Mini Moo Cards and Flickr

I have been putting off getting a flickr account. And now I have a new reason to stop holding out: mini moo cards. That's right MOO. Think cow.

I love the look of flickr, even before Yahoo! bought it, I loved it. And these days there are some super amazing, PROfessional photos that get uploaded there. I just feel that I'm not good enough to have a flickr account. I love to take photos. I love to look at photos - especially really good photos. I'm just not sure that I have the patience to learn to take the creative, daring, memorable shots.

But, what's moo and flickr got to do with each other? Apparently, the scoop at the Tokyo2Point0 meeting on Tuesday night was that all the kool kidz were handing out the ultra mini, photo cropping, eye-catching mini business cards. Today, I was re-organizing my purse and I rediscovered the name cards that I had collected from the night. My eye was instantly drawn to the brilliant colours of the two moo cards I had in my possession; that was 40 percent of my collection. Almost independently, my fingers were drawn to the smooth texture of the moo cards and the small shape. They became protective of them, wanting to ensure that they didn't slip from the pile or get lost in the organizing shuffle.

In my 7 months here, I have learned that Tokyo is truly a city that thrives on meishi (name/ business cards). It's one of the first things you give/receive when meeting someone new. Even if you don't have a job or if you just want to attend a social networking function for the sake of social networking with no business intentions, you bring a name card. You must give yours with two hands and you must receive theirs with two hands. You must be facing them when you exchange cards. If you are sitting, you must not put the cards away, but instead keep them on the table in front of you. If you have exchanged multiple name cards, then you must order your name cards in the order that people are sitting so as to get all their names and titles correct. If you are standing, you must never put them in your back pocket. They must see you put it carefully away in an important looking encasing or folder. Believe it or not, you must carry out this ritual with the utmost aura of sincerity so as to not offend the proffering person.

At the most recent web2.0 networking presentations/meetings, 'everyone who was anyone' was handing out a moo card. They feel nice in addition to looking great (assuming you've chosen an interesting photo). They are so small that you are forced to take a second look at them. Although, in the dimness of the up-lit ceilinged venue, you would have had to take a second look with any card you were holding. But there's just something so ... je ne sais quois ... about them. Without being ingested, they are addictive. I wanted to go up and announce that anyone with a moo card was welcome to submit one to me. I didn't do it of course. But it would have been so cool. I mean, this is a business card that's so ... personal and inviting. Hey, did you take that picture? What is it? Really? What kind of camera do you have?...

Part of the coolness factor (at least for me), is the puzzle quotient. Each set of moo cards is made up of one of your own photos on the back and then sliced up into mini-moo card sizing so that when you distribute your cards at a meeting ... the 5 or 6 people who sequentially receive your mini-moo card can solve a simple jigsaw puzzle. It's just so cool. It has the potential to be the new ice-breaker game at company picnics, or random meet-ups. Don't want to initiate a conversation? No problem. Everyone who holds Jane Facilitator's mini-moo card, get together and solve the photo puzzle. The first team to correctly solve the puzzle would win a cool prize, maybe another moo.com photo article. See? These cards can lead to so much more than a quick exchange of names.

Mini moo cards. Ever since seeing one and touching one on Tuesday night, I've spent my idle waking moments pondering my own future moo card contents. The potential photo to use. The fun name and social information I would include. Of course, I would include this blog, but other fun stuff about me too. And then I began to imagine simultaneously having different moo cards with different photos and different faces of Tokyo Trilllium: the social me, the fun me, the volleyball loving me...

I've just googled them (when did google become a verb?) and found out that you can actually just upload photos direct to them or use one of their 'professionally created' photos for your own moo card. So in the end, I don't have to start a flickr account to get my mini moo dream card, but since I've opened up this blog, I have found that I actually like putting my thoughts to keyboard keys and posting. There is a small part of me that is fearful that I will become even more addicted to my new digital SLR camera if I open up a flickr account... but then it opens up a whole new world of possibilities. Like perhaps the possibility that I could order a new moo card every week or every photo upload?

In the interest of protecting the innocent kool kidz who so generously supplied me with my moo card samples, I have decided not to upload photos of my moo cards. However, you can easily do a google search for "moo cards flickr" and find a flickr photo group displaying their own moo card collections. You may also find moo.com themselves and delight at the richness of the photo variety. Happy moo hunting.