Sen. Rand Paul wasn't on stage Thursday night for the sixth Republican primary debate, but he still managed to perform better than his rivals across social media, with the exception of Donald Trump.

The Kentucky senator and GOP presidential hopeful skipped the undercard debate and main event Thursday, after being told he didn't qualify for the top-tier event. Instead, he held his own virtual town hall event, a move that allowed him to receive more new followers and mentions on Twitter and Facebook than five of the six candidates who were on stage during the prime-time debate.

According to data collected by the digital firm Engagement Labs and shared with the Washington Examiner, Paul gained the second-greatest number of new followers on Twitter during the 2.5-hour debate and was mentioned the second-most often.

The only candidate edging him in popularity on social media was Trump, the current Republican front-runner, who has over 5 million Twitter followers and significant name recognition.

On Facebook, Paul had the fourth greatest number of mentions, behind Trump, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Paul also benefitted from several radio and TV interviews earlier in the week after his campaign announced he would not attend Thursday's undercard debate. The libertarian firebrand had been relegated to the 6 p.m. event due to his low poll numbers nationally and in state-level surveys of Republican voters.