Who is winning the social referendum?: The essential figures

The Scottish referendum could prove another landmark in the influence of the likes of Facebook and Twitter on debate, writes Rory Cellan-Jones, the BBC’s technology correspondent. Millions on both sides have taken to tweeting and Facebooking their views on the issues, but who is winning? Here’s everything you need to know:

• Over the past year, there have been 5.4 million tweets using the #indyref hashtag, but 2.3 million of those were sent in the past 30 days.
• Facebook saw 10 million of what it calls interactions – posts, comments and likes – about the referendum over the past month.
• If the two currencies are comparable – (a big if, says Cellan-Jones) – then four times as many people are discussing the campaign on Facebook as on Twitter.
• When it comes to direct engagement, with one side or the other, things look more equal. In the past 30 days there’ve been something like 232,000 uses of the Twitter #bettertogether and #nothanks hashtags, while more than 750,000 tweets have used #YesScotland and #VoteYes.
• Tweeting activity has surged during the debates, with 186,267 in the first, rising to 255,559 in the second.
• On Facebook the Yes campaign’s page has attracted 258,000 likes compared with 182,000 for the No page. When it comes to the volume of conversation Facebook says the two sides are neck and neck, but the recent momentum is with the Yes campaign.