WHO said our MPs are out of touch with the youth of today? Forget hugging a hoodie, Dorset MPs have been getting technological in their attempts to connect with the internet generation.

Annette Brooke, Liberal Democrat MP for Mid-Dorset and North Poole, and Jim Knight, Labour MP for South Dorset, have been busy collecting friends on latest online craze Facebook.

As it stands, the pair have built up networks of hundreds of friends each.

Mrs Brooke says she is excited by the possibilities the site offers.

"I think it is absolutely brilliant," she said.

"It is a great tool for communicating with younger constituents.

"I want to try and make it seem there is some point in contacting an MP."

For the uninitiated, Facebook is the latest social networking website, picking up the mantle from MySpace, where people accept each other as friends and communicate through their own web page.

Like-minded individuals join groups dedicated to any topic they can think of.

Recently, Facebook has hit the headlines for, among other things, a campaign to reinstate the Wispa chocolate bar and police in York using the site for an appeal for a missing student.

"It has excited me with its potential and it is a great opportunity to ask people's views," said Mrs Brooke.

There are other social networking sites such as Bebo, MySpace and Friends Reunited, but Facebook seems to have caught the wider imagination.

Further endorsement came from no lesser a source than Microsoft, which bought a £120 million stake in the website earlier this month.

The main demographic of its users has turned out not to be internet-savvy teenagers, but a slightly older generation of twenty-somethings and beyond.

For Mr Knight, Facebook started out as a means of staying in touch with his daughter on her gap year in Africa.

But he too now appears to have unlocked the potential of the site as a political weapon.

He said: "I realised there was a wider use for keeping in touch and being able to tell people what I am doing.

"It allows me to see what other people in my constituency are up to and keep in touch."

Each individual's Facebook allows them to add personal information and interests, such as the music they listen to, books they are reading or football team they support.

Mr Knight (an Arsenal fan, for the record) believes the site therefore serves a purpose in helping to break down the barriers between the public and their MP.

"It is important as politicians are not desperately trusted and we are seen in a certain way," he said.

"But we are human beings and if people can get to know their representatives better, it might increase their trust."

For all the benefits a tool such as Facebook, and the internet as a whole, provides, there are drawbacks.

Offering random and often nameless members of the public an open forum to comment and chat leaves individuals open to abuse.

Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood said he cautiously welcomed the onset of social networking sites.

He said: "It won't be long before they become a very significant forum.

"But there are remarks made that are designed to cause personal affront and there are people out there who use them as a weapon to express personal attacks.

"The pace with which they are developing is fast outpacing legislation."