Perhaps it is just my nostalgia for great newspaper headlines but "It was the social media network wot won it" doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. 

Looking back, the Sun’s famous headline after the 1992 General Election may have marked the turning point of the mainstream media influence on the national consciousness.

Seventeen years may not seem brief, but given that the traditional media has been the gatekeeper of information since the 17th Century, the speed of its decline in influence is remarkable.

The media’s citadel that once housed the collective firepower of newspaper, television and radio, is no longer able to provide the refuge once assured. Instead, they are being overrun by the insurgent alliance of tweets, spiders and bloggers.

It has been coming for months, even years, but it now seems undeniable that digital media has breached the gates of information dissemination and the pace of change will quicken.

Just in the last few weeks it was the anger of Twitter users that brought down a high court injunction and attempts to prevent discussion of Trafigura in Parliament. And it is to the door of Mumsnet, the social media website, that politicians are currently beating a path to. Gordon Brown recently invited the founder, Justine Roberts, to Downing Street, while David Cameron is due for his web chat with its members soon (although we already know the answer to the most burning question - it’s an oatcake).

This is no temporary bandwagon either.  Election strategists have spent months crunching the data and they have concluded two things - the vote of parents/families hold the keys to Number 10, and they are online.

They are also acutely aware of how social media is changing the identity of influencers and opinion formers. The newspaper columnists and broadcasters are being joined by a digital public (excuse the pun) that is becoming increasingly sophisticated at networking, mobilising, and communicating at electrifying speed.

Where newspapers, television and radio may still claim to represent the views of Basildon Man and Worcester Woman, it is the voices of the Facebook Families and Twitterati driving the agenda.

Are we ready for a truly Digital Britain? We’ll find out in the coming months.

Image courtesy of Will Lion