Twitter at Tech Conference: Here's My Card!

The first shot fired in the Paper Revolution came from Facebook.


The second shot fired in the Paper Revolution came from Ashton Kutcher.


The third and perhaps the loudest shot fired in the Paper Revolution came today from Twitter, as reported in CNN's SciTechBlog:

Yes, that is a Twitter business card, which employees began handing out at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas. Why would Twitter employees possibly use business cards?


From the CNN article:


A Twitter spokesman poked fun at the idea of business cards even as he listed the benefits of paper-based networking.

"This antiquated thing called 'business cards' is a helpful way for some of us to bridge our online and offline worlds with potential employees, partners and the thousands of developers who make Twitter applications," said company spokesman Sean Garrett.

In other words, despite the fact that they are a leading online networking site, when they need to network in the real world, paper remains the best networking tool there is.

4.6 Million Twitter Followers, but Personal Stationery Makes The Lasting Impression

I was at the dentist's office today waiting for my appointment and leafing through the latest issue of Details Magazine. This is the magazine's 10th anniversary and one of the pages features a few congratulatory notes.

Last year, I pointed out that one of the icons of digital communication and social media - Facebook - turned to paper and fine letterpress printing to thank its advertisers. Here's a link to that beautiful presentation.

Back to the dentist's office and the magazine. I was very pleased to see who had written the first note on the page, as it provides further evidence of the power of the pen and fine stationery:

 

You will recall Ashton's recent race to the top of the Twitter world. Today, he has more Twitter followers than anyone in the world - 4.6 million!

But as you can see from the above, even Ashton Kutcher uses personalized stationery when the message is meant to be meaningful. It obviously was meaningful to Details. Other notes on the page are written by Jason Bateman, Daniel Radcliffe, Matthew McConoughey and, yes, even Adam Lambert.

Here's a link to a slide show of a couple of dozen congratulatory notes on personalized stationery. I imagine you will recognize a name or two.

P.S. In a few of the notes, you will see the person's name struck through at the top. That is to indicate the note is of the most personal nature.

With best regards,

Peter

P.P.S. I have no idea if these notes are on Crane stationery. It's none of my business one way or the other.