OSINT

From stranger to friend

I begin with an individual’s email, using People Data Labs (PDL) to enrich it with active social accounts—LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and any other publicly available platforms. From these, I harvest publicly available data, including posts, comments, photos, and tagged locations. This information is categorized by themes like professional interests, hobbies, and personal beliefs. With this baseline, I move to Crystal Knows to analyze their social data, learning how they prefer to communicate—whether it’s through directness, diplomacy, or enthusiasm. This helps tailor my approach for future communication.

With a personality profile in hand, I turn to Relationship Science (RelSci) to uncover mutual connections in our professional networks. This strategic mapping often reveals two or more warm connections who can facilitate an introduction. These introductions occur through informal channels like LinkedIn or email, setting the stage for deeper interaction.

Once I’ve established an initial connection, I employ Audiense, an advanced audience intelligence platform, to analyze their social media followers. This tool segments their audience based on interests, demographics, and behavioral patterns, revealing key topics and trends within their network. By tailoring my communication to these insights, I not only strengthen our connection but also position myself favorably within their broader social circle.

Tracking their recent activities, I use location-tagged posts and check-ins on platforms like Instagram to discover frequent hangouts—whether restaurants, bars, or lounges. To deepen this understanding, I use Google Earth and Maxar to review satellite imagery of these locations, gaining insight into their routines and preferences.

At this stage, I leverage Maltego, Pipl, and Skopenow—advanced OSINT tools—to gather deeper historical data. Pulling from public databases, court records, SEC filings, and older social media posts, I create a complete picture of their background, spotting long-term interests and shifts in behavior. Monitoring forums, Slack groups, or social media adds another dimension to my analysis, allowing me to engage them on the platforms they frequent most and in discussions that resonate with their current interests.

In parallel, Brandwatch and YouScan help track how they are perceived in their industry. This helps me frame our conversations in ways that flatter or align with their personal brand. By also tracking public communications—online panels, webinars, or Slack/Discord groups—I refine my understanding of their professional focus.

Throughout, narrative intelligence is essential. Tools like Nebula by Accrete Social reveal the underlying narratives and themes that influence behavior and decision-making. Mapping the flow of ideas using Narratives AI allows me to track how public discourse evolves and shapes behavior. This insight deepens my engagement, enabling me to craft messages that resonate both with them and their broader network.

Once I’ve gathered enough data, I turn to HUMINT (human intelligence). I speak with mutual acquaintances to gain personal insights. These informal conversations often reveal personal challenges, work frustrations, or deeper motivations. Before our actual meeting, I initiate a smaller interaction—via email or social media—to test their communication style, adjusting my tone before we meet in person.

When the meeting finally happens, I leverage GEOINT (geospatial intelligence) to suggest a restaurant or lounge they frequent. I arrive with a small, thoughtful gift, perhaps something from their public Amazon Wish List or hinted at in past social media posts. This personal gesture immediately establishes a connection.

During our conversation, I weave in personal topics like the books they’re reading from their GoodReads profile or shared parental experiences, such as our children being the same age. Even lighthearted topics like astrological compatibility, discovered through public birthday posts, help create personal rapport.

At the same time, I emphasize our aligned professional goals, discussing collaborations that could be mutually beneficial. Using insights from LinkedIn and other professional platforms, I adapt my communication style—mirroring their tone, language, or gestures to match their preferences. This builds trust, accelerates rapport, and leaves the impression that our interaction was both natural and inevitable.

By the end of our meeting, we’ve built a strong foundation of trust. The blend of shared intellectual ground, professional alignment, and personal connection makes future collaboration seem obvious. Plans are made for future meetings and business opportunities. This entire process—driven by OSINT, GEOINT, HUMINT, and advanced social engineering—brings us to a place of mutual rapport and possibility.

Here’s the list of tools mentioned:

  1. People Data Labs (PDL)
    PDL enriches an individual’s email by providing access to publicly available social accounts and personal data. It helps gather a comprehensive digital footprint across platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram.
    https://www.peopledatalabs.com/
  2. Crystal Knows
    Crystal Knows analyzes social data to generate a personality profile. It helps tailor communication strategies by understanding how individuals prefer to communicate.
    https://www.crystalknows.com/
  3. Relationship Science (RelSci)
    RelSci maps out professional networks to discover mutual connections, facilitating warm introductions through shared contacts. It helps understand professional relationships and influence within networks.
    https://www.relsci.com/
  4. Google Earth
    Google Earth offers geospatial insights through satellite imagery. It helps visualize and understand the surroundings of locations relevant to an individual’s routine.
    https://www.google.com/earth/
  5. Maxar
    Maxar delivers advanced satellite imagery and geospatial data. It aids in analyzing physical locations and understanding geographic preferences.
    https://www.maxar.com/
  6. Maltego
    Maltego is an OSINT tool that helps gather detailed historical data, including from public databases and social media posts. It assists in creating a comprehensive profile by identifying patterns and behaviors over time.
    https://www.maltego.com/
  7. Pipl
    Pipl collects online data from various sources like public records and social media to provide deep insights into individuals. It focuses on digital identities and relationships across platforms.
    https://pipl.com/
  8. Skopenow
    Skopenow uses OSINT techniques to gather public data and generate detailed reports about individuals. It specializes in uncovering hidden social media information and personal connections.
    https://www.skopenow.com/
  9. Brandwatch
    Brandwatch tracks online conversations and perceptions about individuals or brands. It helps understand how someone is viewed in their industry and allows for strategic adjustments in communication.
    https://www.brandwatch.com/
  10. YouScan
    YouScan is a social listening platform that monitors online conversations and brand mentions. It helps track reputation and perceptions in the industry, allowing for more effective engagement strategies.
    https://youscan.io/
  11. Nebula by Accrete Social
    Nebula analyzes vast amounts of data to reveal underlying narratives, patterns, and themes that influence human behavior and decision-making. It helps organizations understand societal trends and the flow of ideas.
    https://www.nebulasocial.ai/
  12. Narratives by Narratives AI
    Narratives.AI examines how people share stories across media platforms, tracking the evolution of narratives to understand how public discourse shapes opinion and behavior.
    https://www.narrativesai.net/
  13. GoodReads
    GoodReads allows users to share their reading habits and book preferences. By exploring someone’s public reading list, you can find shared intellectual interests that can help build rapport in conversations.
    https://www.goodreads.com/
  14. Slack
    Slack is a platform for team communication and public forums. Monitoring public Slack groups can provide insights into professional discussions and technical interests, helping tailor future interactions.
    https://slack.com/
  15. Discord
    Discord is a platform for community communication, often used for group discussions and technical or personal interests. By joining relevant servers or tracking interactions, you can gain insight into an individual’s focus areas.
    https://discord.com/
  16. Amazon Wish List
    Amazon Wish Lists are public lists that allow you to see what individuals are interested in purchasing. Gifting something from their wish list can help establish a personal connection and show attention to their interests.
    https://www.amazon.com/wishlist
  17. OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) Tools
    OSINT tools like Maltego, Pipl, and Skopenow help gather publicly available information from the web, social media, and databases. These tools assist in creating detailed profiles by piecing together digital footprints and online activity.
    https://osintframework.com/
  18. Audiense
    Audiense provides advanced audience intelligence by analyzing social media data to segment and understand target audiences. It helps in creating detailed audience personas, identifying niche segments, and discovering influential individuals within specific groups. With features like social listening and real-time trend monitoring, Audiense enables organizations to tailor their messaging and engagement strategies for maximum impact.
    https://audiense.com/


Finding Your "Familiars" In Social Networks: A Step by Step Process

“A familiar spirit is the double, the alter-ego, of an individual. Even though it may have an independent life of its own, it remains closely linked to the individual.” ~Pierre A. Riffard

“Resist the temptation to think what afflicts you is peculiar to you. Have faith that what is in your consciousness can be communicated to the consciousness of all. And is, in many cases, already there.” ~Alice Walker, The Temple Of My Familiar

WHAT IS A FAMILIAR:
Familiarity implies intimacy. To become familiar with another person implies having more than a casual acquaintance. In European folklore and folk-belief of the Medieval and Early Modern periods, familiar spirits (sometimes referred to simply as “familiars”) were supernatural entities believed to assist shamans in their practice of magic. A familiar is a being who you come to know intimately and who works with you to create life and magic. This begins through listening, continues into relationship and culminates in collective action.

WHY DISCOVER FAMILIARS:
The core reason to discover your familiars is to have a relationship with meaning. A second reason for engaging in this process is to develop a community full of common purpose. A third reason for cultivating such relationships is to bring your gifts to the world and make a solid contribution to humanity at large.

YOU CAN FIND YOUR FAMILIARS THROUGH LISTENING:
The scholar R. Grimmasi writes about discovering a relationship to animals at a young age in the forest. He did this through listening and observing. “I quickly learned that it was necessary to remain still and silent in order not to scare away the wildlife…it was there in those silent moments of observation and anticipation that I developed my ability to establish rapport and communication with other beings, with “familiars”…familiars react to various symbols because of what they represent and the authority behind the power of the symbols.” Grimmasi identifies a very important aspect of relationship with familiars: symbols. Consider for a moment what you symbolize within your network by what you post on a daily basis. Write about this, draw this, speak about this. What is your symbol? What do you symbolize?

FILTER FOR FAMILIARS:
Filter your social relationships to determine which types of people respond to your content with eagerness. Now discover all the people just like those people within your own network. They may not be interacting with you simply because they are not seeing your posts in their News Feed or because they are focused elsewhere. Chances are that people similar to your “hottest” relationships will respond to you upon receiving a gift of your content. Try cc’ing one or two of these “Discovered Familiars” (a “discovered familiar” is similar to your known familiars).

HOW TO FILTER FOR FAMILIARS:
1. Import your Facebook connections to a Yahoo email account.
http://bit.ly/Import_Facebook_To_Yahoo

2. Download the connections as a CSV file. Open this file in Excel.

3. Upgrade your LinkedIn to an Executive account (you will need this level for a later action). Now, export your connections as a CSV file.

4. Sign up for Social Bro or Simply Measured and download a spreadsheet of your Twitter followers. Use the Klout Audience Analysis in Simply Measured to receive a spreadsheet you can rank by Klout or by other interesting data like Listed, Location or specific bio content. In Social Bro, you can export both Followers and Friends (who you follow). In addition, within Social Bro, you can adjust some nifty sliders to specify various aspects of the download (if desired).

5. Learn how to use the Sort and Filter functions in Excel to refine your sifting of these spreadsheets from Social Bro and Simply Measured.

6. Next, sign up for LeadGrabber Pro’s 1 month account and extract up to 300 specific types of profiles that you identify. Or go into specific groups and extract all users.

7. Filter and Sort your spreadsheets by location and by keywords in the biographies. These keywords are symbols of your potential familiars.

8. Use Spokeo and other Open Source Intelligence Tools (OSINT) to learn more about your familiars so that you develop a list with integrity. Here is a list of excellent OSINT tools: http://bit.ly/OSINT_Tools_2013

9. Upload all of your contacts as CSV format into a Gmail account. http://bit.ly/Import_CSV_to_Gmail

10. Get the Rapportive plugin for Gmail so you can see the latest details on any contact, including their social links. This seems to work best in Chrome. http://rapportive.com/

CONNECT ONE TO ONE:
Next, connect personally with all of your connections. This will take time so make it worth it – for you and for who you are connecting with. Study what the person is talking about, conceive a clearly written paragraph containing an idea that will help him/her. This can be an encouragement, a business idea, a compliment on a character quality or a note of gratitude for something he/she wrote or posted (along with a story on how this post helped you). Email him/her, send them a Facebook message, use LinkedIn Inmail, use @mention your connections on Twitter and Facebook. Also, use other modes of communication. Chats via Skype can be vital, as well as starting Google hangouts.

START WITH A GIFT:
It’s important to say something that helps the other person first. It has to begin with them. A great way into this is to study the person’s last 12 posts in any given social platform. What are they trying to discover? Can you provide the answer. Be specific to that person. Make your message short but deep. Get to the point.

Follow up, follow up, follow up. Act with with the intention of the best and highest good for all. Do what you love.

Webcast: Social Intelligence and Foresight by Recorded Future and The Socializers

Recorded Future (http://www.recordedfuture.com) was joined by Nathaniel Hansen, CEO of The Socializers, to discuss how temporal analytic technology supports in-depth social web research. We discussed how identifying key web sources and potentially catalytic future events supports social intelligence research.

The presentation includes an introduction to Recorded Future’s technology from CEO Dr. Christopher Ahlberg, a brief a live demo of our analytic tools, and discussion of how the Socializers map and measure the most influential online figures.