IT contractors will soon find that more and more firms are using social networking sites as their business hubs, it has been claimed.

New research from IT analysts Gartner has found that 20 per cent of employees expect to do most of their businesses communication via sites like Facebook and Twitter by 2014.

Previously, firms have supported collaboration only through email and approved, structured applications, claims Gartner research vice-president Monica Basso.

Yet she suggests that social networks are now converging with these existing systems to create whole new methods of communication.

"However, a truly collaborative, effective and efficient workplace will not arise until organisations make these capabilities widely available and users become more comfortable with them," Ms Basso explained.

The Monster Employment Index recently revealed that there has been a sharp six per cent rise in job vacancies for IT contractors in the last month, representing an annual increase of 21 per cent.