Hello, recently, the topic of "Are you still using paper business cards?" has come up here and there in the office.
An interesting survey has just come out, so today I'll give a brief summary of the current state of business cards and business communication.
📝The current state of business cards and self-introductions as seen in survey data
A survey of 800 company employees (aged 20-59) was conducted in March 2025, and the points to note are as follows:
**76%** responded that they are "not good at self-introductions in business"
**About 50%** of people in their 20s feel that "paper business cards alone do not convey their appeal"
**65%** of people in their 20s are positive and want to "use digital business cards"
Looking at this, we can see that the nature of business cards and the way we think about self-introductions are changing dramatically.
📉Are we moving away from email? LINE and SNS are also spreading to work
When asked "What tools do you use for business?", people in their 20s answered as follows:
Email: 45%
LINE: 19%
Instagram DM: 10%
Facebook Messenger: 10%
X (formerly Twitter) DM: 8%
Looking at the increase and decrease from last year, email decreased by 19%. LINE and Instagram increased by 7% and 6%, respectively.
Email decreased by 20% and LINE increased by 10% especially among people in their 40s. The era of relying only on email is no longer over.
🪪 "The problem of too little information on business cards"
About 50% of people in their 20s feel that "paper business cards alone cannot fully convey the appeal of myself and my company."
And **47%** of the total answered that "I have been able to work more smoothly by sharing my hobbies, hometown, career, etc."
You can't tell a person's personality just by their title or department name.
🌱A perfect self-introduction for digital business cards
Perhaps due to this background, interest in digital business cards is particularly high among people in their 20s.
"I already use them": 15%
"I'd definitely like to try them": 20%
"I'd like to try them a little": 30%
The most common reasons given were:
"Easy to manage with data": 55%
"Environmentally friendly": 38%
"Can convey more information than paper": 29%
Rather than business cards, there is a need for them as a **"platform for self-introductions"**.
🙈"Not good at self-introductions" was normal
The most surprising thing about this survey was that **76%** of people answered that they were "not good at self-introductions." The most common reason was "I don't know what to talk about" (47%).
81% of people in their 50s felt uncomfortable with self-introductions, so it seems that many people, not just young people, are confused regardless of generation.
📎Paper or digital? Instead, we are moving towards an era of "distinguishing between different types of cards."
It's not that paper business cards are bad, but I feel that the trend of flexibly switching to a style that suits the times is definitely coming.
If online, exchange business cards with a single link.
At exhibitions and events, use QR codes.
If face-to-face, use a hybrid of paper and SNS.
In this way, it may be natural to change the "shape of business cards" according to the situation.
✍️Summary: Business cards are changing from a tool for "communicating" to a tool for "connecting."
More and more people are feeling that paper business cards alone are not enough.
People are moving away from email, and SNS and LINE are becoming business tools.
76% of people feel uncomfortable introducing themselves. There is a high demand for support tools.
Digital business cards are becoming one of the options to fill that gap.
If you think of business cards as the beginning of human relationships,
it may be time to be a little more free with their shape.