My sister-in-law, recently got curious about what had happened to her first husband after they split. For nearly thirty years, they hadn’t been in contact since their marriage ended badly. She tried searching for her ex-husband’s name on Yahoo and Google but didn’t get any hits. Knowing I do research online in my work as a professional writer, she asked if I could find out anything.
I write for business and technical publications, so I use a number of high-priced databases for in-depth research. But I suggested she try a simpler alternative – a solution I use myself when I want to find someone quickly and easily. I recommended she try one of the people search database services. Even the better ones cost so little, they’re practically free. Most offer a trial period. I gave her the name of one to try.
She’s not very comfortable using her computer for much more than email. Search engines had already left her flustered. Now she was going to have to “sign up for something and learn something completely new… oh my goodness,” was the way she put it.
Yet, later that day, after I suggested it, she emailed back excitedly. In just a few minutes, she’d found out all kinds of information about her ex. It turned out that he’d turned his life around after they’d broken up. Their divorce resulted from fights over his serious drinking problem.He’d eventually gone back to med school,after their break up, gotten his MD and become an orthopedic surgeon. He’ was instrumental in developing some sort of device used by other surgeons in his field.
Unfortunately, the poor fellow had passed, but at least my sister-in-law found comfort in knowing that things had worked out for him after all. She remarked that even though their relationship ended in the worst imaginable way, it had started from a good point. She said she hadn’t really wanted to contact him. She just wanted to know what had happened to him.
Sometimes all we want is just to satisfy our curiosity about what happened to someone we’ve lost track of. Most of us have an old friend or acquaintance we still wonder about.
What make people searching so hot,is because it is the better way to find find people. Someone searches on Google a least half million time a month searching for a lost person. Whether it’s someone from the past with whom we’ve lost touch, or someone we met last weekend and yearn to see again, were always searching for others.
Unfortunately, most general searches fail. Just like Googling failed for my sister-in-law. The information is out there, somewhere. But being forced to sift through so many unrelated results makes it nearly impossible.
That’s why I recommended she use a people search service – sometimes they’re called Internet Detective services. They get all the information from thousands of servers and combine it into people-specific search databases. You enter in a name, an address,email or a phone number, whatever bit of information you have, you get instant gratification. Up pops the latest information about your person.
That’s totally unlike the cold mechanical response a Google or Yahoo gives:
Results 1 – 10 of about 55,100,000 for Mary Jane. (0.06 seconds) You can almost hear the search engine yawn.By the way – unknown to most searches – search engine results don’t actually extend beyond about a thousand entries. Although the search engine results page says they found millions and millions of hits, they don’t actually bother to dig it up and give you access to all of it. They’re just estimating from their own database tables. Even they know it’s a waste of time.
It’s exciting when you do a person search on a dedicated database. You find what you’re looking for in seconds. You not only get current information, often you get historical data too. You find not only where the person is now but also where they lived or worked before that and before that and before that.
You can see your old friend’s life laid bare. (Now what in heaven’s name was Dave doing in White Plains, New York, in winter. He always hated the cold. Sometime you find a person’s life didn’t turn out the way you’d have thought. That’s when the Criminal Check part of the service can help you find out what institution they ended up in!
When choosing a Person Search Service, here are the things I’ve found important to consider during a review:
1. Training and Support Be sure you can easily learn to use any service you choose. Actually, you’ll find the better services are intuitive – how to search will make sense as soon as you look at it. But better services will also provide extra, in-depth searching. If you ever need the extra, it might require you dig into it a bit before you can fully use it. Just make sure your service has easy, accessible ways to learn, like tutorials.
3. Proprietary Database If a service compiles their own database, they must be fairly successful. It’s costly to build and maintain. Such well-funded providers are much more likely to stay around. From a usability standpoint, it’s better too. You get a single interface that you can quickly learn.
3. Speed You want a service that responds quickly. Make sure you try it out. A fun test is to do a search on yourself. You get to check speed and accuracy!
And don’t ignore support. Sooner or later you’ll have questions or there will be something you need help to get resolved. It’s best if they offer free, live support.
Final Word Join the millions using the web to track down old friends and new friends. But make it easier on yourself by using a People Search service rather than a general search engine. Have fun finding out exactly what did become of your old friend (or even your old, not-so-friendly ex)
Final Word Join the millions using the web to track down old friends and new friends. But make it easier on yourself by using a People Search service rather than a general search engine. Have fun finding out exactly what did become of your old friend (or even your old, not-so-friendly ex)
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
