Inspired by Obama’s troops in the US election, UK parties have been busy organising their digital media activities – with varying success.

The Conservatives took a head start after the last election with their campaign sites, including David Cameron’s successful video diary, WebCameron. The Media Week reported that, up until recently, the Tories’ lead has been so substantial that the party has been hailed as an online pioneer in the April issue of Wired.

But even the pioneers can get it wrong. The Tories were recently the target of large scale online ridicule thanks to their naive use of unmoderated Twitter feed on the campaign website Cash Gordon.

The first individual social media disaster was provided by a Scottish Labour candidate Stuart MacLennan who was sacked by his party after tweeting offensive comments spiced up with swearing.

To make the situation worse, the Scottish Labour officials initially stood by MacLennan, blaming his bad behaviour on his young age. It took the Tories to attack with a call for Labour to sack MacLennan before any action was taken.

In addition to social media efforts, both parties have also turned to Google in their campaigning efforts – according to Rory-Cellan Jones, the Conservatives have bought 1,500 search terms in the recent days, including the likes of “fund my constituency”, “polling station” and “mortgage rates”.

And following the example of Obama’s digital campaigning, good old-fashioned email campaigning has also been utilised in the battle. With their reported half a million email database, Tories are investing in quantity whereas Labour is emphasising quality with their 20,000 email addresses.

Follow the latest digital campaigning in BBC’s Rory-Cellan Jones’ blog.

Tech site Pocket-lint has also put together a useful list of who to follow in the run up to the election.

Feature article

For the first time in the UK, social media is expected to play a key role in the outcome of the General Election. Just as the power to enrich campaigns and engage with voters is only a tweet away, the possibility of humiliation is not far away either.

Read our feature article – Parties tweeting their way to Downing Street