Have you ever wondered what happened to that old school chum that you've lost contact with? Or what about military personel, or an old family member that you haven't heard from since God knows when? How do you go about finding an old schoolmate or long-lost friend?

There are a lot of services online to help you connect with old friends and family. One of the oldest and best is Classmates.com. Classmates.com is a social network service created in 1995 by Randy Conrads, who founded Classmates Online, Inc. The website helps members find, connect and keep in touch with friends and acquaintances from throughout their lives – including kindergarten, primary school, high school, college, work and the United States military. Classmates.com has more than 40 millionactive members in the United States and Canada.

It's hard getting in contact with a long lost friend, especially if it's been years of no contact and no communication between other friends or family members on each side. However, there is a key phrase in finding that one person you cared about in the past, "Don't give up on searching." And Classmates.com is the perfect place to start.

It is free for people to register as a Basic member of Classmates.com, for them to list themselves to be found, search the entire database for friends. Members may also post photographs, announcements, biographies, read community message boards and be informed of upcoming reunions. Gold members, who pay a fee, can also initiate sending email to any member, use website tools for planning reunions and events, and form private groups and use My Network to communicate with friends

Classmates.com members use real names, not screen names. Member privacy is protected through a double-blind email system, so email addresses and contact information are never revealed unless self-disclosed by members one-on-one.

So, if you're looking for that certain person, give Classmates.com a try. They might just be able to hook you up with that person whom you've been thinking about for ages.