The group started mining Facebook for data last year, but have recently expanded its analytics to include a closer look at your social relationships.

ENGADGET

Data from the New York-based consultancy CPM Group also shows gold-mining output rising, with some 66 million ounces in 2009, followed by 68 million in 2010.

FORBES: Global Output From Gold Mines In Upswing Although Some Constraints Persist

Ricks, 52, a former accounting and finance professor at Duke and Columbia, draws on a research group of 21 analysts and programmers to pick stocks after mining data on 6, 000 companies in the U.S. and twice that number overseas.

FORBES: Revenge of The Nerds