Question
Has anyone found a good way to kill business cards yet?
Answer
Ponder this video by a guy who thinks he has the best business card in the world. I couldn't believe this was serious, but apparently it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4...
When technologies mature and are getting disrupted, they start to go increasingly "premium" until they become pure art, and completely useless. Extreme disruption is artfication.
In other words obsolete technologies don't die. They generally turn into art.
It has happened to wristwatches. They've become jewelry. I don't wear 'em anymore because I am not into jewelry. My cellphone's clock is good enough for me.
It's happening to business cards: so many people are now getting "artistic" with them that I think they're already dead for practical purposes.
So the real question is not "what can kill them?" but "what is already killing them?"
I think the biggest force is merely that a majority of introductions are online now. Match.com has been advertising lately with the tagline 1/5 relationships start online. In non-dating contexts, I'd say the ratio is better than 1/2. My personal ratio is like 9/10.
If tomorrow a law were passed saying business card type face-to-face introductions are illegal, I wouldn't have any issues at all. From googling to looking up the event attendee list, there are a zillion ways to find people, based on whatever clues you remember.
And if you remember zero clues about them, there's a good chance they're not worth connecting to. Or even if they are, there's probably equally good connection opportunities that are easier to close.
The reason serious solutions to the "business card" problem are not emerging is that it is not a serious problem to begin with. I'ts simply not painful enough. I mean come on. Worst case scenario: find a pen and scrap of paper.
It's like worrying about how to improve steam locomotives when diesel locomotives have already displaced 90% of them.
If it is solved, it will probably happen as a side-effect of something more powerful (eg. face recognition and look up via camera phones; head-up augmented reality glasses...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4...
When technologies mature and are getting disrupted, they start to go increasingly "premium" until they become pure art, and completely useless. Extreme disruption is artfication.
In other words obsolete technologies don't die. They generally turn into art.
It has happened to wristwatches. They've become jewelry. I don't wear 'em anymore because I am not into jewelry. My cellphone's clock is good enough for me.
It's happening to business cards: so many people are now getting "artistic" with them that I think they're already dead for practical purposes.
So the real question is not "what can kill them?" but "what is already killing them?"
I think the biggest force is merely that a majority of introductions are online now. Match.com has been advertising lately with the tagline 1/5 relationships start online. In non-dating contexts, I'd say the ratio is better than 1/2. My personal ratio is like 9/10.
If tomorrow a law were passed saying business card type face-to-face introductions are illegal, I wouldn't have any issues at all. From googling to looking up the event attendee list, there are a zillion ways to find people, based on whatever clues you remember.
And if you remember zero clues about them, there's a good chance they're not worth connecting to. Or even if they are, there's probably equally good connection opportunities that are easier to close.
The reason serious solutions to the "business card" problem are not emerging is that it is not a serious problem to begin with. I'ts simply not painful enough. I mean come on. Worst case scenario: find a pen and scrap of paper.
It's like worrying about how to improve steam locomotives when diesel locomotives have already displaced 90% of them.
If it is solved, it will probably happen as a side-effect of something more powerful (eg. face recognition and look up via camera phones; head-up augmented reality glasses...)