Wink.com

Almost everyone has heard of MySpace.com and many have also heard of other social networking sites bebo.com and LinkedIn.com. These sites help us stay connected with those from our past, meet new people, possibly find love, or even increase our professional opportunities. Wink.com essentially gives users access to all three of the previously mentioned sites through one search tool. Thus, users can look for an old classmate through MySpace.com, LinkedIn.com and bebo.com simultaneously by entering the classmate's name in a search box at Wink.com

Besides helping to locate individuals from one's past, Wink.com is designed to help people connect through their various interests and relationships. For example, you can type in New York Mets and you will receive a list of people who like the Mets. For those looking for dates, you can even search for singles in your area (I sound like an infomercial). This feature is probably the site's most valuable one because it compiles a list of people who may have similar interests to you rather quickly.

All in all, I would consider Wink.com to be basically a larger version of MySpace.com. Though it can be useful for locating individuals from one's past, I would recommend limited contact with Wink.com and other social networking sites for several reasons including:

• Inability to know exactly who you are interacting with.
• Having similar interests doesn't necessarily mean a person is a good choice to be your friend. (I am sure that some sex offenders are Mets fans but that doesn't mean that I want to hang out with them).
• Social networking sites can give sexual predators access to children.
• Dating individuals met from social networking sites can be a dangerous idea.
• Chances of being certain that you have found your search subject are quite low.

Granted, people search sites don't offer the dating and networking services of social networking sites, however, people search sites are clearly superior to sites like Match.com or MySpace.com when it comes to safety and accuracy of people searching. Therefore, with all things being considered, I would recommend using people search sites in lieu of social networking sites like Wink.com.

The reasons for recommending people search web sites like PeopleFinders.com over social networking sites breaks down to safety and accuracy. First off, with people search web sites, the chances of finding your subject are greatly increased because you can search for him or her using their old phone numbers, addresses, or other identifying information from their past. Thus, you are in control of your search. Secondly, if you do decide to meet someone from the Internet, people search web sites like VoomPeople.com allow you the capability to run a background check on almost anyone to determine if they have any criminal history or have been married before. Finally, people search sites allow the user to avoid being the prey of a sexual predator or deviant user because these sites do not have any methods for unwanted individuals to contact you.