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December 22, 2007
Will Business Cards still be used in 2015?
I’m wondering how much longer in the course of doing business we will continue to exchange business cards as a ritual practice.
I am already starting to experience instances where someone friends me on Facebook after a business meeting instead of exchanging a business card with me. But I do recognize I am an early adopter to social trends and my actions may not reflect the norm for some time to come.
For many of us, our first business card is something we remember, something we share with family and friends and something that we have been proud of one time or another in our lives. But in 2008, how useful is a business card as compared to in 1984?
Earlier today I was doing my annual cleaning of my computer bag and I rediscovered hundreds of business cards which I accumulated during the course of this year. And it seems that once I exchange a business card with someone, their card eventually makes it from my pocket or wallet into my computer bag. And once the card is in my bag, it enters my own personal business card twilight zone and while the card never gets thrown out, it also usually never gets looked at again (until I clean my bag.) And this isn’t meant with any disrespect to the people whom I exchanged business cards with, rather, this is more of a sense of my own reality and how I’ve approached the exchanging of business cards over the years.
One of the rituals of being a ham radio operator is to exchange something known as “QSL Cards” with a person who you spoke to. The QSL card is proof that a conversation took place at a certain time and place between two people. When I exchange business cards with someone, this is a parallel to exchanging QSL cards except the information shared is different. But in the event I want to speak with the ham radio operator again, all I need to do is look up their callsign in a ham radio database and I can generally reconnect with that person. The same can’t be said about the business cards I have collected over the years.
Since business cards contain static information the chances are great that some part of the contact details of a friend is going to change during the next 12-18 months and their business cards do not update themselves automatically. And knowing this I keep on asking myself, “Why are we still exchanging business cards when we can just facebook friend each other?” (yes, I’ve heard of Plaxo, I once thought I would scan all of the business cards I had and create a contact database for future use, but I’m just too lazy to do it.)
At Fall 2007 VON I brought a new business card to exchange with people I met. My first “social media aware” business card was designed with the help of my friend Chris Brogan. My new card offers my twitter ID, Facebook name, Blog URL, a pointer to pulver.tv , my email address and my cell phone number. Nowhere would you find a physical address listed.( I figured whoever needed my physical address would message me on facebook and ask me for it.)
I wonder how much longer we will exchange business cards at meetings? Will we just Bluetooth our details to each other after we meet? Will the day eventually come where we are all connected together by a common social graph so we just need to know each other’s names and what we look like and we will connect each other after meetings? If so, does this happen before 2015?
Until that day happens, I will try to remember to write on the back of each card I receive where I met the person so that in the event I did want to contact them again, I would be able to share the context.
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Readers of my blog are invited to join me on both twitter and Facebook.
Tags: Chris Brogan, Facebook, Social Media, Jeff Pulver
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Posted by jeff on December 22, 2007 04:17 PM | Permalink
Additional resources: Watch PrimeTime TV Shows | Watch the Jeff Pulver Show | Jeff's Qik Videos
Comments
The good news is, there are some business card companies who are keeping up with social networking trends are offering business cards to meet the communcation needs of today's business people.
http://www.ooprint.com
They offer blogger business cards, facebook business cards, and Ziki business cards so that you can pass out your digital information to everyone you meet in the real world!
Posted by: Meredith at December 24, 2007 05:39 AM
I've been thinking about this for a long time. At the core of the issue is the "Unique Identifier" problem.
My idea is that the best unique identifier is our voiceprint. Imagine that, instead of giving a card, you would say your name into the person's mobile device, which would connect to the Internet and look it up on a database, and voila, the person's "card" would appear on your mobile phone. This could easily be used at conferences, where the database is limited and the conference organizers could even upload the database to your devices in some way.
If you could imagine that the voiceprint would be connected to something like Plaxo, where you confirm the person and what depth of relationship you have with the person, this becomes a complete solution. I don't have inclination to develop this myself, but if are reading this and you do, let me know when you get to the point where you need a great marketing person who believes in the idea...
Posted by: Rebecca Rachmany at December 23, 2007 04:23 AM
I like the idea of "social media aware" business cards. People are more likely these days to look for you online rather than by a phone call or snail mail, so having that information handy on the card is a good idea.
Also good for people like me who are developing business out of their homes and don't want their home address exposed to the world.
Posted by: Steven W Buehler at December 23, 2007 01:51 AM
Hi Connie,
I just added the image of my business card as a reference. :)
Posted by: Jeff Pulver at December 23, 2007 12:11 AM
My company main product is web and other new media services but we also provide business cards among other print marketing materials for our clients. The next cards I will produce for myself will definitely include ways for potential clients to connect with me in social media venues such as Twitter, Facebook and linkedin. In fact I already have those on my e-mail signature. I'm more than happy to accommodate clients with designs that will include this information. Sure it might not be appropriate for some businesses but I can see it becoming at least a viable alternative for some people.
I'm already following you and you may be one of my follower on Twitter but if anyone else wants to following me they can at http://www.twitter.com/linkerjpatrick
Posted by: linkerjpatrick at December 22, 2007 09:19 PM
Hi Jeff,
Your blog is always so thought provoking! Can you please link to your new media cards? I remember seeing the one you posted on your blog.
I asked my company to create something similar, but the answer was 'no, we have to maintain the brand'. Ah yes... I've wanted to get a t-shirt made that says what I see people Googling for 'ACDSee Connie'.
So I agreed to go with the traditional business card & they said, we need to use the home office address. Ok then...
I live in Minnesota & my business card has a Victoria, BC address. :) I guess it gives me something to talk about when I pass it off. And I must say that the phone numbers are my local ones in Minnesota. And the email address is good.
I think that Palms allowed beaming v-card info (but I never used that).
Posted by: Connie Bensen at December 22, 2007 08:01 PM
As a once avid collector of business cards - believe it or not it is a hobby! - I won't be looking forward to the end of business cards. But as a techie, I look forward to the day that it is more about the exchange of information rather than a physical card.
My boxes of cards, like your computer bag, are a dead-end for valuable information. I recently bought a Fujitsu ScanSnap which allows for scanning of both sides of a card and I plan to add card images to my networking database, as visual clues and notes from cards help me remember people.
Someday though, I look forward to where we can scan a barcode or beam information to each other and allow us to add notes to remember a conversation and meeting, and next steps if appropriate.
mp/m
Posted by: Mike Maddaloni - The Hot Iron at December 22, 2007 06:12 PM