Communications and networking are the sole properties we look for in web applications. If the contacts and connections aren’t there, doing business for yourself as a freelance graphic designer won’t be easy. You’ll have the talent, the tools, and the drive. But getting yourself out there is another story. You’ll need to build up your network and connect with others. There are a lot of tools out there, and depending on your line of work you may not require as much communication as others. But freelancing is a tough job, especially when you’re holding video chats and calling clients all day long.

Google Talk/Jabber IM:
The Google Talk service is built to support industry standards. You can connect to the Google Talk service using Google’s own client, as well as many other IM clients developed by third parties. Google Talk is an instant messaging service that provides both text and voice communication. Google Talk supports messaging with any service provider that supports the XMPP protocol. This includes Earthlink, Gizmo Project, Tiscali, Netease, Chikka, MediaRing, and, according to Google, “thousands of other ISPs, universities, corporations and individual users. The Jabber infrastructure works similar to email infrastructure – everyone can start their own server (or write a client) and servers exchange messages between each other.

Dribbble Players:
Dribbble is another networking tool for designers. You can call it a clique because it operates in a similar way, but it’s for the benefit of designers. For design concerned people, this social networking community serves as the most prolific hub of all work-related social activities. It is hardly a few years old and “design shots” are its specialty. You can used it in conjunction with Twitter and your website to increase your exposure and develop relationships with designers that you admire. It lets anyone interested in your work simply mail you a work proposal directly through your Dribbble page.

Freedcamp Project Management:
Freedcamp features a clutter-free minimalist interface and keeps everything accessible with links and a navigation bar with your selected apps at the top of the screen. When you log in you’ll see a Dashboard screen where you can add and customize widgets to display data from your apps, such as your upcoming milestones, the progress on your to-do list and your group’s activity on Freedcamp. The widgets display information only once you’ve begun using the apps and that’s where the fun begins.

iCloud:
iCloud is perhaps the most advanced personal cloud service out there. It comes with 5 GB of free storage. This feature is unfortunately reserved for Mac OSX 10.7 Lion users and currently has no port onto Windows or Linux. The cloud is revolutionizing computing as businesses and organizations shift from client-server model to cloud computing. You can perennially share your location, or create a Temporary Event, which broadcasts your location to specific people for a certain time period.