I certainly don’t claim to be an early adopter of technology (the irony about my chosen career path is not lost on me, but more on that later) and come across many things long after they burst on the scene and turn into widely known and used products.

Jigsaw is one of those services/products that I have recently begun to understand.  Mostly because my inbox and voice mail box are filling up with messages from folks that seem to know exactly how to reach me (vs. finding me through our office phone switch).  This is not too surprising given my role as external spokesperson for MessageGate, but one particular inquiry and follow-up cell phone call made me ask the person how they found me.

The answer – Jigsaw.

I was certainly intrigued that somewhere out there my contact vitals are posted and once I got to understand how they build their contact base was left with a thought about how they have turned business cards and address books into currency that is freely traded.

In a way Jigsaw has created a dynamic marketplace of contact information where those who need to reach people they don’t know can trade on the value of the people they do know or know how to reach.

Which leads me to my next thought – who "owns" the value of my contact information?