ReadWriteWeb

When you want to know about a domain name, you jump to whois to get all of the information on the person who registered it. But when you want to know more about the person who just started following you on Twitter or FriendFeed, it hasn't been that easy - even though we've tried to provide you with tools to do it. Now, a new service promises to simplify the process. It's a new take on whois for the social web: SocialWhois, a service that uses XFN, microformats, APML, and tagging to provide a more complete picture of that new follower's presence online.

Today Marshall Kirkpatrick interviewed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at SXSW, with the main topic of discussion being Data Portability. Later in the day at the festival, a star studded panel discussed building portable social networks. The panel highlighted four technologies that help make identity and data more portable across social networks: hCard; XFN and FOAF; OpenID; OAuth.