The Fault in Our Stars, the teen weepie about cancer patients who fall in love after attending a support group, has been named the most popular film of summer 2014 on social media sites.

Tracking service Fizziology said Josh Boone's film picked up more than 5m mentions on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. It came out ahead of Godzilla, 22 Jump Street and Guardians of the Galaxy as the most-discussed film of the summer.

Fizziology said the romance's success had been fuelled by the popular Twitter account run by John Green, author of the original young-adult novel version of The Fault in Our Stars. Green's account has more than three million followers.

"John Green did an amazing job bringing fans of the book through the process of making the film and ultimately releasing the film," said Ben Carlson, president and co-creator of Fizziology. "The film itself was so well received and anticipated by an audience that tends to be pretty noisy on social media."

Fizziology, which wades through tweets, likes and similar indicators of interest to deliver its findings, found that 22 Jump Street was the summer's most "buzzed about" movie, while X-Men: Days of Future Past was considered the best for word of mouth. "Once people saw it, they loved it," said Carlson of the superhero sequel.

The Fault in Our Stars features Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort as lovers Hazel and Gus, she a patient who must wheel around a portable oxygen tank, he a young man whose bone cancer has led to the amputation of a leg. It has proven to be one of the year's surprise blockbusters, with a worldwide box-office gross of more than $263m (£156m) worldwide against a budget of $12m (£7m).

The film has generally benefited from positive reviews, though the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw called it "fantastically manipulative and crass" when the movie hit UK cinemas in June. It is now due to get a Bollywood remake.