Finding Contact Information Online

Throughout your life you will probably meet many people.  With some of them you will keep in touch, while others you will disconnect from and lose complete contact.  You may feel a sense of loss for those individuals that have drifted out of your life, but you should know that if you want to reconnect and rekindle the relationship you had with them once before, there is a good chance you will find their contact information online.

The Internet is home to many fantastic searching resources.  Some of these resources can be used to help you find online users, such as social networking sites. 

What is a social networking site?  It is a website that provides online consumers with a virtual community where they can create their own profiles and communicate, share interests and other activities with fellow members.  Some networks are designed for general socialization (I.E. MySpace, Facebook, etc.) while others are more business focused and are primarily created for professional networking (I.E. LinkedIn, Plaxo, etc.) However, there are also other online networks that cater to specific interests including religion, relationships, gaming, classmates and so on.

Although it is possible that the person or people you are looking for could be members of any social networking site on the web, it's always a good idea to begin your investigation with the general and business networks and continue from there. 

How do you find someone on a network?  You go to the homepage of the networking site and follow their lookup instructions.  Different sites may allow you to conduct diverse searches, but usually the search options you are provided are as follows (Note: not all networking sites offer the same lookup choices as the ones listed below):

• Name:  You can lookup someone by their first and last name.  You can also look for married or maiden names, nicknames, screen names or an alias you may remember the person using.  In addition, you might be able to browse for people alphabetically by surname.

• School--Search the name of the high school or college the person went to, as well as other facts such as the year they graduated.

• Personal interests--Lookup hobbies or interests you remember the individual enjoyed or was known for.

• Career interests--Look for the name of their place of work, their job title or profession.

• Import contacts from your Instant Messaging list or email--You might be able to find someone through an old screen name or email address if they have used this in their profile.

What contact details can you expect to find?  There is no rule as to what a member must include on their profile as far as their contact details are concerned.  However, most will generally provide an email address at the vey least.  Other information you might find may include:

• Phone numbers
• Residential address
• Town where they currently reside

Additionally, you can find out other facts such as demographics, relationship status, and other data you may find interesting.

Finally, in order to protect the privacy of their users, networking sites only allow members of their community to contact one another.  Therefore, understand that if you wish to gain access to a person's profile page to find their contact information, you will likely need to first sign up for free and establish your own membership to make this request.