While Germany was the victor in the World Cup tournament, the 2014 World Cup finals match won on social media. The final game of the 2014 FIFA Event generated more conversation on both Facebook and Twitter than any other sporting event before.
Facebook’s data team determined that the Germany vs. Argentina game was the biggest sporting event in Facebook history, with 88 million people around the world engaging in more than 280 million Facebook interactions (posts, comments, and likes). The Super Bowl XLVII on February 3, 2013, had held the previous record, with 245 million interactions.
Breaking down the demographics, the top countries talking about the game were the United States with 10.5 million people, Brazil with 10 million, Argentina with more than 7 million, and Germany with 5 million.
On Facebook, the most talked about players were, unsurprisingly, Mario Götze, who scored Germany’s only goal, and Argentina soccer star Lionel Messi. The most social moments of the game were the final whistle when Germany became world champions, followed by Götze’s goal, Messi’s free kick that hit the cross bar, Messi receiving the Golden Ball award as the best player in the tournament, and finally Gonzalo Higuain’s illegitimate offside goal.
On Twitter, the final match between Germany and Argentina generated 32.1 million tweets.
As with Facebook, the most talked about players on Twitter were Götze and Messi. In addition, Gonzalo Higuain, with his almost-goal, was the second most talked about player for Argentina.
The most social moment on Twitter was also the final whistle when Germany won. With 618,725 tweets per minute, this social moment broke the record on Twitter for the most tweets per minute of any event. Götze’s goal for Germany generated 556,449 tweets per minute, and Messi’s Golden Ball award generated 395,773.
Here is an interactive map from Cartodb, showing tweets around the world during the final match.
Congratulations Germany and congratulations World Cup for your achievements.
Featured image from @DFB_Team_EN