Finding Old Friends with Online Social Networks
Learn to Utilize Internet Networks for Searching Needs
Mar 2, 2009
Online social networks have exploded in size and popularity in the past eight years. They are websites that allow a person to create a digital profile of themselves that others may see and comment on. A person’s profile may range from the very simple, having only basic information about them, to detailed profiles, that contain that person’s blog, pictures, and summarized life.
By properly utilizing these sites, a person can browse through hundreds of millions of people in order to locate the person they’re after. There are many different types of social networks. Some have hundreds of millions of members, but other smaller social networks are based around shared interests of their members that can help narrow a person’s search.
Which Social Network should I Try First?
Facebook is a huge online social network with over 100 million members. This is a great site to begin searching with because of its vast amount of members. A few difficulties that can arise from using such a large network are that names will repeat.
If a person were to type in a common name like John Smith for example, they would be bombarded with hundreds if not thousands of search results. Also, in order to search through the Facebook directory a person must also be a member. Membership is completely free and only takes about a minute to complete.
Myspace is another giant social networking site with about a 130 million members and is thus also a great place to search. Like Facebook, Myspace does not have any linking or unifying feature to its members. People on Myspace will range from children to adults from all over the world. Myspace does not require a person to have a membership in order to search through their directory.
LinkedIn is a business related networking site with about 35 million members. LinkedIn can prove a great search tool because its members tend to be business oriented people only. This means that its 35 million members have already been narrowed down to adults, which can greatly shorten a person’s search. Membership with LinkedIn is free and also required in order to search through their member directory.
Reverse Email Address Searches
Email address lookups are a great way with which to get in contact with people. There are numerous sites that can help a person find an email address. A great benefit of using email address search sites is that they do much of researching and work independently. These sites mine social networks and other public records in order to find relevant information about a given person.
Though these sites search for a person’s email address they discover much more. Information like a person’s address and phone number are just a few of the things a person can learn when using such a site. Some of these directories may charge nominal fees for using the service, but because of the large amount of information they can provide and their ease of use, the fee is often well worth the price.
Though there are many different social networking sites floating around the web, by starting one's research at the sites listed, finding old friends and acquaintances can be done quickly and painlessly.
