How to Find People Online for Free

Learn to Utilize Various Internet Tools to Friends and Relatives

Apr 10, 2009 Gerry Schmidt

Today there are a variety of tools readily available on the internet that can be used to find people. Social networking and email finder sites are often overlooked.

Curious about where that class clown from high school ended up or simply lost contact with an old friend? If so the internet can help to track them down. The internet offers many different ways to perform people searches, and many of these options can be completed free of charge.

A social networking site is an internet tool that allows people to create online profiles. These profiles tend to offer information like age, interests, friends and acquaintances, geographic location, blogs, and pictures. Public networking sites have become immensely popular in recent years, which means that they are the perfect medium to conduct free people searches online.

Most social networking sites require a person to be a member in order conduct people searches, but most sites offer membership for free of charge. Though there are many different social networking sites that can aid you in people searching, it is best to at least begin the search with the largest of the social networks.

A Few Examples of Social Networking:

Facebook is the largest social network, boasting more than 200 million members. This means that it has the highest probability of finding the person or people you are after. Facebook is also an incredibly easy site to use, even for the most computer-challenged.

Simply go to Facebook.com and click on the “Search” icon. From there, find the search box. Type in the sought after person’s name and in seconds a user will be bombarded with hundreds if not thousands of results. Facebook allows for advanced searching, so if there is any additional information about the person in question, like location, network, interests, or hobbies, then the plethora of hits will be narrowed down to a much more manageable number.

MySpace is the second largest social network. Unlike Facebook, non-members are able to browse through its directory. MySpace offers two different type of search options, ‘Browse People and ‘Find Friends.’

After going to Myspace.com, click ‘Find Friends.’ This allows a person to search through member name directories by typing a particular name into a search box. After searching for the name, results can be limited by gender and location.

If users encounter problems finding the person they're after, trying the correct spelling of their name or searching the ‘Browse People’ function can help the solve the issue. From here, search options can be limited to male of female, age range, relationship status, and geographic location. The problem with the browsing selection is that it does not allow direct name searches.

Searching through different social networking sites can be a very effective way to find people. The only drawback is that searching through hundreds of millions of people can take time, regardless of how well searches are refined.

Finding Email Address Information

By using sites such as EmailFinder.com, the work can be taken out of searching. These types of sites will search through all of the major social networking sites, and other public records available, and come back with search results in seconds. These types of sites do require a fee but they also offer great year long-memberships at great prices.

Searching through social networking sites can be a great, free way to find old friends. Using sites like EmailFinder.com can save hours of time that can be put toward other important task like teaching mice to juggle and ride tiny little unicycles.

The copyright of the article How to Find People Online for Free in Internet is owned by Gerry Schmidt. Permission to republish How to Find People Online for Free in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
What do you think about this article?

NOTE: Because you are not a Suite101 member, your comment will be moderated before it is viewable.
post your comment
What is 1+1?