When asked about eight different groups of people one might search for online—ranging from family and friends to romantic interests and business colleagues—53% of adult internet users said they had looked for information connected to at least one of these groups. Most users go to a general search engine, but as the demand for people-centered information grows, so too has the number of specialized “people search” tools available to the average user.
Some people search tools, such as PeekYou or Rapleaf automatically create composite profiles of users based on the information gleaned from social networking sites, blogs and other content tied to one’s real name, username or email address. Other specialized search tools, such as Polar Rose, focus on analyzing and identifying online images with facial recognition technology. The accuracy of these tools varies, and in most cases, it is up to the user to correct or update inaccurate or vestigial information connected to one’s online identity.
Similar to the frequency with which users monitor their own online presence, most users are casually curious in their searches for others. Just 7% of those who have searched for information on people in their lives report doing so on a regular basis, while the majority, 54%, has done so only once or twice. Another 36% say they use search engines to find information about other people every once in a while.
Overall, male and female internet users are equally likely to have searched for information connected to at least one key group of people in their lives. However, age variations present a much different story. Internet users under the age of 50 are much more likely than other age groups to say they have used a search engine to find information online about other people. And contrary to what we find with many online trends, young adults ages 18 to 29 are not the leaders in this practice. Internet users age 30 to 49 are the most likely age group to say they have searched for information connected to people in their lives (63% have done so, compared with just 52% of those ages 18 to 29 and 44% of those ages 50 and older). It may be that internet users in their 30s and 40s have lived long enough to have lost track of friends and are also savvy enough to use the internet to rekindle those relationships.
