IT contractors who have a familiarity with social media could find new opportunities due to a rising number of firms looking at these areas.

Will McInnes, managing director of digital media agency Nixon McInnes, has claimed that the UK is reaching a point where these networks will be becoming better integrated.

He stated that there is a real cross section of organisations beginning to see ways to incorporate these technologies within themselves.

The roll out of advances like Google Adwords is having an affect on the number of smaller businesses taking advantage of social media, he asserted.

He suggested that many of the larger corporations move extremely slowly, meaning IT contractors brought in to implement social media strategies will face more resistance.

Mr McInnes stated: "The hardest changes will come in organisations with the strongest cultures, the most calcified infrastructures."

Recent research by Gartner has predicted that social networking services will replace email as the primary vehicle for interpersonal communications for 20 per cent of companies by 2014.