Labour lead social media battle

The first skirmishes in the election campaign on social media have been fought, with Labour and its video with actor Martin Freeman winning on Facebook and smaller parties finding an edge on Twitter, analysis by the Press Association has shown.

All of the parties are using social media to hammer home their key messages, but it is Plaid Cymru and the Greens who have seen the biggest growth in followers relative to the size of their social following on Twitter.

Both parties have grown their Twitter following by 1 per cent since the start of the campaign. The SNP trails the other parties with just 0.1 per cent growth.

Prime Minister David Cameron is by far the most followed leader, with 951,000 followers on Twitter, more than double his main rival for No 10 Ed Miliband, who has 404,000.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has 218,000 followers on Twitter, with Nigel Farage of Ukip close behind on close to 200,000.