Facebook may have lost Theresa May her majority as young general election voters flooded social media with pro-Labour posts

FACEBOOK cost Theresa May her majority with viral posts driving younger voters to supporting Labour's Jeremy Corbyn, social media analysis suggests.

With Facebook being the main source of news for many of the social network's youthful users, analysis of the platform indicates that it was a key influence in the election.

The Tories and Theresa May were trashed in the top 20 most popular political subjects discussed on Facebook during the election.

Within these posts, Labour was consistently cast it in a positive light - and the posts were shared almost one million times.

Analysis by of the 250 most widely shared Facebook articles shows that student tuition fees and "media bias against Corbyn" were the most discussed issues on the social network.

And of the seven most popular topics about the Conservatives, six were critical.

Tories were also widely slammed for wanting to bring back fox hunting, with posts about it being shared 340,000 times.

Meanwhile the Conservatives’ £1million US-style “attack ad” strategy on social media totally failed, experts have said.

Sam Jeffers, co-founder of the project the Who Targets Me?which monitored Facebook during the election, said: ";The most obvious advantage Labour had was their focus on getting young people out to vote.

"If you contact young people with a positive message, you’re telling them that you care.

"The Tories didn’t do that.

"What we’ve also seen is far more sharing of Labour’s ads, so that even in the seats the Tories were really targeting in the north, the ads they were paying for were being drowned out in people’s news feeds by a sea of red ads and articles that were shared ‘organically’ by friends and family.

"Those messages are going to have a lot more weight in people’s minds.

"It looks like a very big factor was themonotony of the Tories’ anti-Corbyn message. When you see the same points made over and over again you tend to switch off.

"Labour’s ads were much more diverse."

Some of the key details from the turbulent election night:

• Hung parliament confirmed with Tories missing out on majority of 326
• Theresa May vows to stay on and form a Government with the help of the 10 DUP MPs
• But she faces mounting pressure from within her party – with the odds slashed on Boris Johnson to be the next PM
• Fears grow Brexit negotiations could be sunk or delayed after the shock result
• Lib Dem leader Tim Farron clings on despite only making modest gains
• Ex -Deputy PM Nick Clegg loses Sheffield Hallam seat but Vince Cable regains Twickenham
• Home Secretary Amber Rudd holds on to Hastings seat by barely 300 votes
• Huge losses for SNP as former chief Alex Salmond and deputy leader Angus Robertson are both beaten by the Tories.
• Labour on march in London beating Tories to Battersea constituency but Tory Zac Goldsmith takes back Richmond with a majority of just 45
• Pound slides two per cent as exit poll predicts hung parliament
• Ukip voters desert party with vote share down by ten per cent
• Growing fears that Mrs May will have to call a second election later this year
• Jeremy Corbyn claims he won the election after making significant gains across the country
• Downing Street has confirmed that the cabinet hitters WILL keep their jobs
• In the last seat to be declared, Labour's Emma Dent Coad seized Kensington from the Tories, giving the Conservatives 318 seats and Jeremy Corbyn's party 262