Brazil's Devastating Defeat Was the Most Tweeted Sports Game Ever

 By 
Seth Fiegerman
 on 
Brazil's Devastating Defeat Was the Most Tweeted Sports Game Ever
Lebanese soccer fans gathered to watch a live broadcast of the World Cup semifinal soccer match between Brazil and Germany on July 8 at a fan park in downtown Beirut. Credit: Bilal Hussein

Good news for Twitter; bad news for Brazil.

There were 35.6 million tweets during the World Cup match on Tuesday which saw Brazil lose to Germany 7-1. This makes the match the most discussed sporting event in Twitter's history, according to the social network.

With 35.6 million Tweets, #BRA v #GER is the most-discussed single sports game ever on Twitter. #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/pRjssAZmhg— Twitter Data (@TwitterData) July 9, 2014

The match also set a record for most tweets per minute when Sami Khedira scored the fifth goal for Germany in the match's first half.

The #BRA v #GER match also set a TPM record: Khedira's 29' goal (0-5) saw 580,166 TPM. #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/188YGgrgZg— Twitter Data (@TwitterData) July 9, 2014

Facebook also saw strong engagement throughout the match, with 66 million users generating 200 million interactions -- Likes, comments, posts -- on the social network.

It's worth noting, of course, that Twitter and Facebook will only continue to have record-setting moments as the social networks continue to grow their user bases. That said, both networks took steps ahead of time to attract more real-time chatter for the world's biggest sporting event.

For Twitter in particular, the World Cup is viewed as an opportunity to drive up user growth and engagement, concerns that have dogged the stock since the company went public in November.

"We think some of the recent product changes are proving beneficial in reducing the churn and growing the user base. The FIFA World Cup has also been helpful in improving engagement," Arvind Bhatia, an analyst with Sterne Agee, wrote in an investor note earlier this month. "We see potential for 2Q results to show improved user growth, retention, and monetization and are hopeful the trend is sustainable."

Twitter stock has trended up since the World Cup kicked off last month, though it suffered a sharp decline on Tuesday amid a broader market selloff.

[img src="http://media.ycharts.com/charts/f0357e41b2967718f1e414091ad28f7a.png" caption="" credit="" alt="TWTR Chart"]TWTR data by YCharts

The biggest stories of the day delivered to your inbox.
These newsletters may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. By clicking Subscribe, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Thanks for signing up. See you at your inbox!