• When my friends update their income. Anyone jumping from "$25k-30k" to "$100k+" is my new special friend.
• When strangers view my profile. Because they might be cute. Or they might make $100k+.
• When one friend switches to "single" and their ex-partner doesn't. INSTANT HILARITY.
• Hot-or-Not ratings.

Facebook Gets a Facelift [Facebook Blog]

David Weekly: i think this wins the prize for shortest web 2.0 dot-com ever
service began development june 4, launched june 4, tech crunch june 5, c&d june 15
Valleywag: So for our readers, how did you think of your SingleStat.us site, and what does it do?
David: SingleStat.us let you know when someone's relationship status [on MySpace] changed. It was a fun project, something I did to compete in the DHX competition. Of course, I was helping host the competition, so I wasn't an official entrant. :)
Wag: And DHX is the tenth of your Super Happy Dev House coding events. What was the first surprise when you put SingleStat.us online?
David: well, i woke up the next day and we were on [popular blog] techcrunch. i wasn't exactly expecting that. some companies go through a lot of time, money, sweat, and tears before they're featured on techcrunch
David: so then there were all these people who were just *irate* that a web 2.0 company could launch with such a cheap, shoddy model.

David: of course, they didn't really understand that this was something a guy had done on a Sunday. i think they assumed there was a full team behind it with real money.
Wag: And then came surprise #2.
David: heh
the VC lunch
Wag: Which VCs, dude?
David: [laugh] i don't want to piss nice people off. they were more interested in hearing about the thoughts behind singlestat.us than dumping a few million in...i think.
Wag: Give us a hint?
David: South Bay VC
Wag: Have we covered all the surprises?
David: Well, there was a long article in WebProNews about SingleStat.us, about 120 blog entries made in at least six different languages, an entry in USA Today's blog about it, and a morning interview with a Philadelphia talk radio station.
The Cease and Desist received today from MySpace probably took the cake, though.
Wag: So how'd this all leave you? What did you learn?
David: Well, I learned a little bit about viral marketing. I also learned that big companies sometimes don't like small companies innovating using them as a platform. And I had some real fun, which was the whole point, anyhow. This wasn't meant to be a billion dollar idea, it was something fun to do on a Sunday. And I got to know the other players in the stalker space, like DatingAnyone and Stalkerati, as well as inspiring StalkerExchange.com.
Incidentally, I think StalkerExchange may have been launched and shut down even faster than I was.
I may have to cede my speed-crown. :)
Wag: Oh hot. What did it do?
David: Peer to peer stalking
Wag: yeah, it's just a " :( " now
David: was launched this morning i think.
by my friend Eric.
yep, launched at 5:40am this morning. it's now 5:40pm, exactly 12 hours later.
*exactly*
now that is a fast-lived company.
i can do the whole dotCom cycle in two weeks flat.
idea -> conception -> implementation -> deployment -> viral spread -> implosion -> failure! :)
if one in 12 startups fails and i can do one every two weeks...
then i should be able to turn out two successful startups a year!
Wag: brilliant!

SingleStat.us [Now defunct]

I hope to eliminate the hassle of going to 4-5 sites to find information/check out/cyberstalk/[insert excuse for cyberstalking here] on someone. Be honest, you know you have Google/MySpace/Friendster-ed at least one of your friends?

For instance, TechCrunch Web 2.0 pundit Michael Arrington lists himself as in a relationship in Manhattan Beach on Friendster. (He's in Atherton now, and rumor is he's single, ladies.)

And this weekend, SuperHappyDevHouse founder David Weekly cooked up a nifty tool at SHDH #10. SingleStat.us tracks anyone's MySpace "single" or "in a relationship" status. For extra fun, track two friends who might break up, and see who rushes to MySpace first!

Stalkerati [Official site]
SingleStat.us [Official site]