Use Facebook’s people search and other tricks to find someone online
Searching Facebook is a great way to find someone online. As it is the largest social networking site in existence, your odds of finding the person you are looking for are quite high.
Facebook allows its users to phone number add a lot of information about themselves to their profiles and the underlying function of the site is to bring people closer by sharing information. You can use it to help find someone on Facebook, be it your known friend, old colleague, neighbor, family etc.
Facebook is not the only way to find someone on the internet. Dedicated people search engines are also helpful, even if you don’t know the person’s name, you have no friends, they have blocked you, or you and / or they don’t use Facebook.
Do a Facebook Search by the Person’s Name
The main search bar at the top of the website is one method for finding people on Facebook by their name. You can type the person’s name and then filter the results to narrow them down.
Here are some tips to remember when using Facebook’s people search tool:
When you’re searching for just people on Facebook, select People at the top to avoid finding business pages, events, and other content.
Use the filters off to the left to make the results more relevant. For example, find old classmates on Facebook using their name and the Education filter (choose your school), or pick a business you’ve worked for from Work to find coworkers with that name.
You don’t have to have been associated with the person to locate them on Facebook. Select Choose a City, Choose a School, and/or Choose a Company to find profiles with that information in them.
Search Facebook by the School They Went To
Search Facebook for the school, and then choose People to filter the results by people on Facebook who have that school listed on their profile. Since lots of users add to their profile the school(s) they currently or used to go to, finding someone on Facebook suddenly gets a lot easier.
Piggyback on Your Friends’ Friends
Using one of your Facebook friends to find someone else is one of the best ways to find someone if you suspect that the person has anything to do with one of your existing friends.
For example, if the person used to work with you and/or another friend, or you used to all go to the same school or live in the same town, a mutual friend search is your best bet in finding them.
There are a few ways to do this:
- Visit a friend’s profile and select the Friends tab to see all of their friends. You can view and search through the full list or read through their recently added friends and friends from groups, such as their workplace, hometown, or high school.
- Another way to search for a friend’s friend is to browse the People You May Know page, which is a list of people you might know based on your Facebook friends.
- Follow Step 1 above but use the Friends of Friends filter.
Do a Facebook Search by Phone Number
Trying to figure out who owns a phone number that called you? Facebook can also be used for a reverse number search; just type the number into the search bar to see what shows up.
It’s unlikely that you’ll find public posts that contain the person’s phone number, but you might have luck digging up an old post made by one of your Facebook friends. This is an easy way to find an old friend’s phone number.
Use Facebook to Search for Related Information
Something else you can do is use Facebook to find someone’s presence elsewhere on the internet. You’d do this if you already have their Facebook information but you’re wanting their other social media account details, too, like to see if they also have a Twitter, Pinterest, online dating profiles, etc.
Every Facebook profile has a unique username at the very end of its URL. Search Google or another search engine for that username to see if other accounts show up.
Another idea is to do a reverse image search on a photo from the person’s profile. It can be their profile image or any other picture of them from their account. If they’ve posted that same exact image elsewhere, you might be able to dig up their other online accounts. Google and Tin Eye is great for this phone number.