Good Reads

Have you ever logged-in to Amazon.com and looked through a list of recommendations? “A Savage Garden CD…Pleather Moon Boots…a DVD copy of Leprechaun: In The Hood (starring Ice-T)!? It’s like they know me! Well, that’s because they do know you to some extent; websites like Amazon or Facebook create algorithms based on user-preferences and behavior [...]

In a time of rapid change and exponential technological growth, it’s always good to take a step back and look at some pretty graphs and pie charts (mmm….pie charts). Nobody does pretty graphs and charts better than FlowingData, a great “data visualization” blog that specializes in unique and interesting infographics. We here at Spokeo People [...]

The geniuses over at The Onion had a video a while back about a fire breaking out at a dorm party; during their investigation, the police are quickly able to establish the cause of the fire by examining the thousands of photos uploaded to Facebook by the party-goers, photos that have recorded every second of [...]

When I wrote about social networking and popularity some weeks back I was reminded how often I’m floored by the amount of "Friends" some people have on Facebook. I know one who has almost 1500. 1500! Forget 1500 friends – I don’t even think that I can name 1500 people (I get to about 40 [...]

Well that was fast. It seems like only a few weeks ago that we were talking about the release of Google+ (oh wait – that’s because we were!), and now it appears that the search engine giant’s new social networking platform has already pulled ahead of the pack. That is, at least, according to a [...]

I’ve been reading James Gleick’s masterful new book The Information, an epic history of the information age. Gleick’s sweeping narrative covers a lot of historical ground, from the talking drums of Africa, to the telegraph, from texting to Twitter.  Gleick is a journalist who specializes in topics related to science and technology, and is perhaps [...]

It seems like everybody is talking about Google’s new social networking platform, Google+ (Google Plus). The conversation inevitably has focused on the similarities and differences between it and the almighty Book (Facebook), and whether its features are attractive enough to draw users away from said Book. It’s still early in the game, of course, but [...]

So you’ve reached 500 friends on Facebook. Congratulations!  Too bad that having Facebook "friends" isn’t the same as having real friends, right? Wrong! At least according to a new study from the Pew Research Center. The D.C.-based think tank surveyed 2,225 US adults on their internet usage, social networking habits and social life, and found [...]

Yelp is surely one of the big success stories of the past year or two. It’s impressive just how visible their influence has become: those "People Love Us on Yelp" stickers can be spotted in tiny neighborhood pizzerias and fancy steakhouses alike, posted on the door like a badge of honor. And people aren’t just [...]

We at Spokeo are very proud of our little mascot. Hedgehogs deserve a lot more attention then they get. In order to deepen your appreciation and understanding of this adorable, spiny little mammal, I thought I’d share some fun facts (sources in parentheses). Enjoy!: •  Hedgehogs earned their name from their pig-like snout and grunt, [...]