U.S. President Donald Trump continued to dominate Twitter in 2017 even though former President Barack Obama`s tweets were more liked and both were blown away by one man`s quest for free chicken nuggets.
Twitter revealed the year`s most liked and retweeted tweets on Tuesday, reflecting how a nation bitterly divided between Republicans and Democrats is likewise split on social media.
Trump, whose 44 million followers of @realDonaldTrump rank him 21st on Twitter, was the most tweeted about world leader and U.S. elected official. 
Likewise @FoxNews, the conservative cable news channel, was the top tweeted news outlet, led by @SeanHannity, the host who is a friend and ally of the president.
Obama was also well-represented.
The former president, whose @BarackObama ranked as the third-most-followed Twitter account behind @katyperry and @justinbieber, posted the most popular tweet: nearly 4.6 million likes for the Nelson Mandela quote, "No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin or his background or his religion," with a picture of Obama greeting a diverse group of babies through a window.
That was also the second most retweeted item at 1.7 million times.
No president could compete with free nuggets, however. A 16-year-old named Carter Wilkerson, @carterjwm, garnered 3.6 million retweets in his campaign for a year`s supply of nuggets from Wendy`s.
He came up short of Wendy`s target of 18 million retweets, but Wendy`s still gave him the nuggets and a $100,000 donation in his name to the Wendy`s-linked Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.
The top four new U.S. political accounts were some of Trump`s most forceful critics, led by @PreetBharara, the former federal prosecutor he fired. Next came @SallyQYates, the former acting attorney general who was also fired by Trump.
Third was former Obama adviser Ben Rhodes, @brhodes, followed by Obama`s former official photographer, @PeteSouza, who has tweeted flattering pictures of Obama during some of Trump most criticized moments.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, @SHSanders45, rounded out the top five.
Other results underscored the punch and counterpunch of politics.
Right behind @FoxNews on the top tweeted news outlet list was @CNN, which Trump derides as fake news.
The most tweeted activist hashtag was #Resist, as in resist Trump, followed by #MAGA for Trump`s slogan Make America Great Again.