Ron Paul triumphs on Twitter

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) might have finished a somewhat distant second to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in New Hampshire's Tuesday primary, but he finished first among the Twitterati in the week of the vote.

According to an analysis of Twitter traffic by Crimson Hexagon, Paul was mentioned by 26 percent of tweets from Jan. 6-11, while Romney was mentioned 22 percent of the time. Nineteen percent mentioned former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and 14 percent former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman got 10 percent, and Texas Gov. Rich Perry didn't register.

Paul also was mentioned more often on Twitter on the day after the primary, with 27 percent to 26 percent for Romney, while Gingrich and Santorum were each mentioned 15 percent of the time. 

For all candidates, negative tweets outweighed positive ones, with one exception. On the day after the primary, Paul was mentioned positively in 14 percent of tweets and negatively in 13 percent.

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