Twitter users fired off a record number of tweets per second at the final whistle of Japan’s thrilling upset win over the United States in the women’s World Cup final.
The San Francisco-based real-time blogging service said Twitter users sent 7 196 tweets per second after Japan defeated the United States in a penalty shoot-out.
Twitter, in a statement on its @TwitterGlobalPR feed, said another football match was next in terms of the highest number of tweets per second ever sent: Brazil’s shock loss to Paraguay in the Copa America.
Twitter users sent 7 166 tweets per second at the conclusion of that match.
Twitter’s previous record was the 6 939 tweets per second sent on January 1 2011 as the New Year arrived in Tokyo.
Osama bin Laden’s killing also sparked a Twitter frenzy with more than 5 000 tweets per second being sent as news spread of the death of the al-Qaeda leader.
Other peaks for Twitter activity include April’s royal wedding, with 3 966 tweets per second, and the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, with 5 530 tweets per second.
Twitter, which was founded in 2006, said last month that Twitter users are sending 200-million tweets a day, up from 65-million a year ago. — AFP