Whew. 2024. It was a year, huh?
Without going down the rabbit hole into the 200 years that have seemingly passed since around 2020, let’s just say that 2024 was a lot. But you know what else was a lot? The over 100 articles our expert writers posted on Spokeo’s official blog, The Compass, where you’ll find everything from in-depth guides to breezy reads on topics like safety, identity, research, relationships, and more.
Because we love to know what you like, we keep track of how many views each article has (we kind of have a thing for data, if you haven’t noticed already). And because we also love a good top-10 list, allow us to present the top 10 most popular, most read Compass Articles of 2024, as chosen by the most esteemed critics on the whole internet: you.
Who's Calling Me?
Search any phone number to learn more about the owner!
1. 5 Cringey Pickup Lines to Avoid
Let’s start a little light. Virtually everyone has solicited at least a touch of dating advice from their friends at some point; in this case, The Compass is your friend and the advice is “definitely do not say these words in this particular order to a romantic prospect, ever.” We’re not sure what resonated more here, the relatability of seeing lines just like these from Cybertruck-driving tech bros on Hinge or the soul-melting cringe-by-vicinity of imagining yourself saying them under any circumstances.
Our personal fave (or should we say least fave)? “Do you like Star Wars? Because Yoda only one for me.” Just. Don’t.
2. Wrong Number Text Scam: The Confusing New Scam to Watch Out For
As much as we love seeing what hits with our readers, you know the crew at Spokeo hates one thing: scams. But we do love doing what we can to help you avoid those scams, and that’s where this safety article comes in. Turns out, text message scams can cost Americans upward of $330 million in losses per year, which makes exploring this extra-subversive new scam even more important.
Basically, wrong number text scammers start with an “oops, wrong number” text to the victim’s number, then play out a catfish-style long con, fostering a sympathetic, often emotional relationship with the recipient before making a move on their money or private information. Thankfully, we’ll fill you in on all the red flags to look out for and more.
3. 10 Best States for Singles in 2024
Singles, we’ve got your back so hard that this year, we conducted an entire, Spokeo-exclusive, super in-depth study on the best states for those seeking love. The study’s results are a combo of common and little-seen metrics like the percentage of never-married adults, cost of living, romance crime victim stats, and even the states with residents most likely to ghost you. And like us, you may be pleasantly surprised to hear that the list features words like “Massachusetts,” “Iowa” and “South Dakota” way more than words like “California” or “New York.”
4. How to Identify a Fake Text Message: Online Skills 101
This one is exactly what it says on the tin. Phishing fraudsters have largely made the switch from emails to texts (as the article notes, 98% of us will look at a text while only 20% will open a marketing email), so being able to identify when those texts are even a little sus is now a crucial life skill.
The specificity of the clues and telltale signs detailed here is especially helpful – you’ll never see texts like a “USPS delivery failure notice” or an “urgent” message about your Apple account the same way ever again. But you will see scammers coming from a mile away.
5. Jumping the Security Line: What to Know About Programs Like TSA PreCheck and Clear
You don’t have to be an SEO analyst to understand the popularity of this piece. No one on the face of the planet enjoys the experience of going through the airport security line, so anything we can do to reduce the friction of that slow, awkward, shoeless, and often embarrassing song and dance is going to attract some eyeballs.
Not only do we dive into the pros and cons of PreCheck and Clear – both of which can expedite the security line slog significantly – to help you make your own choice, we also reveal some eyebrow-raising concerns about background checks, the associated biometric data, and the potential future of these programs.
6. There Is No Ethan: How Spokeo Helped Reel in History’s Biggest Catfish
There are few things as enthralling as Anna Akbari’s story of how she and two other women – all victims of the same deceit – caught “Ethan,” a masterfully manipulative fraudster who may be history’s most prolific catfish. The extremely long form, canny, and often Machiavellian game of catfish detailed in Akbari’s book, There Is No Ethan: How Three Women Caught America’s Biggest Catfish, is impossible to take your eyes away from. In this CliffsNotes version of the story, we also get to give ourselves some flowers for playing a key role in busting the case wide open.
Double feature this one with the book for the perfect entree and side-dish pairing. The catfish and the hushpuppies, if you will.
7. The Decline of Pay Phones in Every State
The beauty of the internet is that sometimes, it hits you with something that you have no idea you need in your life. Something that you’d never be interested in until you see that special headline sparkling in the distance, the one with that internet-specific je ne sais quoi, and suddenly you become extremely interested. Enter, The Decline of Pay Phones in Every State. How did we go from 2.1 million pay phones in 1999 to the FTC all but abandoning them in 2018? If Mississippi has seen a 98.8% decline in its pay phone population (it has), exactly how many pay phones remained in 2016? You need to know. And we can tell you with startling exactitude.
8. Top Cities for the Best Off-Market Real Estate Properties
Wake up, babe, new Spokeo research just dropped. And not just any research, we’re talking about an analysis of over 12 million properties that aren’t actively marketed or sold through traditional real estate agents. It’s a low-key method for finding your way into owning a home, and it makes for some high-key interesting finds. For example, you’ll learn which state has the highest number of cities with Best Places to Live rankings and which city ranks highest of all major cities in terms of the likelihood of these properties selling (second place is Phoenix, Arizona, but you’ll have to read the article for number one).
Maybe this one really hit home with all the millennials for whom the prospect of homeownership seems about as real as a bigfoot sighting. Hey, we’re happy to do what we can to help, even if it’s just window shopping.
9. How to Find & Search for Someone on Tinder
Tinder is many things, including things that would be highly inappropriate to write here, but one thing Tinder is not? A search engine.
But, with some limitations, you can use the dating app to find a specific person who you suspect might be swiping, which can be especially useful in the case of cheating partners (or more optimistically, long-lost loves and missed connections). It’s all about squeezing and narrowing down those search parameters to work within Tinder’s algorithm – and maybe enlisting some help from Spokeo People Search, too. We’ve got all the Tinder tips right here.
10. How to Tell If Someone Blocked You on Facebook
If no one’s gonna spill the tea for you, you’ve just got to spill the tea yourself. We know that tea is delicious, with tasting notes of drama and hot goss, which might be why this article popped off in 2024. Typically, anyone who blocks you on Facebook isn’t going to outright tell you that they’ve blocked you. But, whether you need to know for your own protection or your own glorious pettiness, this article packs no less than nine potential signs that you’ve been blocked by someone on FB. And if that’s not enough Zuck for you, here’s a bonus article where you can read all about Facebook’s latest AI-generated celebrity, Shrimp Jesus.
In With the New
From singles and scams to pay phones and real estate, it was our privilege to dish out goofy tips for our readers’ hearts and dive deep into granular research for our readers’ brains all throughout 2024. Thanks so much for reading along with us – we here at The Compass can’t wait to be your online North Star in 2025, too.
As a freelance writer, small business owner, and consultant with more than a decade of experience, Dan has been fortunate enough to collaborate with leading brands including Microsoft, Fortune, Verizon, Discover, Office Depot, The Motley Fool, and more. He currently resides in Dallas, TX.
