blogstring.com

Now here’s something I never thought of. (Isn’t that always with the way with something new?)

The lovely Amanda has a new client, 211(me), and kindly asked if I’d check them out . (She put a great pitch together, by the way, by appealing to both Nathan and myself on a personal level and connecting her new client with something she knows interests us both–bars! Props go to Amanda for conducting blogger outreach right.)

Do you hate business cards? I do. I collect them, then they clog my wallet, and I have to enter all my new contacts’ information into my address book, and sometimes I don’t recall the person behind the card. I frequently give them out to new contacts at social media events, but the person usually just connects with me afterwards by finding me on Twitter of messaging me on Facebook, and vice versa. Business cards almost seem a bit quaint and obsolete in this digital age, don’t they? Not to mention bad for the environment.

211(me) offers “mobile business cards.” You can create a card with all your contact info, store it in your computer and phone, and text or email it out to anyone. Here’s the one I made, using my Blogstring info:

And now my fair and balanced review.

Why it Works:

It’s Green, and Green is “so hot right now”: Basically, it’s a way to never be caught without your business card and save the environment. I’ve never been a big greenie, but the idea of using a mobile card seems like a really simple way to earn some environmental karma. Why kill trees when everything you need to know about me is right there online anyway?

Saves Time: If everyone used this, we would be spared from having to go through the cards we collected at all our events and type in everyone’s info. It would all be on our computers already, because the cards come with importable v-cards.

Multiple Uses: You can create multiple cards for various purposes; while the card I’ve made here promotes Blogstring, I could also make one for Media Bullseye, CustomScoop, or any of my company’s products and/or promotions. As Amanda pointed out in her pitch, bars and nightclubs are using the service as mobile marketing to spread the word to young people about upcoming events, and even movies are getting in on it. Here’s some examples from the site’s gallery:

Why It Might Not Work:

Good for Geeks, but Who Else?: I’m giving 211(me) a total thumbs up, but I would be remiss if I didn’t recognize that this is a niche service. If I’m at a social media event? Absolutely. If I’m at a regular old business lunch? I might not whip out my phone and offer to text my card to a run of the mill business contact who might look at me like I’m nuts.

Not All Phones Have Internet: In order for someone to open your card on their phone, they must have mobile Internet. Not everyone does. This is easily solved by just sending it to the person’s email instead….but some might take issue.

Overall:

Good concept, good cause that also works as a marketing angle (as I said, green is so hot right now), fun to play with, potentially very useful with the right niche of people. Thumbs up!

Filed under: recommendation, startups