The influence of IT in the business world may be set to increase even further over the next few years as new research shows a swing among younger workers and entrepreneurs towards online networking.

Making contacts can be a major part of a company's success, but a Vodafone survey shows that while using the phone to keep in touch with business associates remains the method of choice among the over 40s, its popularity drops by a third among those workers under that age.

Even more concerning for telecoms firms is that nearly half of entrepreneurs under twenty years old said they never pick up the phone and do all their networking on the web.

Commenting on the results of the survey, Kyle Whitehill, Vodafone UK's director of enterprise, said: "Online networking is a huge phenomenon and one that will no doubt have an impact on some the ways business communicate and market themselves."

However, recent warnings have been issued over the security of online networking, with a survey conducted by ICM showing that one in four social network users in the UK have posted confidential or personal information to these websites.