You probably know about social networking sites, and may have used professional ones as well, but you may not know there are some out there that serve as both. What this means is that they can be a treasure trove of information on anyone who has a profile through such a place. Plaxo is one of the new breed of networking sites out there. When you want more about any old friend, or want to contact someone you used to work with, searching through Plaxo may be one of the smartest things you can do.

Plaxo has about 20 million users, and that number is growing. What is great about them is that they help members keep up with their friends and business contacts by sending out an alert when someone on their list has added or changed information. This means that you can connect with someone, and you can instantly be notified when or if they add a phone number to their profile. That can save you time with searching.

Take a tour through Plaxo to find out how they work, and then set up your own profile to get started with your search. You can add as little or as much as you want. That means if you care to, you can add contact information of your own, and fill out any form they offer. You can set it so that only those you befriend on the site have access, or you can leave it wide open. Plaxo will notify you when anyone on your list changes anything, so that is a good reason to leave your profile up, even when you have no intention of using it for anything else.

What is cool about Plaxo is that though it has their own twist on online networking, they still offer some of the things that users are used to having on other sites. This means you can search for someone by name, or by email address if you have that information. Use what you have to narrow down what you get with your search results. Use these searches until you have exhausted all options.

Once you find a phone number that you believe belongs to your old friend, classmate, or business associate, you may want to be sure it is the right one before you attempt to reach them. You can easily do this by looking for a reverse search that shows you who owns a phone number.