Cards go 2.0

(Business 2.0 Magazine) -- User-generated content -- on services like Flickr, Second Life, Habbo Hotel, and Six Apart -- is about pixels, not printed matter.

But by partnering with those companies, London-based startup Moo hopes to become the Hallmark of the Web 2.0 generation. Moo's first product: MiniCards, business cards whose flip side can be customized with your online photo or virtual-world avatar.

Unlike its rival Qoop, Moo can put a different image on each of the 100 MiniCards in a $20 order. More than 3 million MiniCards have been printed since their debut in September, and the company expects to ship 10 million by the end of 2007.

Greeting cards based on the same idea were launched in April. Says Moo's 29-year-old founder and CEO, Richard Moross, "We take people's virtual lives offline." Next, Moross plans to use his $5 million in funding to launch stickers, posters, and larger cards in time for the holiday season, which accounts for 80 percent of sales in the $7.5 billion greeting card industry.