Labour cranks up the social media machine

The Labour Party wants to ensure that supporters get up-to-date information

The Labour Party has put together a social media strategy for the 2010 general election, with micro-blogging site Twitter at its heart.

The launch follows recent criticism of political parties for lacking an effective presence on social networks.

Labour said that it will encourage front-line campaigners to use Twitter for real-time feedback, which they can then act on immediately.

The party will also keep Twitter followers updated with the latest news using the Twitter hash tag #labourdoorstep.

"This is to ensure that supporters get up-to-date information and can feed in questions," said a Labour Party spokeswoman. "It will be a two-way conversation. "

The spokeswoman explained that the party's social media strategy had grown organically over time, accompanied by training for key campaign participants.

Labour is also using online video to generate support. The party has its own YouTube channel and hosts videos on its web site that visitors can send directly to their Facebook profiles.

"It is a lot easier to spread messages around supporters with social media," said the spokeswoman. "Last year we got the communications in place, and now we are developing and establishing the process."

The Conservative Party said in response to Labour's announcement that it is already using social media, pointing to its use of Facebook pages, the launch of a MyConservatives web site for party campaigners, and the many MPs it has using Twitter.

These include shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, shadow environment secretary Nick Herbert and Conservative Party chairman Eric Pickles.

A Tory spokeswoman said that the party's use of Twitter is designed to "get our message out to as many different people as possible".

The Conservative Party was criticised during a digital media panel debate earlier this week for its "top down" approach to social networks, while Labour was said to have adopted a "grass roots" level of social network participation that is generally disorganised.

The panel concluded that social media is unlikely to affect the result of the forthcoming general election.

The Search Engine Strategies London 2010 conference, meanwhile, discussed the relative merits of both parties' use of social media, according to reports.

The Tories are interested in using social media to reach out to more supporters and promote policy, conference delegates were told, while Labour is using social networks to stay in contact with its own supporters more efficiently.