Social Media + Political Election = Positive?

In 2008 and 2012 we saw how President Obama used social media to his advantage with both of his campaigns.  Now two years later we are seeing how social media is affecting the U.K. election.
According to an article by Dhara Ranasinghe of CNBC, the U.K. population of social media users has grown tremendously since their last election and now the two leading political parties are trying to capitalize on this growth.

The conservative group, known as the Tories, is using Facebook quite heavily. They have spent “$150,035 a month on Facebook.” This can include advertisements, boosting posts, and targeting certain consumers.

The liberal group, known as the Labour Party, prefers to use Twitter as their main route of information. They lead the pack with Twitter followers.
The question I pose is this: Is it a positive response when people are using social media to get all their political information or not?

I’m on the fence about this.  On one hand, social media is a great way to connect to the younger generation and spread the political party’s message. It can be used to get a conversation going and interact with other individuals, which can be great.

On the other hand, information can be misconstrued on the internet.  People could mistake a fake account for a real one and suddenly all the information this consumer has obtained is wrong.  Additionally, advertisements are looking more and more like journalistic articles so the consumer has to be aware of what they are reading.

My advice is to be careful. DO YOUR RESEARCH.  Just by following a political party on Twitter does not make you an expert.  So yes, social media can be a great tool to communicate with the masses but always keep an eye out and don’t believe everything you read.