Friends and acquaintances, you meet them throughout your whole life. But over the years, relationships can evolve. The hurdles of life can also put an end to certain relationships. This can be the case during a relocation, a disagreement, or a death. Sometimes, you can also lose contact with certain friends or members of the family simply because time passes.
Some realize this a few years later and decide to reconnect with those people, but how to find long-lost friends or relatives online? Where to look? That’s what we’re going to find out. Here’s everything you need to know about it.
Find a person on the internet:
Finding the desired person is not impossible if you have some information such as their first and last name. Do you want to find your childhood friend or distant cousin? You will have to do some research. For this, the internet is the ideal tool. Indeed, nowadays, the web is a great ally to go fishing for information. Here are the different ways to find someone on the internet.
First, you can also use PhoneHistory. That will work if you have their old phone number – it might still belong to that same person. PhoneHistory reveals the caller’s name, address, phone history, city, state, area code, and much more.
Find a person on search engines:
If you want to reconnect with an old acquaintance, you must first recall all your memories. Indeed, to begin your research, you must remember at least the name and surname of that person.
But that’s not all. If your friend has a common first and last name, the search may be complicated. You can therefore try to remember the last place of residence of your friend, the name of their school, or in which company they worked.
This information will allow you to do the first search on Google. For this, you can type the different information in the search bar and examine the results.
If they belong to a football club or other important organization in the city you listed, your search could come up very quickly. Of course, your old acquaintance may also be unknown to Google.
But Google remains a so-called “general” search engine. You may not know it, but there are dedicated search engines for looking up people. These sites make it possible to search for people by indicating their first and last name, or even their location. A “scan” of everything found is then offered in a few moments.
Search for a person on social networks:
If Google search results don’t give you anything good, don’t give up hope, it’s way too early for that. The second avenue to explore is that of social networks.
Indeed, nowadays, networks are the best way to reconnect with an old acquaintance. If your old friend or family member isn’t on your friends list, it may be possible to find them by typing their name.
If that’s not enough, try thinking about your contacts in common. Browse the friends lists of these contacts, your old acquaintance could well be hiding in the friends of one of your friends. That does nothing? It’s time to check out the groups of colleges, high schools, or towns your friend may have been to.
You can also try your luck on the Facebook group “I’m looking for you”. This group brings together thousands of people and tons of wanted notices. Members share these posts and searches are thus broadened.
If you can’t find your friend on Facebook, try your luck on Instagram and Twitter. Don’t forget LinkedIn. On this professional network, you will be more likely to find your old acquaintance using their full name because it is a professional network, and it is very rare that people use nicknames and nicknames there.
Search for a person in the white pages or a reverse directory:
Does your search yield anything? If you have the first and last name of your former comrade, you can also try a search on White Pages. If you have the phone number of the person you are looking to find, you can also use the reverse search directory. This directory allows you to find a person with their phone number. This service is also available online and with a few clicks on the Yellow Pages site.
Find a person through public places:
If your former friend or family member cannot be found on the internet, you will have to find other solutions. Unfortunately, the search request service in the interest of families no longer exists.
The only way to find a person is to prove that person is in danger and initiate an investigation. For this, you must contact the police or the gendarmerie. However, it is possible to go to the town hall of birth of the person you are looking for to find out if they are still alive.
Fortunately, there is another solution: public archives. Indeed, you can search through these archives to find traces of the person you are looking for. They can allow you to find data on the person you want to find, such as their civil status register, marriage certificate or death certificate.
Find someone by word of mouth:
Finally, if the person you are looking for is a member of your family or if you have mutual relations, you can simply try to contact your family members or your mutual friends.
You might find someone who can put you in touch with the person you are looking for. If this person is a former co-worker, you can also contact your former company to try to get more information.
If this person was one of your old school friends, you can also contact your college or high school. Some institutions have a directory of former students. You will then be able to retrieve the contact details of this dear person.
As you have already seen, there are many solutions to finding a long-lost person. The Internet is certainly the most effective and easiest way to start your research. Do not lose hope and try your luck, you have many chances to find a lost person by exploring different ways!
