Women’s World Cup final breaks Twitter’s tweet-per-second record

Millions of televisions around the world were tuned in to yesterday's World Cup final between the United States and Japan, and it seems there were plenty of Twitter users diligently following the action as well. Yesterday, Twitter's official account announced that with the massive surge in tweets due to the game's nail-biting finish, a new tweet-per-second record had been set. At its peak, the social network was handling 7,196 updates per second.

The women's World Cup final match started slow, with no scores in the first half, but ramped up after a goal by the U.S. partway through the second half. Japan responded with a goal of their own, sending the game into extra time. The U.S. scored again to take the lead 3-2, but because World Cup rules allow for the full extra time period to be played regardless of score, Japan had a chance to come back — and they did. After tying the match, the game was sent into a shootout, where Japan came out on top to take home the World Cup trophy.

The game's dramatic turn of events — and the fact that the United States and Japan are both heavy with Twitter users — sent a flood of updates to the service. And that new record was almost broken again during the men's Copa America quarterfinal match between Paraguay and Brazil, when 7,166 tweets-per-second were recorded, though the women's final managed to hang on to the title. The previous record of 6,939 tweets-per-second was set just after Japan's clocks struck midnight on New Year's Day.

Via TNW

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