Private Investigator Blog - Public Records, Internet Search - PI Buzz » Blogs

Do you use search engines?

Tamara Thompson — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 16:51:23 +0000

I spend much of each work day developing profiles of people and companies through Internet research. Private investigators aren’t usually just looking for a specific piece of information but everything that is in the public sphere. In this case, on the Internet. One of the means of getting access to the chaotic collection of information is search engines. Intelligent use of search engines can make the difference between a key discovery and merely being buried by too many irrelevant search results. A recent study (lower right corner of Web page) reiterates previous ones that reveal the slight overlap of search results between the different search engines. Here are some of the findings:

* On average, 69.6 percent of Google first page search results were unique to Google.
* On average, 79.4 percent of Yahoo! first page search results were unique to Yahoo!
* On average, 80.1 percent of Live first page search results were unique to Live.
* On average, 75.0 percent Ask first page search results were unique to Ask. [Reported in SearchEngineLand via Internet News ]

Those are the top 4 search engines. I have about 30 search engines – crawling the general Internet, social networking sites, blogs and group chat activity – that I use regularly for just about every research project. In my experience, I almost always find unique and valuable information through this expansive approach.

Learn more about advanced search queries in this slideshow. And closely clutch this guide.

Applying advanced search queries and “out-of-the-box” approaches to social networking sites isn’t helpful for just uncovering youth sites but also professional ones. Most business professionals are now using social networking sites to make connections. If you’re in California this September come to the presentation Carole Levitt and I will be doing on this topic at the State Bar of California Annual Meeting.

Court TV Looking for Private Investigators

Jimmie Mesis — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 17:33:43 +0000

Do you and your company want to be featured on primetime television? Then COURT TV wants to hear from you!

COURT TV profiles individuals who are passionate about their work, personable, outgoing, and comfortable in front of the camera. They are currently seeking PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS who are actively working on cases and conducting fieldwork. If you are interested, please send in the following materials:

Biography, curriculum vitae, or summary of experience
Photograph of yourself
Videotape (any format) of you describing what you do and one of your most fascinating cases
Do not miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to gain exposure as an authority in your field!

Please send your materials to:
Eric Neuhaus
Director, Talent Development Primetime Entertainment
Court TV
600 Third Avenue, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10016

Please, NO phone calls or emails. A Court TV representative will contact you directly if interested. Materials cannot be returned.

To learn more about Court TV, visit www.courttv.com.

So, what is a blog, anyway?

Tamara Thompson — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 02:36:40 +0000

A blog is a web page of bite-sized information blurbs, news items and commentary that is frequently updated. Each entry is called a “post” and is arranged chronologically. Most blogs are tailored to a theme; PI buzz covers topics of interest and benefit to professional investigators and researchers.

Blogs are unique because they’re instant messages to the Internet and they invite the reader to become a participant.(Select the “Comments/No Comments” link at the end of any post and take a trial run. Don’t fear. You can’t break anything.)

Your participation and ideas for future posts keep PI buzz alive.In the right side column is a search function. Enter any word, select search, and get a list of all the entries in which that word has appeared. All of the posts (almost 600) from PI News Link, my former blog, are archived here, and are searchable.

New postings are being slotted into categories (which are listed in the left sidebar), and can be selected to find all the related entries (called tagging).

You can keep current on this site without having to remember to visit by subscribing (The “Newsletter” subscribe window in the top right sidebar.) or through a newsreader. Put “newsreader” in the search window to read my prior elucidation on this utility.

Almost everything on the site is hyperlinked and will take you to something to read or do. The masthead logo will always bring you back to the home page, and that’s comforting.