How to find your old school friends

We’ve had some members of the Starts at 60 community who have reached out to us to find their old friends. Despite having a large online community, sometimes we are unable to make those connections.

But don’t give up just yet! We live in the digital world now – there is always a way to get in contact with your old friends. They are out there just waiting for you to find them.

You must learn to use the internet as a super connector. Here are a few ways to reconnect with those friends you’ve lost touch with.

1. Start your own school Facebook page

With your 40th or even 50th school reunions approaching, you may start to wonder what your old school friends are up to now. If you can’t attend the reunion or just want to make a space to share updates with old friends, you could create a Facebook page. It’s easy to make and easy for everyone to join. It can help you build a close relationship with your old school friends again. Or, better yet the Facebook page may already exist so try to search for it.

Steps:

1. Click the “Pages” icon on the left Facebook sidebar
2. Click “+Create a Page”
3. Select what type of page it is. In this case, it would be an “Institution” or “Community”
4. Continue to follow the prompts and then invite your friends to join

2. Search for friends on Facebook 

You’d be surprised how many of your old friends use Facebook. Facebook isn’t just for the millennial generation! Just type in your friends name (or maiden name) in the search bar menu and look through the listed people.

Advanced search steps:

1. Select the “Friends” icon on the top menu bar
2. Select “Find Friends”
3. On this page you will be able to type in the person’s name and any other information like Hometown, Current City or University.

3. Contact your school 

Give your school a ring or check to see if your school has an active alumni website. The school may have a more updated directory to connect you or tell you your friend’s most recent postal address. It will hopefully give you some information to start to find them.

4. Google them 

It may sound silly and a bit of a stretch but try to type your friend’s name into Google using quotations around their name, for instance, “John Smith” (quotation marks help narrow your search to your friend’s complete name and not searching for either John or Smith or both). If this search is still too broad, you can add either the country or state that is relevant to them. Any content that has been published about them will appear. You can also click on Google Images to see if any pictures of them appear. Follow the necessary leads and hopefully you’ll be able to retrieve some information to find your friends.

Or you can used Google Advanced Search (http://www.google.com/advanced_search) and this will enable you to specify your search for better results.

5. Sign up and try these websites

You may have a better shot finding your friend on these alternative websites.

• Pipl – www.pipl.com (Free)
  • All you need is there name and location and it will search their records for information
• Friends Reunited – http://www.friendsreunited.com.au/ (free)
  • You must become a member to search for your friends.

Are you looking to reconnect with an old friend? Will you try any of these suggestions? Tell us below.