| VCAO.net has tested 6 people search engines, | | | | pull the most relevantinformation from my |
| and thoese search engines are claiming that | | | | LinkedIn profile to assign tags - my title |
| they can supply some secretsauce that Google | | | | and industry. It would appear that the site |
| is missing in the people search arena. | | | | still hassome work to do in pulling data in |
| | | | from more sources and connecting the dots |
| PeekYou claims more than 50 million profiles | | | | between profiles of the same person. |
| in its index. However, the results of my | | | | |
| search would indicate that theindex isn't | | | | ZoomInfo claims more than 35 listings in its |
| necessarily up-to-date, with a query for | | | | business-oriented directory. It is focused |
| "Adam Ostrow" yielding an old photo from my | | | | more on tracking your careerand the different |
| MySpace profile | | | | places you've worked. The results go more |
| | | | than a decade into the past, with an "Adam |
| (which I thought had been taken down from | | | | Ostrow"search going all the way back to the |
| public viewing!), and incorrectly identifying | | | | very first web page I created in middle |
| my hometown as College Park, | | | | school, a tribute to my favorite |
| | | | baseballplayer Chipper Jones on Geocities. |
| MD, where I graduated school from three years | | | | Digging a little deeper, when you click on my |
| ago. Missing from my page are the obvious | | | | profile, you see information about |
| Facebook, LinkedIn, and othersocial profiles, | | | | mybusiness, although the wrong address and |
| although the service does offer the ability | | | | phone number is provided. For more common |
| for users to submit information about a | | | | names, your best bet on findingrelevant |
| person. | | | | information is knowing the company the person |
| | | | is currently associated with. For example, |
| Wink workes on the major social networks and | | | | clicking on "Michael |
| the Web to find people and it provides search | | | | |
| filters such as location,age, and interests | | | | Jones" of Userplane will provide you with |
| to help narrow down your search for common | | | | information on him and his past occupations. |
| names (i.e. - "Mike Jones"). For myself, Wink | | | | We've previously raised someconcerns over |
| pulledmy LinkedIn and Friendster profiles, in | | | | ZoomInfo's methods and accuracy. Nonetheless, |
| addition to the LinkedIn profile of an "Adam | | | | it found some info.yoName searches the major |
| Ostrow" imposter in New York. | | | | social networks to return results in a |
| | | | tabular format so you can easily navigate |
| However, when you add "University of | | | | between thedifferent profiles that are found. |
| Maryland" to your search, the other Adam | | | | The site was successful in finding my |
| Ostrow is removed from the results, anda link | | | | profiles on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, |
| to my updated MySpace profile is provided. | | | | andan archaic Yahoo account. yoName also |
| Additionally, Wink provides Google results | | | | allows you to do a public records search, |
| for the name search, whichlinks to my | | | | powered by Intelius, though it willcost you |
| personal blog, my Mashable author page, and a | | | | money to see detailed results. We first |
| few press releases issued by my company over | | | | reviewed yoName in April. |
| the years. Thelatest incarnation of Wink | | | | |
| launched last September. VERDICT: Passes the | | | | Ex.plode.us is a cross-social network search, |
| taste test. | | | | allowing you to search for both specific |
| | | | individuals and people withcertain interests |
| Spock first debuted at the Web 2.0 Expo in | | | | on their supported sites. My most frequently |
| April. In addition to scouring the Web, the | | | | used services - MySpace, Facebook, and |
| site also includes options forusers to add | | | | LinkedIn - arenot part of their search at |
| information about people such as tags and | | | | this time, but ex.plode.us was able to locate |
| relevant links. Spock did not seem to | | | | my seldom used Flickr page. While |
| conclude that my LinkedInand MySpace profiles | | | | it'scurrently missing some of the more |
| are the same person, and thus created two | | | | popular social networks from its search, |
| separate listings for me. Additionally, Spock | | | | Ex.plode.us does index people from a fewsites |
| used old | | | | that the other's don't, such as Greatest |
| | | | Journal, Jaiku, and Vox.. Kristen reviewed |
| "About Me" information from MySpace to create | | | | ex.plode.us in May. |
| my biography. On the plus side, Spock did | | | | |