Paul KeenanPope Francis has topped a ‘most mentioned’ list for users of the Facebook social networking site. The site, which claims some 1.2 billion users released a list of the most discussed persons and topics during 2013 last Monday, revealing the current Pontiff at No.1. The Pontiff’s outgoing and informal manner saw him mentioned more times than all discussions of ‘elections’ worldwide, England’s new royal baby, at third, former English prime minister Margaret Thatcher, whose death in April was international news and saw her name rise to fifth on the list, and singer Miley Cyrus, who only managed seventh despite media attention on her outrageous onstage antics.
And though the Pope dropped to the 6th most mentioned person or event when the list was confined to users of Facebook based in the United States, his name still came above this year’s presidential inauguration there for President Barack Obama.
The Facebook popularity for the Argentine Pontiff comes after he was named in July as the most influential leader on Twitter, where his @Pontifex account is retweeted 8,200 more times than the average English message.