Donald Duck – Your Next Door Neighbor?

While Spokeo may pride itself on its user-friendly design and powerful people search capabilities, there is no denying that we have our work cut out for us: there are a lot of people out there. The 2010 U.S. census counted 308,745,538 of you, and that number is growing every day. But while the census bureau relies on a friendly worker with a clipboard to knock on your door, Spokeo’s search engine relies on sophisticated computer algorithms and publicly-accessible data for its name search, email search and reverse phone number data.

While we feel we can provide some of the most helpful, accurate information around, computerized data aggregation definitely has its limits. Due to the variety of public sources (which range from social networks to marketing surveys and everything in between), and the overwhelming wealth of profiles, our engineers are unable to fact-check each individual piece of data: they are far too busy playing "Magic: the Gathering" and foosball (just kidding, guys!).

While this can be frustrating at times, it can also be kind of funny. One blogger recently entertained himself by finding some of the most silly names that he could find on Spokeo: dead politicians, cartoon characters, historical figures. I tried some more.

There are 749 listings for "Donald Duck" in our system (including 7 listings in Hawaii, where Mr. Duck is apparently living the good life, still pantsless), and 126 for "Bat Man" (all hopefully wearing pants). Feeling low? Drive on down to Irving, Texas and pay a visit to "Doctor Feelgood." Looking for a new friend? Take a train into the Bronx and ask around for "Best Friend." I myself had a falling-out with Best Friend, though I’m still friends with Best Friend’s best friend, "The Man," who lives up in Schenectady; The Man is the man, man.

While Spokeo can help you find a long-lost friend or family member, we can also help you find spirituality: I just found "God Almighty." He lives in Newark. Who knew? 7NY4S4FDW2VQ