Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, or Tinder, you likely have hundreds or even thousands of “friends” across all your social media platforms.
You might know your Facebook friends really well. But what about everybody else? Today, we’re going to teach you how to easily (and legally) learn more about the people you follow (or people following you) on social media.
7) Take Note Of Everything On Their Profile
Some may call this stalking. Others call it research. Technically, stalking is a crime, and we can’t tell you to go commit a crime. But if you want to learn more about someone, start by taking note of everything they have on their profile – including birth date, phone number, full name, middle name, etc.
Consider making a document with the information you know to be true. This is a little creepy. But it does help you organize information in one place. This is particularly useful if you are gathering data from multiple social media profiles into one spot.
Some of the most important things you should look for at this step include: name, birthday, high school/college/education, hometown, current employer, past employer, etc.
6) Look At Your Mutual Friends Or Their Friends’ List
Facebook is pretty much required for this step. You can learn a lot about someone’s family by searching for their last name on their friends’ list. You get to see relatives. In some cases, you get to learn their mom’s maiden name.
Take a look at your mutual friends. Did they go to school together? Did they attend parties together? In many cases, you’ll find that a mutual friend puts more photos and information up on Facebook then the actual person you’re researching. The person you’re researching may not be tagged, but they may still be part of the mutual friend’s life. Use this to your advantage during your research.
5) Use the Search By Image Feature On Google
Take the profile picture on Tinder, Instagram, or whatever other site you’re using, and then run that into Google’s reverse image search. You can just drag and drop an image into the search bar. Google will come back with results that look similar to that image. They’ll also tell you other locations where that image has been posted.
This is a great way to avoid being catfished by someone. They might have a real face picture followed by fake body pictures (or the opposite).
In any case, Google’s search by image feature has made it way easier to protect yourself online.
Now, people have become smarter about this when they’re catfishing someone. They will crop a picture so that the unique crop does not appear anywhere else on the internet. In that case, Google’s reverse image search may not return any results.
In that situation, may want to move onto our next step, which is…
4) Get An Anonymous Criminal Record Check
This tip is reserved for more serious cases. Maybe someone is harassing you on social media (in which case you should report it to the authorities). Or maybe you’re worried about a Facebook friend’s safety.
Whatever the case may be, running a criminal record check on someone is as easy as listing a name and a state. Once you have that information, you can see if they have a record in a particular jurisdiction. Or, do a countrywide search for that person to get a more complete picture.
Someone’s criminal record is part of their public record (along with information like marriages, divorces, and other government-related data). One simple scan can reveal crucial information about someone in your life.
3) Search By Phone Number
Googling someone’s phone number rarely turns up any results. However, if you type that number into Facebook or other social media platforms, then you could get some more interesting results.
In some cases, someone registers for Facebook with two different email addresses but uses the same phone number. You could find someone’s secret Facebook account or an alternative account they’ve created under a different name.
2) Pretend To Be Someone Else And Add The Person On Social Media
Impersonating someone is illegal in most places. However, making up a name and calling yourself that is more of a grey area: especially if you’re not committing any illegal activities under that name.
If you want to go the extra mile at researching your target, then create a false persona. Add that person on Snapchat or comment on their Instagram pictures using that name.
If you’re finding out if your boyfriend or girlfriend is being faithful, for example, then you may want to create a social media profile for an attractive girl/guy then see if they take the bait.
1) Take A Screenshot Of Their Instagram Picture And Zoom In
Double tapping on Instagram will send your target a notification. Do what all the professional “researchers” do: take a screenshot of the Instagram picture and then zoom in on that screenshot.
This can be a difference maker if you’re looking at information in the background of the image – like trying to figure out who your ex-boyfriend was standing beside at that party when he popped up in the background of your friend’s Instagram picture.