The Return of Calling Cards

Marc from our office came across an article in this week’s Time magazine about the return of calling cards — yes — paper calling cards. Calling cards were a popular Victorian low-tech version of social networking in the 1800’s. They’re business cards for non-business purposes. The article doesn’t say this, but it occurred to Marc that it’s about time to rethink how we present ourselves with traditional methods. Long gone is the time for business cards (and e-mail signatures) to just have an e-mail address and website in addition to the old standbys of phone and fax. Maybe it’s time to start including icons or web addresses for the popular social networking groups one belongs to. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter — and even for some people Digg and del.icio.us or other tools with profiles might appear on their cards. We’re at the infancy of social networking right now and it is showing great promise as an important spoke in the wheel that generates more traffic and sales for our clients. But more people need to get brought into it. This idea of adding your social groups to business cards is one of the easiest ways to do that since it shows that you are participating.