Donald Trump won the first presidential debate, if social media mentions was the main metric.
Facebook reported that Trump dominated 79 percent of the conversation on its platform. The most discussed moment was Trump's comments on his temperament, and the top issues were on taxes, ISIS, racial issues, the economy and crime and criminal justice.
On Twitter, Trump dominated 62 percent of the conversation. The most tweeted moments were about Trump's comments on his "good temperament," his challenge to moderator and NBC News anchor Lester Holt about stop-and-frisk and the Trump and Hillary Clinton back-and-forth over their strategy to defeat ISIS. The most discussed topics were the economy, foreign affairs, energy, terrorism and gun control.
This was the first time that the presidential debates were livestreamed on Facebook and Twitter. The debate was held on Monday night at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.
Online content delivery system Fastly saw a 22 percent increase in social media traffic when Trump denied saying that he previously stated that global warming was a Chinese hoax. Holt's fact checking of Trump on stop-and-frisk was the second biggest social media traffic driver, leading to a 20 percent increase in traffic, according to the company. The third biggest moment was when Clinton mentioned her website had a fact checker, increasing social media traffic 10 percent, according to Fastly.
While the majority of the presidential candidates' budgets are going toward television, experts pointed out that social media chatter can provide free marketing. Quote-worthy clips become fodder for press outlets, giving candidates even more exposure without having to pay for TV ads.