Glossary
The language of keeping in touch.
Every field has its jargon — personal CRMs borrowed theirs from network science, sales software, and address-book standards all at once. These are plain-language definitions of the terms you'll meet, each with the research or spec it comes from.
Personal CRM basics
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Address book vs. CRM
An address book stores how to reach people; a CRM stores the relationship itself — notes, interaction history and reminders. The difference is state vs. story.
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Contact management
Contact management is keeping the data about your contacts accurate and usable: one record per person, current details, no duplicates, synced everywhere.
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Digital Rolodex
A digital Rolodex is the modern version of the rotating card file: an app that stores your contacts as searchable cards with details, notes and history.
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Local-first software
Local-first software keeps the primary copy of your data on your own device — apps work offline, sync is optional, and no server outage can lock you out.
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Networking CRM
A networking CRM is a personal tool for professional relationships: it tracks who you met, what you owe each other, and when to follow up — without a sales pipeline.
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Open-source CRM
An open-source CRM publishes its source code under a license letting anyone inspect, modify and run it — auditable privacy claims and no forced vendor exit.
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Personal CRM
A personal CRM is a private tool for managing your own relationships — friends, family, professional contacts — with notes, reminders and shared history.
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Personal relationship manager
A personal relationship manager (PRM) is software for nurturing your own network — the same idea as a personal CRM, named to drop the word 'customer'.
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Relationship intelligence
Relationship intelligence is insight derived from relationship data — who knows whom, how strong each tie is, and where attention is due — beyond raw contact lists.
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Relationship management
Relationship management is the deliberate practice of maintaining your relationships — noticing who matters, staying in touch on purpose, and keeping context.
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Self-hosted CRM
A self-hosted CRM runs on a server you control — your hardware or rented VPS — so contact data never sits in a vendor's cloud. Control included, ops too.
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Social CRM
Social CRM is customer relationship management extended into social media — engaging people where they post. In personal tools, it often means profile scraping.
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Zero-party data
Zero-party data is information a person intentionally and proactively shares with you — stated preferences and context, as opposed to data observed or bought.
Network science
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5+50+100 rule
The 5+50+100 rule is Judy Robinett's networking method: curate a Top 5, a Key 50 and a Vital 100, each circle with its own regular contact rhythm.
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Dormant ties
Dormant ties are once-active relationships that have lapsed. Research by Levin, Walter and Murnighan shows reconnecting them is surprisingly valuable.
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Dunbar's number
Dunbar's number is the proposed cognitive limit of about 150 stable relationships per person, derived by anthropologist Robin Dunbar from primate brain data.
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Network density
Network density is the share of possible connections in a network that actually exist. Dense networks breed trust; sparse ones carry novel information.
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Relationship decay
Relationship decay is the gradual weakening of ties when contact lapses. Longitudinal research by Roberts and Dunbar shows friendships fade fast without effort.
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Six degrees of separation
Six degrees of separation is the idea that any two people are connected by about six acquaintance steps — rooted in Stanley Milgram's small-world experiments.
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Social capital
Social capital is the value embedded in relationships — trust, information and reciprocity. The concept was shaped by Bourdieu, Coleman and Robert Putnam.
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Social graph
A social graph is the network of people and the relationships between them, modeled as nodes and edges. The term went mainstream with Facebook around 2007.
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Strength of weak ties
The strength of weak ties is Mark Granovetter's 1973 finding that acquaintances, not close friends, deliver most novel information and job opportunities.
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Structural holes
Structural holes are gaps between unconnected groups in a network. Ronald Burt (1992) showed people who bridge them gain information and control advantages.
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Super-connector
A super-connector is someone with an unusually large, diverse network who habitually introduces people across circles — Malcolm Gladwell's 'connectors'.
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Tie strength
Tie strength is how strong a relationship is. Mark Granovetter defined it in 1973 by time spent, emotional intensity, intimacy and reciprocal services.
Practice
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Business card scanning
Business card scanning uses OCR to turn a photographed card into a structured contact — name, company, phone, email — ready to import into an address book.
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CardDAV
CardDAV is the open protocol for syncing address books between devices and a server. Defined in RFC 6352, it layers vCard data over WebDAV and HTTP.
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Contact deduplication
Contact deduplication detects and merges duplicate address-book entries by matching normalized emails and phone numbers, plus fuzzy name comparison.
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Contact enrichment
Contact enrichment automatically appends third-party data — job titles, employers, social profiles — to a contact record, typically from broker databases.
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Contact sync
Contact sync keeps one address book consistent across devices and services — detecting changes, resolving edit conflicts, and propagating deletions.
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CRM hygiene
CRM hygiene is the routine upkeep of a contact database: merging duplicates, correcting stale fields, archiving dead entries, and filling critical gaps.
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Double opt-in intro
A double opt-in intro is an introduction made only after both people have separately agreed to it — so nobody gets an unwanted obligation in their inbox.
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Follow-up cadence
A follow-up cadence is the planned rhythm for re-contacting someone — 48 hours after meeting, then three weeks, then quarterly — so a contact doesn't stall.
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GDPR and contact data
The GDPR governs processing of personal data in the EU. Purely private address books fall under its household exemption; business use of contacts does not.
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Give-first networking
Give-first networking means opening relationships by being useful — intros, knowledge, visibility — trusting that value flows back through the network.
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Interaction log
An interaction log is a dated record of meaningful exchanges with a contact — calls, coffees, messages — so you keep the context, not just the name.
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Keep-in-touch frequency
Keep-in-touch frequency is how often you contact someone so the bond stays healthy — weekly for the inner circle, monthly for friends, quarterly beyond.
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Network maintenance
Network maintenance is the scheduled upkeep of your whole contact base — reviewing who matters now, re-warming cooling ties, pruning stale data.
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Networking ROI
Networking ROI is the return your relationship-building produces — referrals, opportunities, knowledge, support — weighed against the time and money you invest.
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Referral network
A referral network is the people who actively send opportunities your way — clients, candidates, projects — because they trust you enough to vouch for you.
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Relationship mapping
Relationship mapping charts how the people in a network relate — to you and to each other — revealing clusters, bridges, and who can introduce whom.
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Relationship nurturing
Relationship nurturing is the practice of small, regular acts of attention — remembering details, checking in, helping unprompted — so bonds deepen, not decay.
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Social to-do list
A social to-do list is a task list for relationships: birthdays coming up, follow-ups owed, introductions promised, and people you haven't seen in too long.
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Touchpoint
A touchpoint is any interaction that registers with the other person — a message, call, comment, coffee, or favor. Relationships are built from touchpoints.
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vCard
vCard is the standard file format for exchanging contact data (.vcf files). Version 4.0 is defined in RFC 6350; versions 2.1 and 3.0 remain in wide use.
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Warm introduction
A warm introduction is being connected to someone through a person you both trust, rather than reaching out cold. The introducer's credibility transfers to you.
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Warm outreach
Warm outreach is contacting people you share history or context with — former colleagues, dormant ties, community peers — instead of approaching strangers cold.