Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are essential social networking tools for any contractor today, but with the internet evolving at an alarming pace, freelancers may soon have to adapt to new fads, says one expert.

Laura Spencer advises readers of Freelance Folder that they should be getting to grips with five new social media tools: Amplify, One True Fan, Quora, Fluther and Mobile Interfaces.

Amplify, she explains, is a popular tool that works with other popular social media such as Twitter and Facebook to allow contractors to share what they find and love on the web.

One True Fan, on the other hand, is like foursquare but for the virtual places you visit rather than the physical, allowing contractors to check in to different sites they visit.

Quora and Fluther, continues Ms Spencer, are question answering sites with a social element while mobile interfaces now allow users to access all their social tools as apps.

This comes after news that IT contractors could see a spike in the number of 'do it yourself' cyber attacks.