They're not on Facebook or the electoral roll? Have they left the UK? Are they dead?
I had a client come to us this week. He wanted to trace an old friend but, he could not find them on Facebook. And a search of 192.com could not find an address. He was perplexed as to how else the person could be found. His opinion was. They must have left the country. Its really common. Many people often think that these are the ONLY ways to find someone.
First, let’s look at Facebook. Its really popular and in many cases it’s a great way to reach out to someone, but not everyone is on Facebook and lots of people who are on Facebook are not found easily. People Don’t like it’s open style platform and don’t want to go over and constantly monitor their privacy settings. It can feel like you need a university course to understand how the privacy settings work and to keep on top of them. They may not trust the platform and choose to remain off this particular platform.
Some of us just don’t enjoy posting and reading or simpy have no interest in the social side of the internet. Their job may mean that their profiles can be accessed by undesirables. Or could be that they are on there but have the knowhow to keep their profile completely private and unfindable. The reasons are many, and I could go on and on but, in simple terms, if you can’t find their Facebook page it doesn’t mean they are unfindable, and it does not necessarily mean they don’t have a Facebook page.
THE ELECTORAL ROLL
Again, this particular client said that he had checked 192.com and they weren’t on there so they must have left the UK. Well, you may be surprised to hear that we're not all on 192.com. Like any company they are bound by law and GDPR may mean that they need to remove the details from their system. Also, what many people don’t know is that the electoral roll is edited. Many people choose to remain off the public version of the electoral roll. It doesn’t mean they cannot vote. It doesn’t mean they have left the UK. There is a full version of all registered UK voters but it’s not publicly accessible. So, if you can’t find them on the electoral roll don’t think all is lost. You just need a professional search.
I am happy to say that we did locate his old friend and, for us, it wasn’t hard. But to the novice, with only the internet, these searches can often take more time and expense then instructing a professional.