Bernie Sanders Gets 14,711 New Fans on Twitter, Wins 2016 Democratic Debate (#DemDebate)

Engagement Labs tabulated tonight’s social media activity surrounding the Democratic Debate. According to findings, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont continued to make significant strides towards overtaking Secretary Hillary Clinton.  While both Candidates saw increases in followers and engagement during the debate, Sanders did much better, and continued his upwards trend both online and in the polls.

eValue Rankings of the Top Performing Democratic Candidates on Facebook and Twitter:

Facebook: 1. Hillary Clinton; 2. Bernie Sanders
Twitter: 1. Bernie Sanders; 2. Hillary Clinton

Source: Engagement Labs eValueTM U.S. 2016 rankings of Democratic Candidates on social media

Rankings of Highest Follower Growth for Democratic Candidates on Facebook and Twitter Based 

Facebook: 1. Bernie Sanders; 2. Hillary Clinton
Twitter: 1. Bernie Sanders; 2. Hillary Clinton

Source: Engagement Labs 2016 rankings of Democratic Candidates follower growth on social media

Insights

Leading up to the debate, Hillary Clinton was the frontrunner on Facebook, while Bernie Sanders lead on Twitter with the highest eValue scores. Following the debate, both Clinton and Sanders continued their dominance on the respective social media channels.

Both the Clinton and Sanders camps leveraged their Twitter channels to live tweet during the debate. Calling out important issues discussed and leveraging the #DemDebate hashtag to interact with the conversation happening online.

On both channels, Sanders managed to gain the highest number of new followers. Sanders gained 9,388 new fans on Facebook and 14,711 fans on Twitter. With Clinton gaining 6,254 fans on Facebook and 10,918 on Twitter.

Facebook  – Sanders has the highest Engagement score, while Clinton has the highest Impact score, along with the highest active user base – the percentage of followers who are actively engaging with the channel’s content.

Sanders demonstrated the highest engagement of any candidate during the debate. Sanders top Facebook post garnered over 49,000 likes and 19,900 shares. Clinton’s overall eValue score may have been a few points higher than Sanders’, but the mass engagement Sanders is receiving on the social platform from followers is demonstrating that his campaign is picking up, both in the polls and online.

Clinton’s most engaged post during the debate was on her stance on gun violence, which garnered just over 8,200 likes.

Twitter – Sanders lead with the highest Engagement score, and tied with Clinton with the highest Impact score. Sanders also maintained the highest active user base and O’Mally garnering the second highest active user base on the channel. Sanders also had the highest number of mentions, along with the most number of likes and retweets, further demonstrating his followers high engagement with his content.

Sanders lead with the most engaging post on Twitter. Discussing his stance on the Wall Street bailout the Tweet garnered 6,900 likes and 4,900 retweets.

While Clinton’s most engaged tween garnered 2,300 likes and 1,500 retweets.

Other media measures from around the social sphere.