business cards...really?

The other day we rush printed new business cards for some of us heading to SXSW. (Check out my new title!)

You can't go to a major conference like SXSW without cards, right? Wrong. I handed out about four cards. Maybe five, if you include the card that was required to get a free t-shirt at the Veer booth.

And for me, SXSW was all about meeting people. I met hundreds of new people. Some amazing people. Some really smart people. The thing is, they don't need my card. And I don't need theirs. If we made a mark on each other, we know how to find each other - and we've probably already connected on Twitter.

People like Steve Rubel are really proud of the fact that their Twitter ID is now on their card. (We've been doing this for years.) I ask: do we really need cards at all?

We are in desperate need for a universal contact exchange (that people are willing to adopt) that does not involve paper. Plenty of companies have invented this, but no one has created a product that's hit the hot button. Yet. This has to come soon. Maybe Google, Facebook or Twitter will make it happen. Or maybe we'll just keep printing rectangular squares with website addresses on them.

How many pieces of paper have you left behind, recently?