Going Online to Research People

Ever thought to yourself, “I should have researched my last roommate or employee online?” You can never be too careful, face value, cute shoes or shared sports fanaticism are not always the best way to choose a roommate or employee. Researching people online is a fairly inexpensive way to help you make more informed decisions even if you are just trying to look up your genealogy tree.

Before you begin looking up people online, you will need as much information about the people as possible. For example, Full name, maiden/married/ex-spouses name, nicknames or aliases, schools, colleges attended, military service, family, friends, co-workers, businesses owned, birth info, personal hobbies, phone numbers etc.

Now, once you have this information you can use a variety of free online social networks, official government web sites, local online directories for businesses and consumers, reverse searches, active/retired military, inmate incarceration searches by state, social security searches, death and birth indexes, land ownership indexes and genealogy indexes. A few of these indexes go as far back as the 1500’s up to present day. Many are free or charge a small fee and some only charge a fee if you want a digitized or transcribed data copy.

It is a good idea to go online to research people you intend to hire, date or select as a roommate because it's a great way to find out about previous behaviors. There is information on more than 300 million people spanning 150 countries. Researching people online is a quick and inexpensive way to get a little better scope on who you are attempting to welcome into your little circle.