The End of Business Cards as we know them

Do you still have business cards?  
More and more people don’t! 
For me ... I just ordered the last set of business cards I will ever own. 
I'm not the only one. 

At the Women in Cloud event I ran into Rajashree Varma and she said that she recently realized that she had printed her last set of business cards ... ever. This was a realization not long after she sold her company and she decided that the business cards she created with her business were the last business cards she would ever own. 

I see this as more than a casual trend. 

With social media and social networks there is almost no need to have a physical business card anymore. If you want to find something out about someone you can quickly search for them across a myriad of social tools. If you want to add them to your preferred social network it takes not much more than a simple click.

Pro Tip: Use LinkedIn's QR code option.
LinkedIn allows you to quickly scan someone else's QR code directly to your mobile device. If you haven't tried this yet it's easy and takes just a few seconds to share your code or read someone's.
My code is on the left. Feel free to scan it and add me to your LinkedIn network.
Follow this link to see how easy it is (iOS and Android options): Using a LinkedIn QR Code to Connect with Members 

Cultural Issues Still Matter
There are still some cultures where the display and sharing of business cards will continue to dominate for the time being. Eventually the ease of electronic sharing will take over and replace the olden ways. For this reason ... I will keep my small stack of business cards. 

Are Business Cards going the way of the Dodo?
  • What do you think?
  • What are you seeing?
  • What are you doing?
For me ... I've ordered the last set of business cards I expect to ever own.

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Tags: #FutureOfWork #GTD #WIC
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Jeff is business advisor, mentor and community engagement expert. He brings over 20 years of Channel Sales, Partner Marketing and Alliance expertise to audiences around the world in speaking engagements and via his writing. He has worked for Microsoft, Kodak, and K2. He is currently at Oracle where he works with partners, including Microsoft and Microsoft partners, to create Hybrid Cloud solutions on a global scale.

Connect with me on Twitter @jshuey
Or connect on LinkedIn or Facebook

He is a contributing author to EntrepreneurElite DailyYahooUS News and to
the Personal Branding Blog with over 250 articles published.

Comments

Hi Jeff,

Another pro tip use youre qr code and make it your phone welcome screen.

Paul
musa said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Jeff Shuey said…
That's a great idea Paul. I did that once for a conference. Then realized I had to show people how to use the app within the app.

Also, then I wouldn't be able to have Ellie the Wonder Pup's pic on my screen
Fred Schrader said…
You talked about rituals and I honestly think we shouldn't underestimate the side effects of business cards. Of course, it's no problem anymore to search for anyone's contact details, but I think of business cards more like a gift, a goodie, a personal thing with a professional touch.

Plus, I've attended fairs and exhibitions, where I met like 20-30 people, I've never seen before. That being said, I was quite happy to collect a pile of business cards that day, because there was absolutely zero chance to remember all the names or (in case I had saved all their mobile numbers) remember all the companies they work for.
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