I don’t have business cards. I don’t want business cards. And I don’t need them.
Business cards are a remnant of a bygone age. Where people stayed with the same company, with the same job title, for many years. Where business was analogue rather than digital. Where the Rolodex were a staple of the office stationary order.
That era has passed. Job titles are forever changing and increasingly meaningless. Taking self-aggrandizement/irreverence (delete according to personal opinion) to a new level, some companies even allow employees to make up their title. In some cases they act as a useful barometer of seniority. But how long has it been since a manager actually had serious business authority? How many levels of hierarchy call themselves Director? (NB: The old ITV hierarchy was particularly confusing; I reported into a Head who reported into a Head who reported into a Director).
If someone wants to contact me, there is:
- Contact details on my email signature
- My company website
- A general Google search (I’m not the best example as I’m not the first entry)
- A specific Google search (e.g. incorporating blog or twitter)
- Asking for my phone number and entering it into a mobile phone (assuming you don’t have one of these)
The exchange of business cards may be a ritual in some cultures, but it is increasingly wasteful. If I am given a business card, it goes into a drawer never to be seen again (no offence). I have piles of unused business cards from previous employment and job titles.
Business cards may provide fodder for optimistic websites or aspiring artists, but what other reasons are there for needing them? I’m stumped.
Image credit: Gaping Void
Filed under: business | Tagged: analogue vs digital, business cards, gaping void, japanese culture | 15 Comments »
Links – 22nd December 2008
This post is part 1 of 2, and they will effectively be my only link updates for December. A shame considering I kept the updates fairly consistent beforehand, but December isn’t the easiest month to keep on top of things – particularly with ATP and illness.
Anyway…
Social media
The Internet
Research and data
A pretty huge list. So, for those that don’t have a lot of spare time over the Xmas period I would particularly recommend Jeremiah on the Izea brouhaha, JP on asymmetric networks, Hugh on why social objects are the future of marketing, Guardian’s top 100 websites and the latest trend blend map
sk
Filed under: links | Tagged: asymmetric network, bubble comment, Chris Brogan, cory doctorow, Dirk Singer, facebook, gaping void, Ged Carroll, Graeme Wood, hugh macleod, Inquisitr, izea, Jeremiah Owyang, JP Rangaswami, Merlin Mann, Paul Carr, pay per post, social media, sponsored posts, tamar weinberg, tweetdeck, twitter | Leave a comment »