TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - February 12, 2016) - Technology and data company Engagement Labs, creator of eValue Analytics™ score, today released rankings of the top performing U.S. Democratic Presidential candidates on Facebook and Twitter, during the latest Democratic debate which took place February 11, 2016.

Earlier this week, the New Hampshire primary saw Bernie Sanders take the lead in the polls, which was reflected on Twitter as Sanders led on the channel leading up to the debate. Following the latest debate, both candidates maintained their leading positions on their respective channels.

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

Ranking Facebook Twitter 1 Hillary Clinton Bernie Sanders 2 Bernie Sanders Hillary Clinton

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

"It's been a heated week on the campaign trail with the New Hampshire primary results still rumbling. These results raised the stakes for the latest Democratic debate forcing the candidates to bring their A-game to both the stage and their online channels. With voters turning to social media to engage with each candidate and learn about their stance on certain topics, it remains crucial for candidates to engage their fans online as an important avenue to secure votes," said Bryan Segal, CEO at Engagement Labs.

Rankings of Highest Follower Growth for Democratic Candidates on Facebook and Twitter Based on the February 11, 2016 Debate:

Ranking Facebook Twitter 1 Bernie Sanders Bernie Sanders 2 Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton

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

The race was tight the day of the debate on Facebook, with Clinton ranking first, and Sanders followed closely behind. Posting more frequently than her opponent, Clinton led for both Engagement and Impact scores. Sharing several quotes during the day from various sources endorsing her candidacy, Clinton's top most engaged post was an endorsement from civil rights icon and Congressman John Lewis, garnering 17,700 likes and 2,800 shares.

Sanders followed behind Clinton closely for both Engagement and Impact scores on Facebook. Nonetheless, his channel boasted the most active user base of the two candidates, meaning he had a higher percentage of followers actually engaging in his content. Both candidates scored low in Responsiveness on Facebook, demonstrating that they are using the channel to disseminate their campaign messages, but not to engage with voters in two-way communication.

The day of the debate, Sanders maintained his dominance on Twitter. Scoring the highest for Engagement and Responsiveness, Sanders scored well ahead of Clinton in both subcategories. His following on the channel was also approximately five times more active than Clinton's Twitter audience. Posting tweets tackling hot topics in America, Sanders tweeted about a woman's right to make decisions about her own body, "If you tell a woman that she cannot control her own body, that's extremism," generating more than 6,100 likes and 3,600 retweets.

On both Facebook and Twitter, Sanders gained the highest number of new followers, with 15,040 new fans on Facebook and 9,837 fans on Twitter. Clinton trailed behind on Facebook gaining only 7,628 fans, while following him closely on Twitter with 9,527 new fans.

A rather quiet night for the Republican Party, John Kasich was the only candidate to reference the #DemDebate hashtag. Despite not live-tweeting the debate, Trump grew his following gaining 11,985 new followers, beating out both Sanders and Clinton for follower growth. However, Trump was trumped by Sanders in regards to Facebook follower growth, as Trump gained 12,240 new followers on the channel.

"As the competition continues to heat up, candidates are more committed than ever to boosting their presence on social media to reach mass audiences and gain momentum in the polls," noted Segal.

About Engagement Labs

Engagement Labs offers intelligent Total Social™ data, analytics and insights for marketers and organizations enabling them to track, measure and benchmark the conversations happening around their brand or industry both online and offline. These conversations are proven to drive critical business outcomes, including sales, while Engagement Labs' tools provide data and actionable insight to help guide business decisions and power marketing effectiveness.

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