We do love our business cards, though. We’re still passing them out at even the most high-tech conferences. They’re little bits of art, tiny extensions of ourselves, especially if you’re lucky enough to not be a cog in the works of some giant corporation. 

When I get home from a conference and sift through the stacks of them I’ve collected, I feel the way I did after my elementary school Valentine’s Day card exchanges.

Now there are a couple of platforms you can use to create something resembling an online business card. I doubt they’ll replace the paper versions any time soon, but they can be fun and practical. Read about them in my post About.me and Flavors.me: Online Calling Cards on GigaOm Collaboration.

Frankly, I think they’re a symptom of laziness on the part of writers and readers alike. But I do have to admit that with all the info we have to process these days, they’re sometimes better than nothing. It’s true that, as Umberto Eco (who loves lists, BTW, and is no slouch) says, they “make infinity comprehensible.” I guess people can always dig deeper into a subject if they want something they can sink their teeth into. I wonder how many do.

Anyway, you gotta do what you gotta do, and I’ve been known to write a list post or two in my day. In fact, the last two I wrote for Web Worker Daily were just that: 5 Japanese words that start with S, and 3 words uttered by Mel Gibson that start with E (and might help you get a content strategy, which you should do).

Do you have a content strategy for your own social media presence? If you’re a professional, you probably should. Too many small business/startup blogs and Twitter feeds are too inwardly focused, all about features and updates or the founder’s views and activities.

I give some tips for getting a plan and making your content valuable in my Web Worker Daily article Taking Content Strategy Personally.

Don’t know what content strategy is? Find out in Paris next April at Content Strategy Forum 2010, “for anyone who develops, manages, or delivers content within their own organization or for their clients: user experience designers, information architects, business analysts, technical writers, web project managers, documentation managers, translators, web marketers, practicing content strategists, and those looking to break into the field.”

• Learn more and register (tickets are very affordable!)
• Get a badge for your site or blog
• Follow the buzz on Twitter: #csforum10

• Building a Credible Image When You Work in Multiple Fields
• Personal Branding is Important, Like It or Not

Old girlfriends, lost loves, long-forgotten friends, high school sweethearts, band mates, roommates, old nemeses, lots of former cheerleaders turned born-again Christian megamoms, and everything in between. All those old connections, those lives and chapters and periods of my life I thought I’d left behind so cleanly, so decisively, way back when? Here they all are again, like a living scrapbook, constantly renewing and updating itself. What a thing.

From: The vampires of Facebook: Could it actually be dangerous to connect with everyone you ever knew?

Two themes stood out: whether there’s an inherent conflict in creating a personal brand when you work for a company, and how to deal with personal branding when you’re also engaged in branding a startup. I’m sure I’ll talk about these issues here at some point.

I came away with an awesome tip given by Fadhila. When she was asked how to brand yourself when you have a diverse background and skill set (which is increasingly the case for more and more of us), she said that you should choose one element to place at the forefront that will allow people to envision what might be behind it.

She used the metaphor of a boulangerie (bakery) and said that everybody knows what a boulangerie is and that you can get all kinds of different things inside.

So,  when you’re creating your personal brand, be a bakery. Give people a concept of yourself they can grasp, but one that is not too limiting for you.

I also sat in on a session about certifying your digital identity presented by the founder of MyID.is Certified, a French startup to watch, and one I’ll probably write about on Web Worker Daily.

This is what’s happening: Francophilia, my startup, has its own Twitter account with hundreds of followers. Francophilia wants to follow all the francophiles back. But Francophilia can’t always tell if followers are actually francophiles, or if they’re just flagrant and indiscriminate self-promoters who have no interest in France or Frenchy stuff.

Take Rawinvstg, for example. Short (and hard to remember) for Raw Investigations, “an online music mag.” Now, maybe the person/people running that account are actually francophiles, but because the account is a “business” account, I have no idea if there’s a francophile behind the curtain.

Then there’s cellphonebestbu (another abbreviation mishap). Are the owners of this company that sells cell phone accessories in Mississauga, Canada, francophiles? I may never know. What I do know is that I don’t want to get their updates on their latest greatest deal for bluetooth headsets. So Francophilia is not following them back.

Among Francophilia’s legit business followers are boutique owners, wine merchants, real estate agents dealing in French property, gourmet shops, etc. This makes sense. But PETA? Or a religious charity? Or an online brokerage firm? There’s something fishy going on here.

I have two Twitter accounts, one for plain old me and one for Francophilia. I had the courtesy to create separate accounts because I didn’t want to waste the time of Francophilia followers with my updates and vice versa. You see?

As far as I’m concerned, Twitter only makes sense if genuine communities are formed. But how do we separate the “real” people from the imposters? Your thoughts?

Here’s a related post I wrote for Web Worker Daily, in which I emphasize the dangers of having your Twitter feed on your professional blog or site…

The theme of the conference was Connecting Communities. I chose my topic because I wanted to emphasize what is undoubtedly obvious to many: communities are made up of individuals, and you have to construct your digital self before you can join the online reindeer games.

It’s kind of amazing to me how many people are still not aware that they’re being Googled, despite the fact that most of them have Googled an ex boyfriend or girlfriend at least once… (I know you have too.)

I’m also surprised when I meet tech professionals who are still trying to stay under the radar online. I told my audience of technical communicators that it was in their best interest to start creating a professional online identity because a comfy, in-house tech writing job could simply vanish in this economy.

I just love tech events in Paris. They all seem to end with champagne.