BuzzGlobe

How to find someone on social media

An old school friend, a seller you're about to pay, a date you want to check is real. The method is the same each time: start with what you know, search it everywhere, then make sure it's really them. Everything here is free.

Checked October 2026

Start with what you know

  • A full name. Works best with one more detail attached: a town, a school, an employer or a rough age.
  • A username. The single most useful clue, because most people reuse the same one.
  • A photo. A reverse image search can show where else it appears.
  • An email address or phone number. The least useful on its own. Networks don't let outsiders look people up by either any more.

If you have a name

  1. Search the name in quotes on BuzzGlobe. The quotes stop "John Hart" matching every John on every network.
  2. Add one detail at a time, town first, then employer or school. Pile on too many at once and you'll filter out the right profile along with the wrong ones.
  3. Look at the networks that fit the person. LinkedIn and Facebook suit someone with a career or a hometown. Instagram and TikTok suit anyone under about 35.
  4. Try nicknames, shortened names and maiden names. Facebook profiles use them a lot.
  5. Open the best match and look for links to their other accounts in the bio. One confirmed profile usually leads to the rest.

If you have a username

Put it into the username search. It gives you the profile address for that handle on more than 40 sites, so you can open each one and see what's there.

Then search the handle in quotes on BuzzGlobe. That finds mentions as well as profiles: someone tagging them in a photo, a reply on Reddit, a comment on a YouTube video.

If you have a photo

Run it through a reverse image search. Google Lens is the strongest for most photos. Bing Visual Search sometimes finds pages Google misses, and TinEye is good at finding exact copies and older versions of a picture.

Crop to the face or to anything distinctive in the shot before you search. If the same photo shows up under a different name, be careful. Stolen photos are the most common sign of a fake profile.

If you have an email or a phone number

Facebook switched off searching by email and phone number in 2018, and none of the big networks let outsiders look people up that way now. You can still get somewhere:

  • Search the part of the email before the @ as a username. sam.hart84 from an email address is very often sam.hart84 on Instagram too.
  • Search the full email address in quotes. It sometimes turns up on forums, CVs or old club pages.
  • Search a phone number in quotes in a couple of formats, with and without spaces. Businesses and sellers often post theirs.

Check it's really them

  • Look for two or more accounts that link to each other with the same photo or name.
  • Check the account looks lived in. A profile with three photos, no friends and a recent join date is a warning sign.
  • Look for mutual friends or followers you recognise.
  • Reverse search their profile photo before you send anyone money or meet them.

Know when to stop

If someone has set their accounts to private, blocked you or changed their name, they've decided not to be found by you. Respect that. Using what you find to contact someone who doesn't want contact, to turn up where they live, or to pretend to be them can be harassment or stalking, which is a crime in the UK, the US and most other places.

Questions

Can I find someone on social media with just their name?

Often, yes, as long as they have at least one public profile. A common name needs one more detail, like a town or an employer, before the right person rises to the top.

Can I find someone's social media from their email address for free?

Rarely directly. The big networks stopped letting outsiders look people up by email or phone years ago. What does work is searching the part of the email before the @ as a username, because people reuse it.

Will the person know I searched for them?

Not from a search here. Searches go to Google, not to the networks. If you open their profile while logged in to that network, some networks, like LinkedIn, can show them that you looked.

Is it legal to look someone up on social media?

Looking at public profiles is legal. Using what you find to harass, track, threaten or impersonate someone is not.