Freelance working: Mobile technology and social media

Freelance workers are important contributors to the United Kingdom’s (UK) economy and they are growing significantly not at least because technology enables them to work on their own account. Reports based on Labour Force Survey (LFS) data estimate that there were 1.9 million freelance workers in the UK in 2015, constituting 6% of all UK workers in employment (Kitching 2016). While much attention has been paid to the reasons why their numbers have increased, little is known about the work practices of freelancers and the role played by new technology in organising their work and running a business.