Yes, the billboard comment was probably a bit throwaway, but I think us new media types just get a bit angry when we see so much money thrown at mass media – do they get ROI?

I mainly agree with you about Facebook. I don't actually think Facebook is as 'difficult' as many imagine but, as you say, the 'down your throat'/mass media approach won't work.

It think it's possibly a little reactionary to say that “billboard ads won't cut the mustard any more”; as someone said to me last night “your family living in a Rochdale council estate aren't likely to be looking at mydavidcameron”. That said, every single one of the Tory campaigns since the new year, it seems to me, has been disastrous – coincidence with the slump in opinion polls? Hard to say.

I agree that Facebook is still the great unused weapon but its power can be limited. I'd love to see some stats on this, but my impression is that the vast majority of people who join a Facebook group actually interact with it very rarely. At least with fan pages the content pops up in your news feed. Groups are dead in their present form. But the way it's structured, only a confirmed (say) Labour voter will click the button that says “become a fan of The Labour Party”; more subtle ways will be needed to interact with floating voters on Facebook.

Nice bloggage on last night Danny, I've linked to this article from one I wrote myself.