World Cup was Facebook's biggest ever event

NZ Herald

15 Jul, 2014 07:42 AM4 mins to read

The most talked about moment on Facebook was during the Brazil-Germany semi-final in which Sami Khedira scored Germany's fourth goal in seven minutes. Photo / AP

This year's football World Cup generated the highest level of conversations over Facebook than any other event in the social network website's history.

The company's data team looked at all mentions of the tournament and collated information including the matches, moments and players most commented on, Facebook said.

During the event, 350 million people joined the conversation on Facebook, generating three billion posts, comments and likes related to the World Cup.

About 88 million people generated 280 million interactions for yesterday's final between Germany and Argentina, which makes the made the single most-talked-about sporting event in Facebook history.

The second most talked about match was the dramatic semi-final between Brazil and Germany, in which Germany trounced the home team 7-1.

The most talked about moment on Facebook was during the Brazil-Germany semi-final in which Sami Khedira scored Germany's fourth goal in seven minutes, giving them a 5-0 lead with a full hour remaining in the match.

Players that got people's fingers moving across the keyboard were Brazil player Neymar and Lionel Messi from Argentina. Serial biter Luis Suarez was fourth on the list.

The country with the most prolific posts was Brazil, with 55 million taking to Facebook through the competition, followed by the United States with 48 million, then Mexico with 19 million.

Facebook also found that men aged between 18 and 24 were the biggest chatterers on the website, followed by men aged 25 to 34-years-old. Women aged 18 to 24 were the next most prolific writers.

Some Facebook highlights:

* Most Social World Cup Matches

1. Germany v Argentina final (88 million people with 280 million Facebook interactions)

2. Brazil v Germany semifinal (66 million people with 200 million Facebook interactions)

3. Brazil v Croatia opening match (58 million people with 140 million Facebook interactions)

4. Argentina v Netherlands semifinal (39 million people with 83 million Facebook interactions)

5. Brazil v Chile round of 16 match (31 million people with 75 million Facebook interactions)

* Most Social World Cup Moments

1. Brazil v Germany semifinal (29'): Sami Khedira scores Germany's fourth goal in seven minutes, giving them a 5-0 lead with a full hour remaining in the match.

2. Germany v Argentina final (full time): The final whistle blows, crowning Germany as World Champions for the fourth time.

3. Brazil v Germany semifinal (26'): Toni Kroos scores his second goal of the match, increasing Germany's lead to 4-0 over a stunned Brazil team and home crowd.

4. Germany v Argentina final (113'): Mario Gotze scores from a beautiful Schurrle cross to give Germany a 1-0 lead over Argentina deep in extra time.

5. Brazil v Croatia opening match (29'): Neymar scores his first World Cup goal, and Brazil's first goal of the match, to level the score 1-1 with Croatia.

* Most Talked About Players

1. Neymar (Brazil)

2. Lionel Messi (Argentina)

3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

4. Luis Suarez (Uruguay)

5. David Luiz (Brazil)

6. Julio Cesar (Brazil)

7. Thomas Muller (Germany)

8. Mesut Ozil (Germany)

9. Hulk (Brazil)

10. Arjen Robben (Netherlands)

* Top 10 Player Posts for the World Cup (i.e. Top Content):