Imagine you are at a job fair. You have 10 copies of your resume, and 50 business cards. You are ready to network!

However, about half way through the aisles you begin to run out of materials. So you’re more selective about who you give your information to. Then you begin to wonder what those companies are actually going to do with your card or resume…will they be tossed away or lost in the pile of hundreds of other ones from the day? How are you going to get the company to check out your LinkedIn profile or professional portfolio?

Here comes Poken.

Poken is the Social Business Card

A Poken is a small, radio-frequency device that, when touched with another Poken, exchanges information. You can share your picture, your social networking sites, your resume or anything else you choose. After the exchange is made, you plug in the device to your computer and it syncs up with a free website. Here you can manage your contacts in a timeline.

The vision is that instead of handing out cards or resumes, you can just bump-fists with someone else and get a copy of their social profiles.

BMW is using this technology at trade shows. People are given Pokens, and then they bump-fists with the cars that they like best.

Job fairs are giving these out to companies and job seekers.

Networking groups are encouraging members to get Pokens to help break the ice and make exchanging info easier.

Using Poken to Stand Out of the Crowd

“Do you Poken?”

“Poken? What’s that?”

A great way to separate yourself and show that you are cutting edge is to have access to cutting edge technology. It’s also a great ice breaker. Perhaps you even give a corporate recruiter an extra Poken, they’ll remember you, and get some use out of it.

I brought 12 Pokens to a professional conference last month and gave them out. I had a lot of fun with this. By the end of the conference, I was fist bumping new Poken contacts and starting some interesting discussions about social media innovation.

The challenge is that for it to be totally useful, every single person needs to have one. So don’t write off biz cards just yet. But while this is still new, you can take advantage of it’s quirkiness.

Where Can You Get a Poken

In America, you can get your Poken from Poken Zoo.

They are about $20, and if you buy a bunch, they’re cheaper.

You can learn more about Poken here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poken
blog.pronetworkingonline.com/tag/poken
pokenzoo.com