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Are there any good webapps for sharing contact details with friends AS WELL AS people I'm doing business with?

I know there are programs out there like Bump which make this process "fun" and "easy" but I want some other suggestions. I don't always find others who use Bump and I'd like to know what you all think is the best way to get your contact info shared with other people. I'm obviously looking for apps which are accessible via the web as well, but if they have mobile phone apps which extend the service (or even offer "off-the-grid" solutions), that's great, too!

**EDIT: I'm mostly interested in solutions which don't require the recipient to be part of any membership network to receive my contact info.

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  • Any post requesting a "list of X" should be created as community wiki. I converted this post. See this post for more information.
    – Senseful
    Aug 4, 2010 at 1:56
  • Forgot to tick the checkbox. Thanks.
    – Michael
    Aug 4, 2010 at 2:41

6 Answers 6

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Plaxo is the first one that comes into my mind. Also, take a look at Contails.

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  • I added some clarification to my question since some meaning was removed in an edit. Plaxo is very business oriented and has a members-only model which make it hard to share with people who don't use the service. I'd like to avoid these attributes if possible. Thanks for the suggestion!
    – Michael
    Aug 4, 2010 at 15:44
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You can use Contxts to SMS your "business card".

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  • This also sounds like a really great solution. Probably the closest one to what I'm looking for. Don't like the fact that you can only link up profiles if they belong to the same network, but I guess beggars can't be choosers.
    – Michael
    Aug 9, 2010 at 0:26
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Try http://www.unyk.com/

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  • I appreciate the suggestion however unyk.com seems like another take on Plaxo. I'm still playing with it, but I'm doubtful. Thanks still!
    – Michael
    Aug 12, 2010 at 15:32
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Most contact info applications (Outlook on Windows, Address Book on Mac, etc.) support a data format called VCF or vCard. Export your card as a .vcf file, then place that file on your blog or business website. You can now give a link to users; when they download the file it create a new entry in their contact application.

How to export your vCard:

Address Book On Mac:

  1. Open Address Book
  2. Find (or create and save) your entry
  3. Right click on your name, select "Export vCard..."
  4. Save your vCard

Outlook on Windows:

  1. Open Outlook --> Contacts
  2. Find (or create and save), then open your entry
  3. Select "File" --> "Save As..."
  4. In the dialog box, locate the "Save as type" dropdown menu
  5. Select "vCard Files (.vcf)"
  6. Save your vCard
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  • The vCard format is a nice solution, however there are many aspects which work against it. You need to download and import that card into whatever software you use and then have to update the vCard anytime the owner makes changes (which hopefully you're somehow made aware of, somehow). This alone makes it less appealing than any of the other options presented. Likewise, it still has its place in someone's workflow. Thanks, though.
    – Michael
    Aug 11, 2010 at 0:56
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+50

I don't know of anything that works exactly the way you want. You might look up WP Contact Manager for Wordpress or you might try digging around for services using Portable Contacts and/or Webfinger.

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  • I looked really hard for that Contact Manager Theme, but it looks like it changed to a SaaS type model. REALLY appreciate the Portable Contacts link. It seems like the sort of protocol support I should be looking for in a provider. Thanks.
    – Michael
    Aug 9, 2010 at 0:28
  • Of all the solutions, the Portable Contacts protocol gives the most promising way of fulfilling my needs. Thanks again!
    – Michael
    Aug 12, 2010 at 15:27
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As the others have said, if you're looking for the most straightforward digital delivery mechanism (as in, I want to give someone my card without them having to sign up for a service), Contxts or vCards may be your best option. (Portable Contacts also seems interesting...although I haven't seen a lot of progress on that front lately.)

However, as you also mentioned, both those solutions don't push your updated contact info to your contacts whenever you change it.

The problem is, in order for your contacts to accept a consistently-updated contact record for you, they'll need to adopt some standard as well - or subscribe to some sort of service to import it directly into their contacts. Portable Contacts is nice because it attempts to use existing standards to solve the problem...but no matter what, it still seems like you'll need buy-in from the recipient.

Regardless, lots of good options in the other answers, if you're willing to deal with the tradeoffs. FullContact is another one to add to the list (full disclosure - I work for them). It pulls in Google contacts, cleans them up, adds social profile data, then syncs back to Google.

Mostly, the issue becomes one of recipient-focused versus sender-focused solutions. If you want to be able to push your up-to-date contact info to someone, they're going to have to at least subscribe to the format of the service you plan to use. It's a chicken-or-egg problem.

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