I am wandering the halls of a technical conference, in Sandusky, Ohio this week. Its called CodeMash. While the presentations are solid, the real value add has been and always will be the hallway conversations with people in the tech field. One thing I have noticed this week is a subtle but important change in business protocol. We no longer exchange business cards, we now exchange twitter handles.
I’m not ready to completely throw away my stack of MooCards quite yet, they are still the Lingo Franco of the business meeting. But the box I have should last me for the next 30 years if the twitter trend continues because more and more people are just exchanging handles.
There is an efficiency to trading that simple @name that we used to get from trading email address back before spam was such a problem. Once you have someone’s twitter name on your follow list, they are a part of your online persona wherever you are. Want to meet up with them on a sales call, just DM them. Interested in getting their opinion on some idea, include them in an @. If they have a public face online, knowing their twitter address is just about the best way going to keep in contact.
So add your twitter handle to your business card. If there isn’t enough room, drop something less important – like your phone number.