At one point in your life you will probably wonder to yourself, ‘what ever happened to that person?’ There will always be people coming into and leaving your life. Sometimes leaving your life is a choice, either made by you or both of you, but often times it’s not a deliberate choice. People can move far away, get busy with their own life, or go through rough patches that just won’t allow them to stay in contact with you and others.
If we had to name the biggest advantage of the internet, it might very well be its ability to reconnect with friends and even families. There’s no doubt that thousands of people have been reconnected via the net. If you’re looking for someone from your past, here are three ways to help you locate them.
Read more after the jump:
1. Social media
Practically everyone has at least one account on one or more of the social media platforms. Nearly one in four people have a public profile on a platform. It’s the simplest and most direct way to find someone. So maybe you were in the same school together, or worked together in the same place, you can do a search using the person’s name plus the name of the school or the workplace. If it’s a school, you can try the alumni page and ask there. It’s also doable to find common friends you used to have. A mutual friend, acquaintance or a relative of the person might have the information you need to find that person.
2. Search engine query
If social media strikes out, try a search engine query, or try search or lookup service. You can start by typing in the person’s name, using their first name and surname. To retrieve exact matches, put quotation marks around each version of their name, but don’t use them if you’re not sure of the spelling. The more information you know, the higher the chances you will find that person. Though some people try it like that, it can be like looking for a needle in a haystack and very overwhelming and time consuming. You’d be much better off paying a bit of money using the services of search people at checkpeople.com who will get you the information much quicker and accurately. Like stated before, try to get as much information beforehand, like the person’s last email, or geographical address, or last place of work.
3. Last cell phone number
While people might be keen on changing their phone every now and then, most want to keep their number. You can do ‘reverse tracking’ which is a system that searches a phone number using a name or address to find out who it belongs to. It can also be done on landlines. In the US, a phone’s three-digit area code can be traced back to the location where a cell phone was issued, which might help you pinpoint an area where the person has lived or worked.
Be prepared
Reconnecting with an old buddy is exciting and might be awkward at the same time. Or it might seem just like yesterday when you last talked. Be real in your expectations, just so that you don’t get disappointed in case their reaction is one of not wanting to reconnect. But you never know; maybe they’ve been trying just as hard to find you also.
Images by Sami Oliver Nakari for Design SCENE
