Social media dominates first Presidential Debate - NEWS10 ABC: Albany, New York News, Weather, Sports

Social media dominates first Presidential Debate

Social media played a huge role in the first Presidential Debate on Wednesday night.

Twitter says the debate was the most tweeted-about event in U.S. political history, with 10.3 million tweets in the 90-minute showdown between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney. This number beat out previous records set at both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. 

Just searching #debate brings you to thousands of comments on Twitter.

But there was one comment on stage Wednesday night that trumped talks about taxes, the middle class, and healthcare: Big Bird emerged as one of the big names. "I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I actually like you too," Gov. Romney said to debate moderator Jim Lehrer, host of NewsHour on PBS.

Mitt Romney says, if elected, he plans to cut funding to PBS, which means Big Bird might be out of a job. Almost instantly parody sites in honor of Big Bird garnered thousands of followers and the lovable Sesame Street resident generated 17,000 tweets per minute.

Facebook was also flooded with instant analysis; many people weighing in on the NEWS10 page about the debate and more specifically which way they are leaning.

One Facebook fan says: "Was on the fence, now it's Romney. He had four years, nothing has gotten better. My husband has a small business and the last three plus years have been horrible."

Another fan countered that remark writing: "Do you really think Romney will help small business? He's out for bigger take over. That's where his friends do business using middle class like a pawn."

You can read more on the conversation and add your own remarks on the NEWS10 Facebook page.