Free People Finder

• You're trying to plan your high school class reunion.
• You're wondering what happened to your college roommate.
• You want to speak with an old coworker about acting as a reference for a new job you wish to apply for.
• You're interested in connecting with a former boyfriend or girlfriend.

Free People Finder Tools Online

There are several different Web sites that may be of assistance for those in search of a free people finder. However, the process does require a fair amount of patience.

Google

Google can be a fabulous research tool for finding information about the people in your life, especially if the person you're interested in learning more about happens to have a relatively uncommon name. Simply type their name into the search box, using quotation marks to indicate that you wish to search for both the first and last name as a complete phrase. This tactic will turn up everything from online resumes and archived newspaper articles to personal blogs and posts in public forums.

ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo is a specialized search engine that looks for information about a person using various Internet resources. However, most of the results will be related to the person's professional background and the site does caution that the accuracy of the information has not been independently verified.

Zaba Search

Zaba Search provides a fast and effective way to find basic contact information for a person. You can search by first and last name, last name only, and state. Results provide the person's mailing address, phone number, and birth date. There is a notation indicating when the record was created, so you can determine if the information may be out of date. You can also click the "Leave a Message" link at the top of the search results page to post a message that can be seen by anyone searching for the same name.

Classmates.com

Classmates.com can be a great resource for finding people you went to school with. Although you will need to complete a free registration process before you are allowed to view the listings, this Web site includes alumni from schools in the United States, as well as Canada, Austria, France, Germany, and Sweden. College, workplace, and military listings were also recently added to allow you to connect with even more people.

Phone Number Directories

AnyWho lets you look up phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and mailing addresses for people in the United States. There's also a handy reverse lookup feature that will allow you to find the person or business a phone number belongs to.

WhitePages.com offers similar services, with the addition of a search for both business and home phone numbers.

Social Networking Sites

Although they are most often associated with teenagers and college students, social networking sites are becoming increasingly popular among people of all ages. If you're looking to reconnect with a long-lost friend, see if you can find him or her on one of the following sites:

• MySpace
• Facebook
• Friendster

For professional contacts, try LinkedIn. This site operates on the same basic principle as other social networking Web sites, but is devoted to those in search of business and career opportunities.

A Word of Caution

Although there are many free people finder Web sites available on the Internet, it's important to remember that not all of the information you find may be accurate. Since it's common for people to move, change jobs, or switch e-mail addresses, a site's information can become quickly outdated if there is no policy for regular updates.

One easy way to see how accurate a site's search tools are is to look for information about yourself or a close friend. It's also a good idea to try to try using two different sites so you can see if the information matches.