Online: You Are My Friend

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By Newsweek Editors

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At first it seems as if someone has gone to great--even weird--lengths to proclaim his fealty. "There are over 6 billion people alive today," the personalized Web site proclaims. "Out of all those, I consider Seth Mnookin my friend." With the gushing music from "Dragonheart" playing in the background, a host of... attributes? compliments?... flashes on the screen: "Companion. Colleague. Depend. Grateful. Truth. Gift. Happiness." Never mind that the site can't seem to tell nouns from verbs. The latest word-of-mouth Web sensation is youaremyfriend .com--a nifty little project that requires nothing more than the ability to type in someone's name (as in seth.mnookin.youaremyfriend.com) to produce instant, personalized treacle. Since early December, the site's averaged a million visitors a week. "It started as a way to test other software," says the site's creator, Robert Blake, a Canadian systems analyst. "I've heard people have used it to keep from breaking up with their girlfriends." Blake, who speaks in the truncated English endemic to computer programmers, says one of his goals is "to make the lower-quality Internet slightly more useful." Happiness!

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