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While you may be tempted to immediately log onto a search engine, slow down and write a “cheat sheet” on what you know about your long-lost friend.  Think about interesting details beyond name, occupation, and last city lived. Do they play any sports? Are they a member of any political organizations? What are their hobbies? What might they like to do online? If you think your long-lost friend has changed their name, through marriage or otherwise, think about the potential city where the name change happened. In most states in the United States, someone seeking a name change has to publish a notice in the local newspaper stating that the action for a name change has been filed.   You might want to include the name of such a newspaper on your "cheat sheet." An example would be to include the person’s first name + their favorite hobby + a city they once lived in. Think outside the box: A highly specific interest or characteristic of your friend may elicit a favorable search even if you don’t know your long-lost friend’s last name. Now that you’ve developed several search variations, you can turn to the search engine, Google. Enter your terms and click search.  Chances are good that you will find a social media profile connected to your long-lost friend; in 2016, almost 80% of the U.S population has a social network profile.   A social network profile for your long-lost friend may be connected to LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or perhaps a website less popular in the United States. (Xing has a global presence, and RenRen is prominent in China.)   If you don’t have luck on Google, consider using the next three most widely used search engines: Bing, Yahoo!, and Ask.. If your search successfully elicited evidence of your long-lost friend’s existence, congratulations. If the evidence came in the form of one or more of your friend’s social media profiles, you can attempt to connect to your friend through these profiles. The easiest way would be to use a platform for which you already have your own personal profile.  On LinkedIn, click Connect and/or Send InMail. On Facebook, add the person as a friend. On Twitter,  “follow” the person. Then “tweet” at your long-lost friend by copying their user name preceded by the @ symbol, and writing a message as your Twitter status.
Write down everything you know about the person you’re looking for. Combine these details into potential search terms. Apply your search terms to an online search. Study the results of your search.