If you have met someone online and would like to find out more before going on a date with them it is fairly easy to do. Below, is a summary of the fastest, most reliable and easiest sources of information.
If you would like to find background on people you can easily do so online using firms like White Pages. By entering someone’s email address, phone number or name into their system you can search their public records database. It only takes a few minutes to do. You can quickly find out if the person you are talking to is from the town or city they say they are. When available you will also get back their phone number. If the details you find here do not tally with what the person told you about themselves you can use that information to decide whether to take the next step or not.
Social media is another great source of information. The person’s Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram accounts will help you to work out what they are like. If their social media pages are full of crazy party pictures, you know that you are getting involved with a real live wire.
A lot of people share their interests on social media. This provides you with the opportunity to find out more about those pastimes before going on a date. Knowing a little about what interests someone will make it easier for you to connect with each other.
Understanding what people do in their spare time may even help you to decide whether to date them or not. For example, if their Facebook account is full of pictures of them attending military history reenactment events, a pacifist might not want to take things further. It is important to have things in common with the people you date. So, checking out their social media accounts is well worth doing.
Use social media to protect yourself from scammers
It will also help you to spot catfishers. These are con artists that set up fake social media profiles and use them to find a mark. Someone they can con. This is not as hard as you may think to do. Usually, you will find several telltale signs. This article tells you about the most obvious of them and explains how to handle and get rid of someone like that.
Speak to them face to face
If the above research checks out the next step is to speak to them face to face. A lot of people do this by going on a physical date. This can be OK, but a less risky and more sensible approach is to have a video chat first. When you do that you will quickly discover if they are lying about their age and get a feel for what their personality is like.
Once you are happy, you can move on to the next stage and meet in a neutral public place. If possible, do so away from your home or work areas. That way if you do not click you won’t go into your favorite local bar only to find them sitting there. They may not be stalking you or anything as sinister as that. It is possible they just enjoyed the venue of your date and decided to revisit it. But, either way, in an ideal world you do not want to keep bumping into them. So, choose a neutral venue that you rarely visit, to avoid this potential issue.
