7 Great Ways to Reunite with an Old Friend

In our busy society, friends grow apart and can easily lose contact with each other. Whether you attended different colleges or moved to a different state for work, addresses, emails, and phone numbers all change - and before you realize it, you have lost touch with your best friends.

Thankfully, with the aid of the internet, you can reconnect with all of your old friends. From people search tools to social networks, here's a look at seven ways that can help you find all your friends again.

Search Engines

You use search engines to locate information on all topics ranging from applesauce recipes to zebra facts, so why not use it to track down a friend as well? Search engines can return articles written by or about your particular friend, and you can utilize the contact information in these articles to get in touch with your friend. Make sure you place their name in quotes, such as "Mary Smith,"e to ensure that the search engine looks for the name in its entirety.

In addition, search engines can help you specifically find addresses, phone numbers, and other information about friends online. Google has one of the largest phonebooks online, and by searching for an old friend through his or her first and last name, along with any state or city information you may have, you may find yourself hearing her say "hello" over the phone in just a few minutes!

Social Networking

Social networking is one of the fastest ways to reconnect with old friends and make new ones. Chances are that your former schoolmates and friends have personal profiles on social networks such as MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter. You can easily search through these social networks by first and last name to find the friend you seek, although you may need to create your own profile first. Finding an old friend through social networking is especially effective if your friend has a common name. You can quickly look through profile photos to ensure that John Smith from Arkansas is actually your best friend from grade school.

People Searches

You can also utilize specialized people search tools to find your old friends. Armed with your friend's first and last name, online white pages can help you find an old friend's address and phone number. With some people search sites, you can even narrow down the search results based upon the individual's age bracket and job title. This is especially helpful if your friend has a common name.

Public Records

Do you wonder if your old flame is now married? Did your high school sweetheart divorce her husband? Through government public records, you can find out all of this information. Marriage certificates and divorce records can be accessed by the public, either through online resources or in-person at the county office. Property records and voter registration lists can also provide insight into where your friend resides. Government sites are usually the best place to start a public records search, or you can consider visiting a genealogy website to access both historical and current public records.

Classified Ads

If you simply cannot find the contact information for your old friend, but have a general idea of the area in which he resides, consider publishing a free advertisement on classified websites like Craigslist or Kijiji. You can place a post under the "long lost relationships" section, describing who you are looking for, who you are, and how you know the individual. The internet is a powerful force and may just connect you with an old friend through your ad!

Professional Organizations or Clubs

You may be able to find an old friend through an alumni group, professional organization, or club. If you know the university your friend attended, visit the alumni group's website and determine if you may be able to access the membership roster. Consider the professional groups your friend may have joined; for example, if your friend is an attorney, you can find her through the state bar association.

If you cannot access any membership roster, you can send the organization an email and ask if they will forward your contact information to your old friend.

Email Directories

If you cannot seem to locate your friend's phone number or address, using an email directory may still put you in contact with him or her. Through an email directory, you can browse through listings of email addresses based upon your friend's name. While the directory may return many results, you can easily send a "mass" email to all of the addresses in efforts of finding your friend.

Thanks to the internet, reconnecting with old friends is easier than ever. With so many ways to search for people, isn't it time you reconnected with all of your old friends?