Twitter says its users fired off more than 15,000 tweets per second when Spain scored its fourth goal in Sunday’s European Championship final, setting a sports-related record on the social networking site.<\/p>\n
The surge in tweets came just weeks before the Olympic Games in London are expected to spur more record-setting activity on social networking sites – from tweets to postings of photos and other user-generated material.<\/p>\n
Twitter said it registered a total of 16.5 million tweets worldwide during the soccer match Sunday in Kiev, where Spain defeated Italy 4-0. 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.<\/p>\n
“Commentators, fans and athletes around the world supported their teams in song, in face paint and in tweets” throughout the Euro 2012, Twitter said in a blog.<\/p>\n
As fans increasingly use social media to connect during major sports competitions, new “tweet per second” records are constantly being set.<\/p>\n
Twitter registered a peak of 12,233 tweets per second during the final three minutes of the Super Bowl in February.<\/p>\n
An earlier record was set during the final match of the 2011 Women’s World Cup, a match in Germany that saw 7,196 tweets per second, including 13 from President Barack Obama. In that game, Japan’s team defeated the U.S. on penalty kicks following a 2-2 draw.<\/p>\n
Among those who tweeted Sunday was Pele, the retired Brazilian star. He congratulated Spain and said he was looking forward to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.<\/p>\n
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