Add to your business networking tools

LinkedIn has just burst through the two million member mark in Australia, underlining its dominance in the online business networking space.

However, there are other tools you should consider beyond just building a LinkedIn profile and accessing the website of your nearest business gathering.

There are now a wide range of apps you can utilise to link yourself to other entrepreneurs and potential business collaborators.

For example, Happening allows you to find nearby business events and confirm your attendance via your iPhone. The app is based on Yahoo! Upcoming, a piece of social software that allows you to view you and your contacts’ event attendance.

Or you could try out Unsocial, which brands itself as a cross between LinkedIn and Foursquare. The app flags up nearby people, at, say, a conference, who you should meet. It decides who to connect you with based on smart tags and user profiles.

Other apps help out with the practicalities of networking – Business Card Reader is one of several apps that allow you to scan business cards for digital reference, while MeetMe finds venues that are equidistant between you and your contact, negating the need for endless emails to work out a suitable café for a catch-up.