The final 2012 UEFA European Championship prompted record-setting activity from Twitter users around the world. Spain's 4-0 win over Italy helped set new marks for most tweets and most tweets per second during a sporting event, according to the Associated Press.
"Twitter said it registered a total of 16.5 million tweets worldwide during the soccer match Sunday in Kiev [Ukraine], where Spain defeated Italy 4-0," the AP reports. "It said total global traffic on its platform peaked at 15,358 tweets per second as Spain scored its fourth goal, a record for a sporting event.
"Commentators, fans and athletes around the world supported their teams in song, in face paint and in tweets throughout the Euro 2012," the AP reports Twitter said in a blog.
The previous record for tweets per second, 12,233, was set during the last three minutes of Super Bowl XLVI. The new record more than doubles a previous record that was set just last summer. The final game of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup drew 7,196 tweets per second.
It gives further evidence that soccer's popularity is exploding on stage (field) and screen. And it's happening in countries that don't have a long history of enjoying soccer as a spectator sport.
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