Facebook touts 1.5 billion interactions for its Rio Olympics coverage with Michael Phelps video as the crown jewel

While athletes went for the gold, Facebook achieved a new record of views and clicks for its own coverage of the Rio Olympics 2016.

Facebook saw more than 1.5 billion interactions — likes, posts, comments and shares — related to the Olympics throughout the games. From Aug. 5 to 21, 277 million people participated in the conversation around the world, meaning Facebook users, on average, interacted with Olympics-related stories 5 times.

The social networking giant did not provide an apples-to-apples comparison from the previous summer games in London. Back in 2012, Facebook announced 116 million posts and comments and 12.2 million likes to athletes’ pages, not on posts.

Even so, such a direct comparison would be difficult considering how much the service has changed. Facebook had a one-tap portal to Olympics-related content this year and in 2012, but the type of posts varied. Most notably, Facebook now prioritizes video.

It’s not surprising that overall numbers for the two-week-long, global event would be unprecedented for Facebook.

Since July 2012, the site has grown from 955 million monthly active users to 1.71 billion. This year, Facebook hosted more exclusive content, including live videos, video highlights and 360-videos from the ground in Rio.

The engagement was also record-breaking for microblogging site Twitter. More than 187 million tweets were sent about the Olympics. Twitter also touted 75 billion impressions, meaning views on and off the network, in a blog post.

Facebook — not broadcast rights-holder NBC or another news network — had the exclusive for U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps officially announcing his retirement.

“Tonight's the last time I'll be suiting up and racing on this level,” Phelps said during an hour-long live video on Facebook prior to his team’s final race.

Phelps was also the most mentioned athlete on Twitter.

Why not use Twitter's Periscope or tell his favorite media outlet? Phelps is one of 140 video creators Facebook pays to create live video on the social network, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Facebook partnered with more than 20 official broadcasters and National Olympics Committees to publish on the network during the game. It is unclear if Phelps and these broadcasters were paid by Facebook.

Phelps’ video has generated more than 3.97 million views. (Reminder: A view on Facebook is 3 seconds.)

Phelps and Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter who also announced he is not coming back to the Olympics, were the most talked about athletes at Rio, Facebook’s data revealed. The other most discussed athletes included Neyman Jr., Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky.

Those athletes were also the top five on Facebook's own Instagram, with Phelps, again, taking the top spot. Instagram reported that 131 million people had 916 million interactions related to the Olympics games.

Brazilian soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo published the most engaged Facebook post — that wasn’t a live or recorded video — when he congratulated Bolt on his gold medals. The post featuring a photo of Bolt and his three gold medals generated more than 1.5 million reactions and 16,000 shares.

Unlike in previous games, Facebook users also had more ways to “like” posts through Facebook reactions. The award for most “loved” post goes to the photo of Zac Efron and gymnast Simone Biles. The pair also had the most retweeted tweet of Rio.

The post inspired more than 1.1 million reactions, with 1 million likes, 127,000 loves and a surprising 517 angry faces.

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