Last week, Facebook updated its with the aim of forcing advertisers to be more accountable during the election period.
But the Ad Library - which displays all advertising content running from a particular page - is also a handy way to get a sense of what issues .
Senior lecturer in political science Glenn Kefford told SBS News that while , it can be effective in framing debates.
"They can try to increase or potentially decrease the importance of certain issues or events or gaffes, but they're not necessarily going to be the reason why people change their vote," he said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison at a farm near Devonport in Tasmania. Election campaigning is well underway both online and off. Source: AAP
Facebook advertising is a relatively affordable way - at least compared to television and print advertising - for parties to send targeted messages to voters. When purchasing the ad, they are able to determine what demographic they want to hit - this means voters in different parts of Australia can receive different messaging.
According to Facebook’s ad data, a week after the federal election was called on April 11 the Liberal Party of Australia Facebook page is - at the time of publishing - running 73 separate ads on Facebook.
Of these 16 focused on Labor’s inability to manage money, while 23 targeted Labor’s .
Only eight ads did not mention Labor and only seven focused on positive elements of the Liberal’s campaign.
By contrast, at the time of publishing, Labor has 23 ads making their way into timelines.
Only two of the current ads target Liberal politicians or policy, while three link to the (three less than on Wednesday).
Dr Kefford said focusing on electoral enrollment was a smart strategy for Labor, given that the majority of young voters tend to lean towards the progressive side of politics.
"We know that there are hundreds of thousands of young people who probably haven't voted before that aren't on the roll," he said.
Bill Shorten heads to Bathurst Island as he campaigns in Liberal seats in the Northern Territory. Source: AAP
"And the Labor Party and the Greens, they know that the majority of those young voters are going to be progressive, so they'll want to try to use Facebook advertising to try to mobilise these voters."
Issue-wise, , with six ads covering the issue. Five of these address Mitsubishi, Ford, Holden, Toyota and Mazda drivers specifically.
"If you’re a fan of Mazda you’ll want to know about our plan to save you money," one of the ads reads.
Where outside articles were shared in the advertisements, Labor linked to the Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian and the Liberals shared The Daily Telegraph, The Australian, The Daily Mail and 10 Daily.
Social media campaigning is likely to play a big role elections going forward. Source: Ad Library
On Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s Facebook page an additional 20 ads are currently live - all but three encouraging people to like his page.
And the ads seem to be working.
At the time of publishing, Mr Shorten had 237,464 Facebook likes - 87,516 more than Scott Morrison, the sitting Prime Minister.
But Mr Morrison doesn't need to worry about his Facebook popularity too much. Dr Kefford said the difference most likely comes down to the "time gap" between Mr Shorten's six years as opposition leader and Mr Morrison's six months as Prime Minister.
"There might be also another explanation found in just how much the Labor Party tries to really push and utilise social media like Facebook and Instagram and Twitter to try to connect with their supporters," he said.
Mr Morrison, on the other hand, has eight current ads running from his own Facebook page - with four spruiking his Instagram as a way to get a “behind-the-scenes look” at his life as prime minister.
He has also paid to promote a video of him getting a winning shot in lawn bowls without any mention of policy.
So far the Greens have taken a positive approach to their Facebook advertising, with all of their current ads spruiking their policies without mentioning competing parties.
A Facebook ad currently running from Scott Morrison's page. Source: Ad Library
Two of the current nine ads are about while the remaining seven work on convincing people to volunteer for the party.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale is not currently running any ads from his own Facebook page, which boasted 109,891 likes at the time of publishing.
Dr Kefford added that it wasn't just Facebook that is becoming an important battleground for political parties, with Instagram a growing platform to reach millennial voters.
As well as only showing current ads, the Ad Library data does not provide data about the audience of the ads, its reach or how long a particular ad will run.
