How to Find Out All Social Media Accounts of Someone by Username

In the vast expanding internet universe, you don't know where (on which website), did you create an account.

Or if you are looking to start an organization or a brand with a particular username, you don't realize it first that it was taken by someone else on some other website.

This is a great deal for any business.

There would be a diversion of customers to some random guy living at the corner of the street. That's not healthy for business.

This same technique can also be used to trace out persons whom you want to know more.

In a perspective of personal security on social media and the internet, it is important to know the detail of some suspicious person before inviting them for a causal real-world meet.

If you are a parent with teenage children, this technique will help you know more about whom they are talking to.

This technique needs a little keen observation of the process as it involves 'command prompt (on Windows)' and 'Terminal (on Mac)'. So, do the process as I say, slowly, step by step.

Using Mac:

This technique is executed using Python. So, first, we need to make certain about the Python on Mac.

Step 1: Go to the Python download page for Mac. Find latest Python installer, download and install it as you do for any other software on Mac.

Step 2(Optional): Now, we need to install requirements, the Python module to run the following project. Type the following 'pip3' command in terminal and hit 'Enter'.

pip3 install -r requirements.txt

Step 3: Enter 'Terminal' on Mac, type in the following command and hit 'Enter'.

git clone https://github.com/sherlock-project/sherlock.git

This will clone the project named 'Sherlock' which is what we are going to use to find out all social media accounts of a person or organization.

Step 4: Now, we need to make the current directory as 'Sherlock', the cloned folder. Type the following command to enter into cloned 'Sherlock' folder.

cd sherlock

Step 5: Before you proceed to the next step, type in the following commands in terminal and hit enter.

python3 sherlock.py

If you had finished the above steps successfully, it will show you all the options of 'Sherlock' project. If it isn't showing anything, re-check all the above commands once again.

You can also use,

python3 sherlock.py --help

The installation is over with this step.

Step 6: Now type the following command in the terminal window to start using 'Sherlock'.

python3 sherlock.py username

It will now start to find all the social media accounts of that particular username all over the internet and lists them if found or displays 'not found' if not.

You can also give more than one username at a time by separating a series of usernames with space. It would look something like this:

python3 sherlock.py username1 username2 username3

Using Windows:

Step 1: Go to Python downloads page for Windows and install it like any other software on Windows.

Step 2: Go to https://git-scm.com/ and download the Windows GUI version.

Install the software like any other Windows software. But, remember to check the following configuration before finishing the installation and leave the rest of the steps as-is and proceed to finish.

Step 3: Run the shell and follow the steps (using mac) from 'Step 3' as said above.

Note: If it says, 'access denied' while running in Windows, go to ...\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps and edit the ownership permissions and set it to 'Everyone'.

For Advanced Users:

If you are an advanced user, you can add more sites to the data.json file in the 'Sherlock' clone directory and re-run it. Follow this link: https://github.com/sherlock-project/sherlock/wiki/Adding-Sites-To-Sherlock to know more about it.

If you have any troubles in executing the process, don't hesitate to comment below. I'll try at my best to solve them for you.