Ms Harbath, the manager of public policy at Facebook after she was headhunted by the social media site in 2011, was in Canberra last week to meet with politicians and their staff.

She said Facebook had 12 million users in Australia, while Twitter has 2 million.

''It's not an either/or situation. Both of our platforms have different strengths,'' she said.

Facebook users are representative of the population and it is increasingly popular with the over 45s, she said.

The social media expert had 25 meetings in eight days, including several with the Prime Minister's staff.

She rated the social media use of Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott an A-minus. ''They both need to do more and figure out a good way to engage with the voters.''

There are more than 30 Facebook pages using Mr Rudd's image and name. The former PM's official page, Kevin Rudd and Labor, has 76,182 likes.

The Prime Minister's official page has 167,558 likes and the Opposition Leader's 35,883.

All three have more Twitter followers than Facebook ''likes''.

''With Facebook you are going to get a bigger block of the Australian electorate,'' Ms Harbath said. ''Twitter is really good for real time but Facebook is around longer.''

She said friends and colleagues influence voting. ''I don't think social media wins elections'', but it does make voters consider different issues and information.

''We saw in the Obama campaign that it was used to exchange ideas … and friends encourage voters in swing states to get out to vote,'' she said.