Today, with the advent of the internet, this big blue ball that is home to billions of people has never been so small. You would think that when you are trying to find people the internet would be the fastest and easiest way to do it. And the fact is, you would be right, or would you?

Trying to find people on the internet can be either incredibly easy or incredibly frustrating depending on who you are trying to find and why.

You see most people do not use their real names on the internet they use “nicks” or nicknames such as dragonqueen,rainysmom,brain1234 etc. This makes things a both more fun and dangerous at the same time, and often for the same reason. You see, the internet is anonymous which makes it that much harder to find people.

Find People on Public Records sites

For those who are trying to find people for a specific reason such as child support or other official reason there are thousands of public records search sites. To use these types of sites to find people you will need information about the person such as:

• Name
• Date of Birth
• Last known residence
• Social security number

In fact to use a public search site you will need as much information as you can get a hold of. Public records search sites are not free and generally range in price from $20 to well over $100.

Use Google/ internet search engines to Find People

When most people need to find information on anything they turn to the internet and search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo, so is it any wonder the first place that we all turn to when trying to find people is one of these search gurus? But finding people on a search engine may not be as easy as you might think. Don’t believe me? Try to search for yourself. You already have all of the pertinent information so it should be easy right? I don’t know about you, but I ended up with a couple of thousand results. Luckily for my sense of self worth a few of those were actually me.

To find people using a search engine you will first need to come up with a good keyword or set of keywords. Keywords are the term you use to search with. Just typing in the person’s name may or may not help, so the more information you can add to your search the better your results will be. For instance, rather then run searches for John Smith consider trying John Smith Tampa Florida to narrow results.

FaceBook/Social networking to find people

FaceBook, the biggest and most popular social networking site on the internet, it should be easy to find people here, right? Nope! Trying to find people on FaceBook can be an effort in frustration. Why? Because not everyone uses their real name and FaceBook does not allow you to narrow your search very far.( Hey FaceBook Guys can you please add more ways to narrow searches so we can all find people? )

To find people using FaceBook all you need to do is log on to your account and hit the find people button it is on the left side menu bar under your avatar marked friends. Click the friends button and you will see a new page open with several choices to search through your own contact information. If you want to find someone you know who is not in your regular contacts list then you can type their name into the FaceBook search bar at the top of the page. That will open a new page and from there you can either scroll through the results or look on the left side menu bar and click people.

Find People through e-mail

Electronic mail or email is also a great way to find people although much like a public search most of the places/websites that volunteer the information will charge you for it. The best way to get someone’s email is to ask them for it but if that option is out it is possible to find them through one of these sites. For folks who like to FLAME or send nasty emails then you really should be aware that there is a way to look up your REAL name and address with a reverse look up function from email directory sites.

Find people on Dating sites

To find people you do not know there is a multitude of dating and friend finder sites on the internet. But beware. Many of the people using these “free” sites are just looking to spam you or defraud you out of money. Those who are looking to find people for a love interest should understand this and keep it close to their minds as there are at least as many websites listing dating site fraud (with last known photos of the perps) as there are dating sites.

To avoid dating site fraud when trying to find people understand that only a complete idiot looks for love from people who are in other countries or states. Never ever for any reason send anyone you meet online money unless you want to give your money away. There are even companies in other countries that prey on people by actually hiring folks to find people on dating sites, make friends or pretend to fall in love with the express purpose of getting your money!!

Find People Offline with Online Phone Books

One of the easiest ways to find people on the internet that you know is through the white pages. Just like the phone book in your house, the online white pages require that you know a little about the person you are trying to find. They will often give you a real time address and phone number but so far most online white pages are not set up to include the email or other online contact information for you to find people online.

Find People with Ancestry sites

Looking for information about Great Aunt Ida or wondering where you come from. Using ancestry and family tree sites may just be the best way to find people, even those you do not know!! Most of these places do charge a fee for the service but if you are trying to find people in your family tree then they are an excellent resource and a lot of fun besides.

-Find People