From White Pages to Yellow Pages (circa 1878), these collections of information were (and continue to be) valuable resources for everyone. (Perhaps to the dismay of certain people who wound up in front of telemarketers’ sights.) They are, however, a goldmine for you if you want to get in contact with anyone and are unsure of their social media presence (or even if they have social media).
With that said, let’s look at a few ways cell phone directories are worth investing your time in.
1. Cost Is Free
Online cell phone directory cost you nothing. All you have to do is enter the number of the person you’re looking up – and all their information is at your hands.
To make things sweeter, if you want to make it easier for friends to find you, it costs you nothing whatsoever to add your number to a directory. This is particularly useful if you’re a business-owner looking to keep initial start-up costs low. As it costs nothing to input your information, potential customers and prospects will be able to find you in a cinch.
2. Trust Issues
As it’s free for people to put their information in directories, there’s apt to be human error. (It happens; we make mistakes.) Who knows how many thousands of people incorrectly enter their own number? Let alone their personal information such as their name, occupation, prefix and address. (Even their criminal background or possible bankruptcies, if you’re so inclined to dig that deeply.)
As a directory, any and all user input is the sole responsibility of whomever is inserting the information into the directory. Therefore, when you’re using any directory, it’s best to keep a (healthy) skepticism about the information you see in said directories. The user may have changed address or number and forgot to send in updated information into the directory.
3. Availability
In 2014, over 1,700,000 people used mobile devices. Statista estimates that over 2 billion people will use Smartphones by 2020. (And who knows how many people use 2 or more Smartphones.) In fact, Quartz Media revealed that there are almost as many subscriptions (6.8 billion) as there are people (7 billion). That is a staggering amount of more subscriptions than the number of people who have had landlines – which have been around for ages. Not including the hundreds of thousands of cellphones produced 10-20 years ago. (Or the amount of kids who own one.)
More and more people are switching from boring Yellow/White Page directories and opting to be in a cell phone directory. In laymen’s terms, this simply means that the person you’re looking to reach is (more than likely) in said directory. As opposed to the aforementioned “Page” directories that are landline-specific and don’t contain as many numbers these days.
Conclusion
Landline phone directories are on the fast-track towards the back burners. There’s virtually little reason to not sign up or use a cell phone directory. Anyone who is anyone can be reached for only a few minutes (perhaps seconds) of your time. The world is updating: if you haven’t kept up with the times, what are you doing with yourself?
