LinkedIn Adds 2.0 Apps

Business networking site LinkedIn recently added a series of applications designed to bring the site, itself already a leading 2.0 entity with a valuation that tops $1B, further into the 2.0 era.

Work collaboratively with your network.

* Box on LinkedIn: Share files and collaborate with your network.
* Huddle on LinkedIn: Private workspaces to collaborate with your network on projects.

The Company Buzz tool shows you the activity associated with your company taking place on popular microblogging service Twitter. (I've blogged about this service before, as Exxon-Mobil got brandjacked on Twitter recently).

The new app set includes tools such as trip alert service that allows you to share your upcoming trips, current location, and travel stats with your network, as well as collaborative tools that give you online workspaces for completing projects.

One of these tools is Google Presentations, which allows you to collaboratively create spreadsheets online -- I use this for business school, and it plays nice with PowerPoint and works quite well for long-distance collaboration.

Despite the fact that these tools are becoming more ubiquitous (and therefore invasive), anything that drives collaboration tools further into people's lives is a win in my book.