Announced in July, and now integrated into every Steam client, The Steam Community's array of social and networking options provides users with a wide array of community-oriented options. These include the ability to sport a custom avatar, stalk friends from game to game, form groups, engage in group and private chat, schedule group events, and track a number of different statistics, such as a breakdown of play time and the assignment of a Steam Rating.

For example, after accidentally leaving Peggle Extreme running for 9.6 hours last night, my SteamID page lists my rating as "3.1 - Shooting Blanks."

Shacker freshyk has set up this chatty thread for those interested in joining the Shacknews group.