The ALP has taken its attack on Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to social media, launching what is believed to be the first party-sanctioned fake Twitter account.

The Labor Party set up @Phoney_Tony last week after Mr Abbott's appearance on The 7.30 Report, in which he told Kerry O'Brien that what he said in interviews was not always "gospel truth".

The Phoney Tony account has some accusing the ALP of turning to gutter politics, while others are simply wondering if a political party is funny enough to pull off something like this.

This morning @Phoney_Tony had a modest following of 235 tweeps. His tweets, which the ALP confirms are posted by a team of campaign staff, make mention of his "good friend Malcolm" and "loyal Julie".

In an example from yesterday, he says: "I was doing so well arguing against the mining tax, I've decided to talk about asylum seekers #qt".

While many Australian politicians have attracted fake Twitter accounts - there is already Fake Steve Fielding, Fake Stephen Conroy, Fake Penny Wong, to name a few - Phoney Tony is the first known account set up by a rival political party.

A Labor Party spokesman says social media has a huge following and it would be ridiculous to ignore it as a communication tool.

He says using humour in an election campaign is nothing new.

But a lecturer in Digital Communication at the University of Wollongong, Jason Wilson, says the jokes will probably fall flat.

Mr Wilson says the ALP is unlikely to be able to cut it in the humour stakes against the likes of Fake Fielding et al.

"If you're trying for political points, you're going to miss the mark in terms of humour," he said.

"The comedy is front and centre with Fake Fielding, but what's going to be front and centre with Phoney_Tony - it's probably going to be running ALP lines about Tony Abbott.

"The comedy that we get from people like Fake Fielding is actually better because we know that it's not aimed at a partisan result. In effect they're just trying to get laughs rather than score political points. That's probably what makes it funnier."

In fact, Mr Wilson says he has spoken to the people behind accounts such as Fake Fielding and Fake Andrew Bolt.

"They've said that they don't think that they're having any kind of political effect and they're really just doing it for the laughs," he said.

But Mr Wilson warns that Twitter and the world of satire can be a risky business.

"I'm sure a lot of people are going to be following to see if the ALP does anything untoward, drops any clangers," he said.

"The thing about satire is it's a dangerous game. We've seen satirists get in trouble lately for taking it too far.

"Is the ALP going to say or do something inappropriate or untoward using this parody account that's actually going to provide ammunition for the other side?"

Back in the Twittersphere, there was a mixed response to the Phoney Tony account, with some accusing the ALP of mud-slinging and others backing the move.

"It's just more gutter politics. I'd love to say it's an ALP thing, but both sides have been doing it for years. It stinks,"@wombat1974 said.

"It's no different to any other tactics used by a political party to mock their opponents. Say using [Opposition] quotes in ads," @purserj said.

"There is absolutely no way I would vote for any Liberal Party candidate while @Phoney_Tony is the leader," @megstev said.