Wouldn’t it be great if you could update your contact information in all of your social networks at once? What if you could take that idea a step further, and automatically sync your info with organizations’ databases? No more filling out forms in the hospital waiting area. Or anywhere. Ever.
Meet the Social vCard (Sv), a possible key to each of these aims.
vCards are electronic business cards that contain name and address information, phone numbers, URLs, logos, photographs, and even audio clips. The Sv would be similar; but whenever you update the Sv, your personal information on social network systems could be automatically updated. You could choose which information that you’d want to sync to each specific network. For instance, I could choose to sync my name, email address and phone number with Facebook, but only my email for Twitter.
Similar steps have been taken with the OpenID initiative, to allow users to sign into any site with one ID. But OpenID doesn’t leave flexibility for syncing different amounts of information over different accounts. And why not make the ID tactile, readable in the real world? Imagine filling out a hospital form by simply scanning your Sv at the sign-in sheet. Awesome!
The Sv could even be tied to users’ personal ID cards, such as drivers’ licenses. If someone fraudulently tried to use your contact information, they could be flagged and could face consequences, which would deter identity theft.
I came up with the Sv concept during a post-partying bout of insomnia.
What do you think? Let me know.
