Lookup a phone number for free using social media

Social media has long been a place for friends and family to communicate and share information back and forth between each other, but did you know it can also be used to find out the name and number of someone who has called you? Every since the introduction of MySpace there has been possibilities to use the search functions within these websites to lookup the name and location, as well as tons of additional information of the person who called you, just by entering their phone number! Facebook has been open about this feature ever since they added it, stating that it is not a bug, but rather a feature for people to find friends easier. This is the official statement from Facebook about this feature:

The ability to search for a person by phone number is intentional behavior and not a bug in Facebook,” Facebook said this week in a statement. “By default, your privacy settings allow everyone to find you with search and friend finder using the contact info you have provided, such as your email address and phone number. You can modify these settings at any time from the Privacy Settings page. – Facebook

(Note: Even if someone has their phone number as “Private” on Facebook, it will still show up in the search results if someone searches using your number.) 

With many different social media websites out there, which ones should you use, and which social media profiles are the best to out the most information?

1: Facebook

You can use Facebook to find out just about anything about a person. Take a look at this article: How to use Facebook to find the name behind an unknown caller  to see how you can enter the phone number of the person who called you into the Facebook search, and then you’ll be able to bring up all the profiles that match with the provided phone number. Facebook has taken steps recently to limit the number of phone lookups coming from a single IP address, so be sure to use this feature sparingly in case you get limited by Facebook’s security feature. 

2: Google Plus (or Google+)

Google Plus is not as popular as Facebook, but still has lots of information about a person based on their phone number. Businesses will also create a Google Plus account to advertise their services, so if you are looking for the number of a business this is especially helpful. There are different types of Google+ accounts – business and individuals. Usually the search function on the Google+ website will only find phone numbers for business accounts, although occasionally you will find the name of the person who called you from a personal profile that also has their phone number. It’s worth trying just to see if the phone number you are looking up belongs to an individual or business. Check out the guide How to perform a free reverse phone lookup on Google Plus (coming soon!).

3: LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a new player in the realm of social media, but it also has phone numbers that are listed on the website, helping customers find information about companies and contact information to different departments within each company. You can also use LinkedIn to search for a contact if you know of them by using their search function  – it will look through both company and personal profiles and look for matches – if any. If you want the full guide on looking up a phone number using LinkedIn, check out the official guide coming soon!