Business Cards the Latest Internet Casualty

Hugh Pickens writes "Chalk up another looming casualty of the Internet age: business cards. Ubiquitous as pinstripes, the 2-by-3.5-inch pieces of card stock have long been a staple in executive briefcases. But now, writes Matt Stevens, young and Web-savvy people who are accustomed to connecting digitally, see business cards as irrelevant, wasteful — and just plain lame. 'When I go into a meeting and there are five bankers across the table, they all hand me business cards and they all end up in a pile, in a shoe box somewhere,' says Diego Berdakin, the founder of BeachMint, a fast-growing e-commerce site that has raised $75 million from investors without ever bothering to print a card. 'If someone comes in to meet me, we've already been connected through email, so it really doesn't feel like a necessity in my life.' Some 77 million smartphone users have downloaded the Bump app, which allows them to bump their phones together and instantly exchange contact information. Others carry a personalized quick-response code that smartphones can scan like a hyperlink. At 36, Ralph Barbagallo is near the cutoff for Generation Y but despises business cards all the same. Barbagallo says he goes to three major conferences a year and has to distribute paper cards, but lugging and exchanging fistfuls of them is a pain and it's hard to remember who is who. 'When they run out this time, I'm not printing any more,' says Barbagallo. 'They need to die somehow.'"

Comments

Only people who are full of shit use them.

[Anonymous Coward]

Business cards, just like business suits, have no real purpose other than to make "executives", "managers" and "professionals" feel important, and to make them think that other people consider them important.

If you're of any value to me, I don't need your fucking business card. I'll already know how to get in touch with you, or I'll be able to find out very easily using other means.

When somebody gives me a business card, I know they're full of shit. When that person is wearing a suit, I know they're doubly full of shit. Real people getting real work done don't go handing out business cards. They're too fucking busy doing real work!