Frequently Asked Question #202

LiveJournal has many search methods to find specific people or meet new people, including the Directory. After you find someone new, you may wish to communicate with them.

Searching for a Specific Person

If you know the LiveJournal username of the person or community you are looking for, you can find their journal by going to the following link, replacing exampleusername with that person's username:

• http://exampleusername.livejournal.com
• http://users.livejournal.com/exampleusername/

Alternatively, you can use the "search" box in the top right corner of main LiveJournal pages to search for someone using their username, email, or Instant Messenger identity.

The email and Instant Messenger identity searches are the easiest ways to find a LiveJournal username when you do not know the person's specific username and are not able to ask them. However, many users do not make this information public, which hides them from search results.

Other Search Methods

If you are not looking for a specific individual, or if the method above did not work for you, then you may wish to use another search method. These include:

• Communities: You can search for people through communities of similar people.
• Interests: You can search for people based on their interests.
• Latest Posts: You can search for people by reading the Latest Posts page, which is a list of the recent public entries posted by LiveJournal's users.
• Others' Friends pages: You can search for people by looking on the friends pages of your other friends.
  • http://exampleusername.livejournal.com/friends
• Random: You can search for people at random.
• Schools Directory: You can search for people who list particular schools.
• Explore LiveJournal: This page (accessible while not logged in) highlights recent posts in various content areas, links to several search methods, and displays Latest Posts/lj_spotlight communities.
• Find your Friends on LiveJournal: This page allows you to search your email address book/contacts list for people who may be using LiveJournal, so that you can add them as a Friend or notify them that you have a LiveJournal. You can also invite people who are not using LiveJournal to create an account.

Restricted Search Methods

The following search methods are restricted by your account level:

• Location: If you have an Early Adopter, Plus, Paid, or Permanent account, you can search by location.
• Directory: Early Adopter, Plus, Paid, and Permanent users can search the Directory to find other users or communities. These searches can include age, friends, interests, location, etc.
  • All LiveJournal users are listed in the Directory, but users without access to the Directory cannot see their own listings.
  • You can remove yourself from certain Directory searches at the Edit Profile page, by unchecking the "Show your location to" option (to be removed from location searches) or selecting "Nobody" for the "Show your Birthday to:" option (to be removed from age searches).
• Friends' Friends page: If you have a Paid or Permanent account, you can view a single page which combines the friends' pages of all of your friends.
  • http://exampleusername.livejournal.com/friendsfriends