A coworker passed this along this week, and I was really impressed by how this free service looks. Disclaimer: I have NOT tried this service out.

Contxts is a free, text messaging business card service. The service allows you to text people you meet a virtual, text message business card. By doing this ou are automatically added to their online contact list AND if they have a pre-existing profile through Contxts, you’ll be connected on their social networking site.

Why do this? Who cares when everyone has business cards anyway? I can think of a few reasons – it’s relatively easy, you only need a cell phone and text messaging capabilities, it’s more permanent than a business card, etc. The site also offers a few reasons:

We all know the scenario, you meet someone (man, woman, clown) at a gathering of professionals (conference, party, Bar Mitzvah) and all goes well. You reach for your left shirt pocket which is where you keep your business cards. Oh no! You’re all out…

Are you picking up what I’m laying down? Ok so maybe that scenario didn’t pique your interest, let’s try another. You just got back from your gathering of professionals and you want to connect with all of the people that you met. So you pull out your stack of cards and you go through your social network of choice searching for each one by one. Why?

It seems easy to use, so I’m surprised I haven’t heard of it before. Simply register your phone number and username with Contxts, then customize the information you’ll want shared via text message. A la Twitter, you have 140 characters to fit your basic information, and you can add your other social network contacts for visitors to Contxts’s web site who want more info. When you meet someone you want to share your contact info with, simply have them text your username to 50500, or you can your friend’s number to Contxts from your registered phone. In return, your new acquaintance will receive all your info that you’ve set up with Contxts, and you don’t have to worry about carrying around business cards or killing trees.

Have you tried this out? Has anyone heard of this service? I’m surprised I hadn’t heard anything about it before this week — it looks great!

UPDATE: Just found this old article about the service on Lifehacker. Check it out here. Looks like the service hasn’t changed since then.