Poken: Crossing the Social Networking Divide

When it comes to social networking, I've tried most of the flavours. I started with a Myspace, moved onto a Bebo, before currently settling on my Facebook profile.

I think that these services are now an invaluable tool for sharing my life with other people. I can talk about what I'm up to, share photos, and chat with friends. Using things like my twitter and Facebook updates, I try to give people online an insight into some areas off my off-line life. But there is still a separation, there is a line between the online social networking accounts and 'real life' social networking. I was very excited to read about a company who are crossing that divide, and combining real life interactions with online social networks.

Poken (currently in beta) is a company selling small key chain mascots called Pokens. Your personal Poken character is programmed with your online social-networking information (e.g. email address, instant messenger ID, Facebook accounts, and more to come). When you meet someone else, to exchange this information with them you high-five the Pokens like you see in the picture above. The action of high-fiving the Pokens allows the details to be exchanged between them. Now, when the Poken is plugged back into your computer (thru' USB) it automatically links your accounts.

I suppose it's a bit geeky, but it's a slick way to exchange details - no need for business cards, or scribbling down on napkins. It also sort of confirms that your going to be connected, it's become part of an automatic process rather than a business card that someone may get around to reading again.

They are currently only selling Pokens in packs of 12 - so if they are 11 people out there who are also interested, leave me a comment and we can get something sorted! It would work out about £8 each.

What do you think about this? Is this a step too far? Or should we be embracing the crossover of real-life and online social networking?