The election on social media: Trudeau scores most online mentions

As his Liberals cruised to a majority government, Justin Trudeau also won the online battle, becoming the most-talked about candidate on social media.

This was an election that got people talking – and voting. Voter turnout was the highest it’s been in more than 20 years, with close to 17.6 million people casting a ballot. The last time numbers were this high was in 1993.

The political landscape has changed dramatically since 1993 and nowhere is that more apparent than on social media. Candidates, their supporters, and their foes took to Twitter and Facebook to spread their message, pick a fight, and generally sound off.

The results online closely mirrored the results at the polls.

While Trudeau didn’t send the most tweets  – that honour goes to Green Party leader Elizabeth May – he was the most talked-about candidate.

According to Twitter Canada, Trudeau’s official Twitter account @justintrudeau captured 60 per cent of all online mentions, with 152,276 people tweeting about the Prime Minister-designate by early Tuesday morning.

The Liberal party hashtag, #LPC, had 51 per cent of all online mentions, with 188,939 Tweets.

The Liberals captured about 54 per cent of the seats, 184 out of a possible 3338.

That’s an enormous lead over runner-up Stephen Harper.

Harper, who will likely have to change his @pmharper handle, had 27 per cent of all online mentions, with 68,385 Tweets. The Conservative party hashtag #CPC had 26 per cent of all mentions, with 95,777.

It was an echo of real life, where the Conservatives won 99 seats, about 29 per cent.

Next in line, as he was at the ballot box, was NDP leader Thomas Mulcair. The @thomasmulcair account was mentioned 21,602 times, or eight per cent of the total. The hashtag #NDP was used 62,285 times, or 17 per cent of the total.

That’s pretty close to the per cent of seats won by the NDP, who elected 44 MPs or 13 per cent of the seats.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May, @elizabethmay, had three per cent of all online mentions, with 7,980 seats. The hashtag #GPC was used 10,412 times, or three per cent of the total. May, the only member of her party elected, is less than one per cent of the MPs on Parliament Hill.

Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe, @gillesduceppe, was mentioned 4,530 times, or two per cent of the total. The hashtag #BQ was used 15,019 times, or four per cent of the total. Ten members of the party were elected, about three per cent of the total number of seats.