QR Codes – The Future of Networking?

The Shift

I’ve been going to networking and small business events for a decade now. Investor meetups, real estate guru talks, happy hours, job fairs, trade shows; you name it, I’ve been to a dozen of them. When I first started, people used physical business cards with their name, and their email/phone/website. Then it shifted over to QRs to either LinkedIn profiles or personal sites. However, in the past year there has been a much larger shift that caught my attention.

Starting in early 2024, I saw a meteoric rise in QR code-based contact swapping tools; platforms like Popl, blinq, and their competitors. Users get a full profile to show off their professional background & add contact info/relevant sites, and easy tools for sharing/swapping info; most of them work even if the other party is new to the platform, keeping things frictionless and natural.

If you’ve ever attended such an event, you’re aware of how quickly you can lose people’s attention, and subsequently, that connection. Those first impressions are everything, and being on the bleeding edge of technology is a sure way to stand out; as an individual, and as a company.

The Decline of the Physical Business Card

It’s easy to see why the physical business card started its death throes in the wake of these new technologies. A hefty card with a fancy foil pattern isn’t going to impress any more. It’s a relic of the past.

Why buy business cards, reprint them for every single update, and carry them around with you? The QR code approach is convenient in that its on your phone already, it’s easy to update, there are a plethora of integrations available, and it’s frictionless for you and your audience.

Furthermore, a 2023 study found that the print rate of traditional cards dropped by more than 70% post-COVID-19, though the demand for contactless digital business cards has surged.

What People Are Using Instead

Short Links

• Linktr.ee has grown consistently in popularity among creators & speakers – surpassing 50 million users in 2024. Every user can create a custom short-link that represents their online brand. It can contain their social media profiles, relevant articles, best resources, etc. Linktr.ee also features robust analytics, marketing tools, and custom theming. It’s a powerful tool that encompasses your online presence into a single, minimal profile.
• Tack – a newcomer on the scene – offers much the same, with added flexibility in some areas. Users can create up to 50 unique bundles, called ‘Tacks’. Each Tack is its own lightweight hub with a unique short-link/QR to a set of files, links, and optionally, contact information. Guests can leave their info as well – like a digital version of the goldfish bowl for business cards. With deeper analytics, and more branding tools on the horizon, we’d recommend keeping an eye on this one.
• Bit.ly – As the official link shortener of Twitter (back when 140 chars was all you got) bit.ly took the world by storm. It was the go-to tool for shortening links, with powerful analytics on the back-end showing you what links your audience engaged with the most. They’ve continued to evolve, with QR code
• All 3 options listed have easily available QR codes that send guests to their custom short-link. Making it easy for users to share their content anywhere in a cross-platform way.

QR Codes

Popularized during the no-contact era of the Pandemic, QR codes are seemingly everywhere now. Research shows that QR code scans surged to 41.77 million in 2025, increasing by 433% over the past four years. Menus, maps, vendor booth handouts, presentations/demos, business cards, the list goes on. Over 94 million U.S. consumers were using QR scanners weekly by the end of 2023, predicted to hit over 110 million by 2026.

Millennials and Gen Z are particularly engaged, with around 51% of millennials and 49% of Gen Z consumers scanning QR codes weekly. 

It’s understandable. QR codes provide easy distribution of just about any digital resource to anyone with a phone (literally everybody), in seconds. They can be put anywhere, even online if a webinar or ad is being viewed on a secondary device (TV, laptop, etc.)

Nearly 60% of business leaders reported plans to invest heavily in QR code marketing strategies due to their flexibility and high engagement rates by consumers. Bit.ly repoted some businesses saw a nearly 25% increase in web traffic, due entirely to their implementation of QR codes.

NFC Cards and Devices

NFC cards like Dot. cards are much like the credit card tap technology we use for contactless payment, except used for swapping contact information. Imagine a sleek, heavy business card that looks like magic when you tap it to a guest’s phone and your contact info shows up. They can be updated remotely via an app or web interface, and are sure to impress in one-on-one contact situations.

However, they’re limited in that they usually lack any sort of QR code generation for sharing to a group, and they are also limited in that you only get a single profile for your $15/mo subscription, making it hard to tailor for specific events or clients.

The physical NFC cards themselves can also be pricey, with some costing upwards of $60.

The Future of Networking

It’s clear that the way we connect is evolving rapidly. Business cards and bulky portfolios are being replaced by lightweight digital hubs. Physical cards are being traded in for a single link that represents your online self. The market continues to demand options that allow for flexibility, with a level polish that makes the user stand out among thousands of others.

QR codes and short links have become the handshake of the modern era. Quick, universal, and effortless to share. Instead of sharing individual social links, personal sites, and email signatures, professionals are now turning to personal hubs and “link-in-bio” pages that instantly tell their story and make it easy to connect & follow up.

This shift is driven by convenience, yes. But also, a desire to be remembered, to connect with others, and to show off who we are.

Closing Thoughts

I think this shift in personal sharing and curation of who we are as individuals will continue to change, with users desiring more freedom to express their digital selves.

The idea behind the business card “use this info to connect deeper with me” is not a dead idea. It is simply evolving, much the way many other things in our lives have and will continue to do. It is easier than ever to create something with the tools available today, but with such a low barrier to creation, the world both online and offline seems to be noisier than ever.

It’s no wonder people are doubling down on their personal brand in an effort to stand out. With employment being more uncertain by the day due to advances in AI, it’s a powerful statement to say “here is the full story of me, an authentic person with a story, goals, and a desire to connect”.