18 WebsiteCompass FAQs Ask Dr. Webbie Answers your frequently asked questions QUESTION: How can I use online resources to find a friend I’ve lost touch with? ANSWER: Step 1: Gather information. This includes the full name (including any nicknames or maiden names), last known location, schools they attended, places they worked, and mutual friends or acquaintances. Step 2: Start with social media. Social media platforms are often the quickest and easiest way to find someone. Search for your friend’s name on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and X. To narrow results, use filters like location, school, or workplace. Step 3: Use people search engines. Specialized search tools such as Whitepages.com, Spokeo, and Pipl can help you find contact information, but some may charge a fee for detailed results. Step 4: Employ Google search techniques. Google can be a powerful tool if you know how to use it. Try these tricks: 1. Use quotation marks for exact phrases: “John Smith” 2. Add location: “John Smith” Boston 3. Include other details: “John Smith” engineer Boston 4. Use the minus sign to exclude results: “John Smith” Boston - lawyer Step 5: Check alumni networks. Look for official alumni associations or groups on social media. Check if your school has an online alumni directory. Step 7: Ask mutual connections. Reach out personally to mutual friends or acquaintances about your lost friend and post on your own social media to ask if anyone has information. Step 8: Use public records. For hard-to-find individuals, public records can be useful. You can check county or state websites for property records as well as search for marriage or divorce records. QUESTION: What are the privacy concerns associated with the new Meta AI app? ANSWER: Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s co-founder, recently launched the Meta AI app, a dedicated home for his company’s artificial intelligence chatbot. The app promises users a more “personalized” AI with tailored answers and advice. However, it also brings something else—surveillance—which some people find concerning, if not creepy. Meta AI keeps a transcript or voice recording of every conversation you have with it. It learns from what you ask, and can reference it in future chats. It also keeps a list of what it deems to be key facts about you in a separate Memory file. Plus, Meta AI is hooked into Facebook and Instagram, so if you set up a profile for the app using your existing Facebook or Instagram account, the AI will have access to information from your profile. Meta AI can also share information derived from your chats back with Facebook and Instagram. If you don’t want all that data mingled together, you must create a separate Meta AI account. When using Meta AI chat, your content (words, photos, and even voice) will end up being fed back into the AI training systems. Meta says in its terms of service: “Do not share information that you don’t want the AI to use and retain.” Given all this, you may want to only use this app for surface-level, fun prompts and avoid sharing content of a personal nature.
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