I like the poster's "open standards" view on the topic. Of course closed platforms try to destroy this - try downloading your contacts from LinkedIn in vCard f

I like the poster's "open standards" view on the topic. Of course closed platforms try to destroy this - try downloading your contacts from LinkedIn in vCard format and email one of them. You can do exports, but there won't be email addresses in them! And try to delete a conversation there in order to avoid that it leaks in case one day LI may get hacked - not possible. Smart people don't carry out business conversations on LI but quickly move to another medium. My hope is that as LinkedIn is increasingly becoming like Facebook, that eventually all people will leave for something simple(r). By the way, I have started using real paper business cards again. They are more useful if no-one else is giving out any. So after a a conference, guess what attendees find in their bags when they come home? My card. And when I return from a conference, I go through all contacts I've made and enter some data in a plain text file (the only durable format), with LI still an additional step (but >4000 people that you cannot organize in groups easily makes it a data grave). You should start a vcards.org business network where people can add their own profile and follow others. You would only need "Create business card" - an interactive editor, a single page HTML form, "Search for Contacts" (a simple Lucene fielded search) + a "Follow" button and a "Post an Update" function - if not commercial and minimalist style like your own page, I would immediately sign up there.