Biznik is an online social network for independent business professionals looking to meet others. The Seattle-based company has been around for some years now, but is set to launch an updated version with more web 2.0 features in the next couple of days. One of the newest features focus around a user’s location. Enabling the search to have more location-aware functionality brings more value to the users, as this is an important parameter to consider when building a professional network and planning events. Also, when setting up your own profile, you can choose to find users within a certain proximity, ranging from 5-500 miles, making your own online experience more personal and relevant to you. The other major update to biznik is the ability to message, befriend and send business referrals to other users from a drop-down box that appears wherever the user’s icon is shown throughout the site.

Biznik currently has just under 4,000 members, in 70 countries. Most of our members are in the Seattle area, though the new site's localization features should make it much more relevant and useful to non-Seattle members.