Social media has become the go-to method of connecting with other people. Keeping in contact is easy with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Even though social media makes it easy to stay in touch, it’s become a challenge to navigate through the huge number of posts, tweets, and pins.
What do you do if you're looking for a loved one, a forgotten friend, or an old acquaintance with the name John or Jane Smith? It’s not always as easy as it seems these days.
Here’s a few methods top social media sleuths use to track people down online:
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Tips our social media super sleuths use
There are a lot of things that could make it hard for you to find someone on social media. Maybe (s)he doesn't want a lot of followers on social media, so (s)he is hiding behind a nickname or a fake name.
There's a chance that the person you're looking for has a common name, which can bring up a lot of results when you search for them. The person may have also changed their name. People sometimes just want to keep their personal information secret, which makes it a million times harder to find them.
1. Begins with the basics
If you want to find someone online, one of the best places to start is with a Facebook search. Even though you should search each platform, you should start with Facebook because it is the largest social networking site in the world. This makes it much easier for you to find people.
You can use different filters to find someone. Just type the person's name in the search bar and click on the People tab. When the results of the search show up, tap See All.
You can choose to filter the results by Friends of Friends, City, Education, or Work from this list. Choose a combination of filters to help you narrow down your search.
2. Mutual friends
If you think you and the person you are looking for have mutual friends, click on that friend's tab to see a list of their friends.
You can also search the page called “People You May Know,” which is on the “Find Friends” page. You can also set up your News Feed and notifications to show suggestions for people you might know.
Sign into Facebook and click the drop-down arrow next to the question mark at the top of the page to get to Settings. Open the People You May Know drop-down menu from the Notifications page on the left. From here, you can choose if you want to get these notifications and if you want to get them as push notifications, emails, or SMS messages.
If you don't want to use this option, log into Facebook and click on the button that looks like two people next to Create. This will show you all of your friend requests and a list of people you may know based on how many friends you share with them.
3. Try the URL
Use the last name of the person you want to find at the end of social media sites. Try https://www.facebook.com/PeopleSearchai as an example.
Many people have one username that they use for every social media account.
4. Search their number
You can do a reverse phone number lookup on Facebook by typing the person's phone number into the search bar.
Even though it's rare for someone to share their phone number in a Facebook post, this method could be useful because people often connect their phone number for verification purposes. When a user's account is accessed from a place or device they haven't used before, Facebook can send them a text message.
This is a great way to find someone if you know their phone number but can't find them on social media.
5. Google them
What if you don't know much about the person you want to find? Even though it may seem like your search is over before it even started, keep in mind that Google is a powerful tool that can help you with your search. Type in their name or username along with keywords about their location, marital status, or job to narrow down the results.
Did your search for your name and a keyword turn up a ton of information, or did it not turn up anything? You can try Google again by searching for images.
Enter the person's name at images.google.com. Like with your first Google search, you can narrow down the results by adding things like where the person lives or works.
Move from one picture to the next. Click on their picture when you find it to go to their social media page.
6. Try People Search
If you still can't find someone, it's time to use a site that's made just for that purpose. You can use these search engines to find someone even if you don't know their name or if they don't use social media.
PeopleSearch is a free site that finds information about people from social media sites, homepages, blogs, and news sources. Most sites that offer detailed information charge for it. With this information, the site can figure out who a person is online.
You should be able to find someone online with these tips, but there are no guarantees. Keep adding as much useful information to your searches as you can, and hopefully you'll find the person you're looking for.