The Internet has changed our lives. As we have seen during confinement, it has allowed us to stay in touch with our loved ones. And if you go in search of your childhood friends... With the internet, this beautiful project is possible. How to proceed ? Here are a few tips !
Before you start your search, take stock of the information you have about your friends. Write down the first and last names, the years during which you were in contact, the establishments you attended, the city of residence, etc. Know that if you have the names of your friends' siblings, write them down as well.
Start by doing a first search in a search engine. The most used is of course Google. However, if you use any other, you will be just as successful. Sometimes you will find your friends quickly and easily. This is the case if few people have this name or if your friends have a particular and referenced function. This is the case if you know a piano teacher or a liberal nurse. Sometimes you have to look a little more or use other methods.
Before, to find the contact details of a person, it was enough to use a directory. Know that you can always do this. The difference is that today the directory is on the internet. Yellow Pages for professionals or White Pages for individuals, all you have to do is enter a person's surname, first name and place of residence to get their address and telephone number.
If you are a cross-border worker or one of your childhood friends has gone abroad, you can use the world directory. It allows you to do searches similar to those of the Yellow Pages or the White Pages and internationally.
Facebook has nearly 3 billion users worldwide, including 40 million in France. So there is a good chance that your childhood friends have an account. You can therefore search on Facebook by entering the name of the person, their school or the company in which they work.
On social networks, it is possible to find a person through mutual friends. This method can be successful as some people change their names or post nicknames on social media.
Know that if your searches on Facebook do not work, you can try your luck on Instagram or even Twitter.
Not everyone is on Facebook or Instagram. Also, you can try your luck on LinkedIn. This social network is a bit special. It differs from the others in its operation:it is a professional network! If you know where your friend went to school or know the company they work for, LinkedIn can be very helpful.
Many sites have sprung up to find old acquaintances. Among them, there are notably amisdavant.linternaute.com, www.trombi.com or www.photo-de-classe.com. On these sites, classmates or classmates can reconnect with each other. You can even find old photos! Even if you don't find the friend you are looking for, you can always find a friend in common, a brother, a sister, a cousin... You have to make your network work! To find former students of a school, it is also a good idea to go to meetings organized by the establishments.
If you have children, you know that we often sympathize with the parents of students. Also, to find a childhood friend, it is possible to question his parents in order to find out more about the family of the person sought. If you went to a football club, tennis club, dance or music school, you can also use this route to start research.
When looking for a childhood friend, you should always make sure that the person you found is the right one. Double check before making contact. Prefer contact by email. Don't put pressure on your childhood friend! Give him your news without expanding. It is always possible that the person contacted is not the right one. Avoid the phone! You can also bet on the handwritten letter which will certainly please.
You should also know that some people pay particular attention to their privacy. It is therefore more difficult to find them thanks to the Internet. If you encounter difficulties in your research, you must do it differently, by looking for common acquaintances for example.
Once you have reconnected, all you have to do is talk and then, if possible, make an appointment to meet again for a drink!
