Social media reacts: Darling v Salmond II

A worldwide audience has tuned in to the BBC's referendum debate between Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling, triggering a storm of activity on social media.

This is what got you talking.

On Twitter

This timelapsed world map pinpoints where people were tweeting about #bbcindyref, and other associated hashtags.

The debate was trending in the UK but, more surprisingly, hit the trending charts in Malaga, Gibraltar, Seville, and Spain as a whole. Were Spanish people keeping an eye on the debate with the Catalonian independence movement in mind, or were Scottish ex-pats watching and tweeting from abroad?

The debate generated a total of 255,559 tweets, and the spikes of conversation (measured by tweets per minute) came when:

1. 9.34pm - 3,958 TPM: Alex Salmond grilled Alistair Darling over job creation.

2. 9.12pm - 3,050: TPM: Salmond pushed Darling over the bedroom tax.

3. 9.20pm - 3,050 TPM: Darling once again questioned Salmond over his currency plans.

The most retweeted tweet came from Sky News, which posted this:

Facebook

Throughout the debate, #bbcindyref, #indyref, and #scotdecides were trending in the UK on Facebook, and #bbcindyref and #indyref began trending globally by the end of the debate.

"Hypocrite", which was the fifth most 'buzzed about' topic, is what Alistair Darling was called by an audience member, who accused him of having "fancy dinners" with private health companies, which Mr Darling denied.

There wasn't much difference between how many men talked about the debate compared with women, and the chatter came from a broad range of ages, mainly between 25-44.

The most-liked comment on the BBC News Facebook page was from Nici Morgan, who said: "I want to be able to vote! I am English and proud but would very much like a say in this farce."

The best of the rest

Glaswegian comedian Limmy was sceptical about Alistair Darling's claims about currency...

...and Rou Reynolds from Enter Shikari got a bit grumpy with both men...

...as did Charlie Brooker.

Yes Scotland kept a 'duck count' on Alistair Darling...

...but Blair McDougall, Better Together campaign director, thought Salmond was dodging the questions.

And, in between all the arguments, we took a moment to give some international language lessons.

Want to see what all the fuss was about?

You can watch a catch up version of the clashes on our Salmond v Darling report page.

Select the Live Coverage tab and click on the "Scotland Decides: Salmond versus Darling" video and you can jump to key points in the programme.