Today’s Business Brought To You By Twitter.

I’m going to be honest – I got the idea for this blog post from a tweet that I saw from Christopher Peri, creator of the Twitter application TwittFilter. It was a simple tweet: “Twitter is the new business card” and that struck a chord with me immediately.

Having gone to numerous events and conferences related to the technology, social media and marketing scene, I’ve found one thing that is common amongst them all: Twitter is a major connection for people. A lot of the people that I see at these events are doing one of two things: building up a network of people on Twitter or meeting their Twitter-colleagues for the first time in real life (IRL).

I like what Christopher Peri has put into play in his latest blog post. Typically when meeting new people, I would love to get a business card because I’m one who fancies the tangible business card, but Peri has a great point in that typically the bio and web link of someone’s Twitter’s profile has much more valuable information than what one would find on a business card. If you happen to run out of business cards, what would be one of the most common pieces of information that you could remember? Chances are it would be the person’s Twitter handle. All it takes is to get that screen name, take out your smartphone (Blackberry, iPhone, Palm Pre, etc.) and immediately you would follow that contact. Once you get home, you can scout out their profile page, take a look at their bio and click on their web link. From there, you’ll get the information that you can add to your address book – contact information, resume, blog information, company they work for, title, etc. and it would be the most up-to-date info.

What’s probably more intriguing about getting one’s Twitter information is that you can recognize the person’s personality behind what they have on their Twitter page. How so? Look at how they write and whether the tone that they use with their peers/colleagues and if what they are tweeting about is representative of who they say they are on their bio. But one downside is whether or not that person has an actual Twitter account. Yes, it is entirely possible that the person you meet at an event may not have a Twitter account – and there’s nothing wrong with it, but that is unfortunately one issue that will have to be dealt with when the time arises.

So the next time you happen to run out of those tangible business cards, remember to ask or give out your Twitter handle. That piece of information readily exchanged will help create a conversation online as well as bolster one already taking place offline. You’ll understand who some of the people they know as well and realize who they’re connected with. It seems that the world has slowly become that of the gaming world – and by this I mean everyone is starting to be known by their handles so why not make it easier for people to remember one word than a series of numbers, an email address, and your name. Give them the resource to continue the conversation, look for your contact information, and be able to connect with you on a higher plane.

UPDATE (July 25, 2008 11:07 am PST): You can read Christopher Peri’s blog post here or feel free to check out his latest work called Twittfilter here.