News

January 06, 2012

Moo.com gives away 10 million “social business cards” via Facebook

Online business card manufacturer Moo.com has teamed up with Facebook to give away 10 million social business cards via the social networking site.

A total of 200,000 people will be able to claim 50 of the cards each, which will enable them to feature their "cover photos" from Facebook on the front, along with a quote and their Facebook contact information on the reverse.

The first 50,000 claimants will get the cards entirely free, while the next 150,000 will have to pay postage. Once the 10 million are claimed, there will be a charge of £10 for 50 customised cards.

Moo.com founder Richard Moross said that the joint promotion with the social networking giant recognised that the lines between personal and business lives were increasingly disappearing.

"We're in very new territory," he said. "There's an incredible blurring of the lines between what should be shared professionally and what is shared personally.

"You could argue that in the world today, a traditional business card just isn't enough anymore," added Moross. "We are much more than our job and technology has enabled us to share that."

Facebook has recently increased its offer to small businesses and now enables e-commerce through the site, as well as dedicated business pages.

However, Moross said he didn't expect the cards to be restricted to business use. "Business cards are 300 years old and were initially used as a social product," he said. "But businesses got hold of them and used them as a corporate tool. We'd expect these to be used in a slightly different way from regular business cards. It's a much more social application than in the past."

A Facebook spokesman described the initiative as an "integration" illustrating how the social networking site has "an open platform which is available to any company, developer or entrepreneur".

People wishing to take advantage of the free business cards offer need to have the Facebook Timeline feature activated on their Facebook page. They should then see a "Rollover" button next to their "Contact Info". Click on that and it will start the process of creating a business card.

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