LinkedIn, PDA, Outlook - or Rolodex?

Posted by Laura Bergells

November 30, 2007

Rolodex In the era of LinkedIn, PDA, and Outlook Contact Managers, Katherine Rosman of the Wall Street Journal wonders about the relevancy of the Rolodex.

For the record: Yes, I have a LinkedIn Profile. And a PDA. And Outlook.

But I also have a realio, trulio, Rolodex brand card file on my desk (Refill No. S30&SB31 Patented.) Most of the cards are yellowed and heavily thumbed. It’s comforting.

I don’t have a huge Rolodex with thousands of names. Just the names of people I call on occasion. It’s sufficient.

However, I keep every business card someone hands me. I keep them in cookie tins. It started years ago, with “The Executive’s FruitCake” — which I received as a holiday biz gift. It’s kitschy and quaint, storing old-world b-cards in old-world gift baskets and tins on my office shelves.

LinkedIn may let me see my connections. But business cards, cookie tins, and my Rolodex lets me feel my connections.

It’s an honorable distinction!

How do you rate Rolodexes and Business Cards in the LinkedIn era?

Timeless classics — or hopelessly kitsch?