BusinessCard2 as a Part of Good Netiquette

One of the challenges, and opportunities, in making new connections on the web is being approached by, and approaching new people.  BusinessCard2 is different way to manage this challenge.  At BusinessCard2 we don’t see the web space much differently than the real world.  You want to connect with new people to grow your business.  You do not want to be limited by degrees of separation.  You do not want to have to pay to freely make connections with new people, especially when you’re doing the work to find them.  You are willing to be transparent about who you are, and you carry the digital version of yourself with the same decorum as you do in the authentic world.

Still, how is the other person you are approaching supposed to qualify you?  How are they to trust you?  How are they to know that entering into a new relationship with you is a worthwhile exercise?

These questions are the same ones we’ve had in mind for the last several years while engineering BusinessCard2.  The underlying premise and intention has been one of solving the problem of making online connections with those we don’t already know, but would like to.  The concept of the business card was a natural solution, since it has a 350 year track record of creating connections in the real world.

Historically speaking, the business card is really just the evolution of the calling card (also known as visiting card).  Calling cards were used by nobles as an essential tool for formal introduction.  A person would typically send the calling card ahead of a visit, thus introducing an impending arrival.  The calling card helped qualify the experience of entering into a new relationship.

What is so difficult today on the web is that we don’t know who we can trust.  Each of us carries around a certain level of suspicion about those we come across as we navigate the web.  Some of us choose anonymity in defense.  However, it is increasingly commonplace for many of us that we’ll give up anonymity (be identity transparent) if it means a greater likelihood for opportunity and success.  Still, it can be uncomfortable to be approached online by someone we are not familiar with; the internet does not convey human qualities such as facial and hand gestures, and tone of voice.

BusinessCard2 is specifically designed as your calling card for the web.  It is designed as a method of formal introduction.  It is also a firewall to protect against jumping into a relationship before knowing more about the other party.  It is a dignified and orderly way to expose you who you are, what you do, and why it matters.  It is a polite ice breaker for possible conversation, supported by ample data for due diligence.  It is your best foot forward to digital manners.  It is something more friendly than the impersonality of bits and bytes.

Netiquette is the set of rules by which we govern our online conduct.  Increasingly we are seeing BusinessCard2 used specifically as a convention of online conduct.  So, we thought it appropriate to start a short list of best practices for BusinessCard2.  Note: this list is not inclusive and only suggests ways in which BusinessCard2 may be more useful for both the card owner, and the intended recipient:

- Be honest and transparent in your card.
- Be professional in your card.
- Share your card where and when appropriate.
- Have a colleague edit your card, for thoroughness.
- If you want to be contacted, leave contact information in your card.
- Use information, pictures, files, and links in your card that tell your story.
- Share your expert knowledge in your card.

[If you have additional suggestions for best practices, I'd love to know.  Lief Larson]

Vote for HyperHairyDingleberry2HyperDrive

!!!WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!

We’re working behind the scenes at BusinessCard2 on a delivery technology.  This internal effort basically started in 2008.  It helps people who have a BusinessCard2 with a “set-it & forget-it” delivery mechanism.  It’s sorta marketing, sorta advertising, but really, really simple (like push one button simple).  Basically we take your web business card and put it on other sites for you.

Anyway, back a number of months ago we needed a name.  We started with the term “identity broadcasting”, but didn’t like that because it was too ambiguous.  Then about seven weeks ago we decided on the term “PUSH”.  It was short and simple.  Basically we’d be pushing the cards out to various places on the web.

Then two days ago the whole conversation came up again when a couple of team members who didn’t have a vote on PUSH decided it needed to do a better job of saying what it is.  I didn’t want to use any terminology associated with the word advertising because I think it’s more than advertising.  However, I was outvoted by the team and we settled on the brand “adcast” yesterday (even though the two team members who didn’t like the term “PUSH” but wanted to use something about “advertising” were not present to vote, but we assumed they would like it because it had the term “ad” in it, signifying that it constituted some type of advertising).  Note: During that same meeting the term “CardCast” was suggested.

Well, we emailed the two other team members that we’d decided on using “AdCast”.  To our surprise, they didn’t like it.  Totally independently they emailed back with the suggestion of “CardCast”.  ‘Great!’ I thought.  Something we can all agree on.  So I send out an email saying it is official.    Well, not so quick…

All of a sudden a fraction was created for and against CardCast.  Emails were being slung to and fro with arguments for and against.  Here are some quotes from the email, just to give you context:

“Team. After much dialogue & debate, I’m making the recommendation that “push” becomes”CardCast”.  Randy/Gordy independently arrived as this name (as did we).  I’m personally convinced that there will be some level of explanation that will have to occur regardless of the name.  I think CardCast is verby enough to differentiate this as something special/different/beyond merely having a card.  I think there are legitimate concerns about being categorized purely as advertising.  Lastly, the trademark activity around the term “AdCast” is questionable enough that we might have difficulties in securing protection.  From my research we have complete freedom to operate with CardCast.  Unless there are any major objections, I think we should commit to this trademark and move on…Lief”

Then….

“Hello all, here are my thoughts: The original argument against “Push” that really resonated with me was the education we would have to do for our users for them to understand exactly what this was, and was there a better name that would help a new user better grasp what “Push” was? I’m not sure that “CardCast” does this much better…..we’ve replaced “Push” (a synonym for “advertise”) with “cast” (to throw off/out). In the context of our website, and in appearances outside of our website: ‘BusinessCard2 CardCast’,  I still like AdCast better….not repeating ‘card’ twice would be nice there….’BusinessCard2 AdCast.’ Also, after our conversation about it yesterday, I warmed up with using ‘Ad’ because we moved away from some of the negative connotations of ‘advertise’, but still kept some transparency on what was going on. I dont mean to be negative, if everyone else is unanimous on it, lets just move forward on it. We’ll build such a kick ass service with this that we could call it HyperHairyDingleberry2HyperDrive, and it would still be awesome, but I still wanted to share my 2 cents and see if that opened up any further discussions…..Tanner”

Then…

“I vote for HyperHairyDingleberry2HyperDrive….Randy”

“See, here we go……I’d like to replace Dingleberry with Dinglehopper….Gordy”

Anyway, WHAT DO YOU THINK?  We’d like to know your vote.  What should we call it?  AdCast? CardCast?  HyperHairyDingleberry2HyperDrive?

And Just Who Exactly Makes Your Personal Brand?

(A hint: it isn’t just you.)

Your name is your name. Your name in funky lettering is your logo.  But neither is your personal brand.  Instead, your personal brand is what those who know you and work with you say it is.  Managing your personal brand is an exercise in influencing how you exist in the mind of others.

Others form ideas about you.  These ideas are based on attributes you exude.  What do you look like in dress and physical appearance?  What types of information do you convey verbally and with gesturing?  What are people saying about you?  Are you trustworthy? Are you charismatic?  It is these questions – not an evaluation of the benefits you offer – that will lead people to construct your personal brand and ultimately want to do business with you.

You can always see the people with charismatic personal brands stand out in popular culture.  Steve Jobs, the energetic pitchman and CEO of Apple Inc., has immediately recognizable personal brand qualities: black shirt, circular glasses, intellectually stimulating conversation, powerful speeches, and self-assuredness.  In addition, hard to quantify things like success, style, innovation and creativity are what many observers associate with the name Steve Jobs.

Although Fortune noted Steve Jobs “is considered one of Silicon Valley’s leading egomaniacs,” many tech fanboys and consumers have translated his larger-than-life persona into trust and dedication to the products his company creates.  It is no wonder than that the company’s stock took a hit after his health problems were made public, or that there is tremendous buzz around his possible appearance at the Apple event tomorrow.  Here is a recent comment from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster:

“We expect CEO, Steve Jobs, to announce a new iPod lineup featuring cameras in re-designed iPod nanos, iPod touches, and the iPod classic. We believe investors will view the new products as a non-event, as iPod growth slows and the segment becomes less of an investable theme. However, we also believe Steve Jobs will present at the event, a first since his health-related leave of absence, which would likely be a slight positive for shares of AAPL and the first public confirmation of Jobs’ health since his return to the company.”

Can your personal brand influence the stock market?  Well, maybe some day.

There are no boring people, only dull personal brands.  If you want to understand how to better influence people’s perception of you, these are the three questions to ask yourself: 1) Who are you?, 2) What do you do?, 3) Why does it matter?  The exercise of answering these questions will lead you to the qualities that differentiate you.

Next, be distinctive.  Consider going against the crowd.  Be open to standing out; most ”visionaries” started life as contrarians.  This is an exercise in creativity over logic.

Then, be trustworthy.  I’m not talking about credibility, but rather giving people something that they can come to expect from you with some level of consistency.  Be human.  Allow people to know you make mistakes and you’ll help your personal brand agents form bonds with your personality attributes, thus further enhancing your personal brand value.

Finally, solicit feedback.  Ask people what they think about your persona and messaging.  As your personal brand rises, pay careful attention to the conversation.  In this dialogue you’ll discover just who makes your personal brand.

MarketWatch & Wall Street Journal Online

This last week leading up to the labor day break has been an exciting one for us.  Emily Glazer, a writer for DowJones mentioned BusinessCard2 in her article “Digital business cards move networking off paper.”  The article was featured in the online edition of WallStreet Journal and was a cover story on the homepage of MarkeWatch.com.

We’re really proud to have been worthy of the coverage, and the validation of our efforts.  The traffic increase to BusinessCard2 due to the story has been absolutely wonderful and we’re very happy to be able to put many of our great users of BusinessCard2 in the spotlight.

New Features & Tools in BusinessCard2

New features are available for your BusinessCard2. You can now upload files for easy sharing with anyone, link to your social networks, create special offers, and share your work and education experience directly in your card.

New this week:

• File Share: BusinessCard2 now gives you the ability to share files within your card. Add informational brochures, photos, text documents, spreadsheets and much, much more.

• Social Network Links: Link to your Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter account directly from your card.

• Special Offers: Have a special offer you want to extend to your customers? Create a customized coupon especially for BusinessCard2 users.

• Experience: Show your customers you have what it takes to get the job done. List any experience or relevant credentials that give you and your company an edge over competitors.

We are continually updating BusinessCard2 to make it an even more powerful tool. Watch the News section on your homepage for the latest on BusinessCard2. Sign in now: http://businesscard2.com

Think Before You Tweet

Being cautious and controlled in your online dialogue is important.  My friend Dan Schawbel, founder of Personal Branding Magazine and Personal Branding Blog has done a great job of writing on this subject matter.  In short, assume what happens on the internet stays on the internet.  One little slip up can haunt you for years to come, so always think before submitting comments on websites.  It may just go down on your personal record.

I’ve been personally guilty of getting argumentative in a forum before, thinking it an act of inconsequential self-defense.  It came as a surprise in one instance when several hours after commenting one of my investors showed up at the office in a very poor (‘er angry) mood.  Turns out that after I had written the comments, the forum comments showed up in a search engine.  The investor stumbled across the forum and was worried about the permanency of the comments and how it could impact the business at a future date.  Needless to say I patched things over.  But, I did come away from that experience with a lesson: there is no such thing as “informal language” on the web.  Although the reason or intent may be pure and justified, you have no idea of how it may negatively impact you in the future.

I read an interesting article about some legal issues with tweets.  Now comments no longer just impact the way you are perceived, but could also create legal liability for you (or your business).  Again, think before you tweet.

BusinessCard2 Makes Local NBC Station Kare11

On Tuesday, August 18th we had the opportunity to present BusinessCard2™ to the audience of local NBC station Kare11 for their TechTuesday’s segment.  This show is simulcast on television and the web, and we were sure appreciative of the opportunity to talk a little bit about our offering.

Here is a direct link to the video: http://tinyurl.com/l43mb6

You can also view the video on the Kare 11 site here (video player on right side of page):  http://tinyurl.com/la3hsk

New Features Added Today

We are continually updating BusinessCard2 to make it an even more powerful tool.  Today we have several new features that we would like to share with you.

New at BusinessCard2:

• Search:  The entire BusinessCard2 directory is now searchable by name, company, job title, location and keyword.
• Share:  Sharing your identity with others is what BusinessCard2 is all about.  Login and check out the Share tab to gain access to all the tools for sharing your card.
• Card Badges:  Have a blog or website?  Place a card badge on your blog to direct traffic to your BusinessCard2.  Choose from several different styles.

Need help using BusinessCard2?

Check out our all new FAQ section under the information tab for answers to the most common questions about BusinessCard2.  Have a question that is not answered there?  Submit it to our feedback section and we’ll get you an answer right away.

Sign In now:  http://www.businesscard2.com

Also, to the 3.79% of you that are currently accessing BusinessCard2 via Safari for Mac, we’ve heard you loud and clear!  We have implemented the UI changes today.  We should be rolling pretty nicely on IE 7.x, IE 8.x, Firefox 2.x, Firefox 3.x, Chrome 2.x, and SAFARI!

The social media sphere is actually three circles, who knew?

Steve Curtis from Omniture just sent me the link to this image.  He said, “one of the challenges they’ve had with communicating the importance of social media is explaining what the different outlets are and what they do.”  I too can agree it is hard to explain what social is, and combating sometimes people’s (incorrect?) perceptions and assumption about what social is and what it has to offer.

Wes Funk, from Omniture’s Demand Generation team, put together the graphic and a short blog post that illustrates the differences between the more popular social media sites and tools. I think it’s useful you’re showing colleagues (or your grandma) the differences and purposes of each.  So, thanks Steve and Wes.

Note: BusinessCard2 is not listed in the graphic.  We’ll probably be included in the next update to the graphic.

BusinessCard2 Made the Cover of Finance & Commerce

We just released the new BusinessCard2™ technology yesterday, so it was with special pride that we made the cover of Finance & Commerce.  It’s a nice article, and we are sure appreciative of the coverage.  Arundhati Parmar did a good job of maintaining journalistic objectivity.  You can read the write-up here.