Take part in our Twitter referendum voting survey

WITH Scotland set to vote in the historical referendum on independence, The Scotsman is urging readers to tweet how they voted using the Twitter hashtags #IVotedYes and #IVotedNo.

What way will you vote? Picture: TSPL

The vast majority of people will tweet on polling day however we would encourage those who have already cast their postal ballot to take part in our survey.

Our coverage throughout September 18th as people vote, and September 19th when the result comes through, will be aided and supplemented by social media, especially Twitter.

Tracking the hashtags will form a core part of our coverage on the day of the referendum, and will allow The Scotsman to keep a running total of what way people have voted.

If you’ve cast your ballot by post, you can still participate by tweeting if you voted Yes or No using the same hashtags.

Independence on Twitter

Hashtags have played a huge part in the ongoing debate, with well over 90 per cent of related tweets containing the #indyref hashtag, and #voteyes and #nothanks featuring prominently as well.

Other variations include, for the Yes camp: #YouYesYet, #YesBecause and simply #Yes, while those backing the Union have been using hashtags such as #BetterTogether, #LetsStayTogether and #VoteNo.

A study in January by researchers at Glasgow University revealed that the pro-independence camp was winning the Twitter battle, with Yes Scotland enjoying more followers and a wider network of active Twitter users spreading the message.

As of September 12, @YesScotland has 84.6k followers, while Better Together (@UK_Together) has amassed 38.2k followers.

But the research showed that, with the exception of First Minister Alex Salmond and the campaign spokespersons, politicians did not feature strongly in the #indyref network.