Poken seems to have taken over the techie space as the next big thing in conferences and networking.  Don’t know what a Poken is?  Well, it’s basically a USB drive with a cartoon character for a cover.  The drive has software installed on it that automatically connects to the Poken website when you plug it in.  It also has a sensor on the hand that flashes when you “high 4″ with another poken, effectively exchanging virtual contact information.

I first learned of this product at Affiliate Summit East 2009, thanks to Peter Shankman mentioning them in his keynote.  It seemed like everyone wanted a Poken after that – and many people bought some from Peter before the conference was over.  Peter has obviously identified these cute little virtual business cards as a significant advance in sharing contact information, a “game-changer”, even.

But are Poken really the wave of the future?

It depends who you are.  If you travel and network a lot, they could be incredibly useful as they pick up popularity and more people are available for you to “high 4″ with.  Shelly Good-Cook says of the device, “I bought one a couple months and other than my twin sister, for whom I also bought one, I haven’t found anyone to “high five” mine with.  I took it to a networking event I attended in Arlington, VA recently where most of the attendees were young, hip and computer savvy, but none of them had heard of it yet.  I even met a reporter who covered that beat and it was new to her, so I gave her the scoop on it, hoping she covers it.  They may have won a Tech Crunch Award in Europe, but they still have work to do in the U.S. before they get wide spread adoption.  For me, this is like the early days of the fax machine.  I have one but there isn’t much value in it until a lot more people get one.  Most of the people I talked to about it at the networking event thought it was a great idea, although some of the men were less than thrilled with the limited design options.  Most thought $20 was reasonable for the functionality although a few balked at the price point, stating it was much too high.”

Poken has responded to the cartoon complaints and come out with a more professional looking Poken, the Poken Pulse, that looks much closer to a traditional USB drive and boasts 2GB of space and traditional USB drive functionality in addition to the Poken networking features.  At a higher price point, I actually expect more professionals will go with it over the cartoonish regular Poken as it does have that added functionality.  Most of the feedback I get about Poken are from my contacts in the affiliate marketing community, and I wonder now that there have been a couple more conferences if they’ve gotten more use.  Elizabeth Hannan said of her Poken, “I have had a experience with Poken at SXSW 09 where I was first introduced to Poken. It was incredibly helpful and made awkward introductions into easy conversations.”.  I can definitely see how that is beneficial for those of us that are friendly but not incredibly extroverted.

Whether or not these are the wave of the future, time will tell.  The buzz has seemed to died down in the last few months, but they’re not being tossed aside with that m100 Palm Pilot just yet.  Do you Poken?  Share your story!

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