Google and Twitter stats reveal social media winners of leaders' debate

As federal leaderssparred overthe economy in Calgary Thursday night, viewersat home turned toGoogle and Twitter looking upparty platforms, tweeting key debate buzzwords and talking about each of the three leaders.

While it takes time for analysis to tricklein and for people to weigh in on who they think won the debate, statistics released byGoogle and Twitterreveal the real-timesocial mediawinners.

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Of the three leaders who participated, Justin Trudeau'sTwitter accountwas the most mentioned during the debate. Twitter Canada's Cam Gordon told CBC News thatTrudeau's handle was mentioned8,126 times.He edgedout TomMulcair (who placed second with 5,562 mentions)andConservative LeaderStephen Harper, who had5,394 mentions.

Green Leader Elizabeth May was not invited to the debate, but heraccount actually had the most mentions,with14,161. She was answering the same debate questions as the leaders via video onTwitter.

According to Google Canada, Trudeau's name was the most searched during the debate. Google searches for Harper came a close second. Google said thatsearches on Trudeau and Harper eclipsedsearches forMulcair by 80 per cent.

Just because the leaders were on stage didn't mean they stopped tweeting.

Trudeau's account tweeted the most during the debate, followed by Mulcair's with the tweets presumably coming from theirstaffers. Both accounts included a mix of photos, text and video of how the leaders were faringmid-debate.There were no tweets from Harper's account.

'Harper' tops other leaders in themost tweeted terms

The Conservative leader was tweeted about more than Mulcairor Trudeau. Twitter Canada released a breakdown of the most-used terms during the debate and thefrequency they occurred.

The ringing egg timer also got a lot of online loveiteven gotits own Twitter account.

R.B. Bennettand 'old stock Canadians'rule Google

On Google, figures fromCanadian history that were referred toduring the debate proved popular. Former prime minister R.B. Bennett took the top spot in trending searches due to Trudeau making aparallel between the Depression-era prime ministerand Harper's economic record. Former Saskatchewan premierTommy Douglas also placed in the top trending searches. Mulcair brought up Douglas several times.

Many users also searched the term"old stock Canadians."Harper used the phrase while responding to a question about immigration, though not many are certain exactly what he meant by it.

The number of people searching about each ofthe leadersspiked up and down throughout the debate. GoogleCanada broke the debate down into moments, with the largest spike going to Mulcair, when he was talking aboutclosing tax loopholes.