Women's World Cup Final Breaks Twitter Record

LONDON — The Women's World Cup final between Japan and the United States set the record for tweets per second, eclipsing the wedding of Prince William and Kate and the death of Osama bin Laden.

Japan rallied twice to tie the United States 2-2 after extra time before winning a penalty shootout on Sunday in Frankfurt, Germany. The U.S. was aiming for its third World Cup victory, while Japan lifted the World Cup trophy for the first time after going 0-25 against the Americans over the years.

The exciting climax drew 7,196 tweets per second, according to Twitter. Paraguay's penalty shootout win over Brazil in a Copa America quarterfinal later the same day came close to beating it with 7,166.

The previous record of 6,939 was set just after midnight in Japan on New Year's Day. Other spikes include bin Laden's death (5,106 per second) and the Super Bowl in February (4,064).

Spain's World Cup win over the Netherlands in July 2010 managed a high of 3,051, although the record for the tournament (3,283) was set when Japan beat Denmark in the group stage – another statistic pointing to Twitter's popularity in Japan.

The record-breaking numbers Sunday reflect a sharp rise in Twitter usage. Its users send 200 million tweets per day, compared to 10 million two years ago, according to Twitter.

Comments

[FreedToChoose]

12:16 AM on 07/20/2011

Nice picture of Japanese women after win at http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/07/15/sports/SOCCER-1310684520083.html

[Valois]

05:42 PM on 07/19/2011

and no, Japan is not the "better" team. what their record against us, like 1-22? Yeah that really says they're the better team, doesn't it? 1 and 22...

[FreedToChoose]

12:20 AM on 07/20/2011

They were better for the game that counts.

[Valois]

05:41 PM on 07/19/2011

so much for nobody caring about women's soccer. 8.6 on the Neilsen ratings and broken twitter records...

[netzwerg]

09:50 AM on 07/19/2011

In Japan, a wife that is stronger than her husband is now being called a "Wambach".

[oldandfoolish]

05:29 PM on 07/18/2011

What I saw was a contrast of two types of ofence and defense. The US tried to attack frontally and aggressively while Japan played defensively most of the time but always looking for an opportunity to attack. In ant team sport, a final result has more to do with luck than skills. Both teams played their games best to their ability and both should be proud of their efforts. Great entertainment!!!

[cristoba1]

05:01 PM on 07/18/2011

Great defeat I have ever seen.

[Tuula Westra]

04:32 PM on 07/18/2011

Somebody said, the best team does not always win..wrong, the best team ALWAYS wins, Japan beat the USA is a perfect example.

[Wide Stance]

04:41 PM on 07/18/2011

Naive and immature world view.

[BacSi]

09:35 AM on 07/19/2011

Years ago in the first select game I ever coached we went up against an experienced seasoned talented team from N.Virginia.

They must have out shot us 20-1. Total and complete domination.

Except for the fact that our one went in and they hit the post 3 or 4 times.

That is the nature of soccer.

Sometimes it really does come down to a bit of luck. And quite often the best team dominates and loses.

[netzwerg]

09:51 AM on 07/19/2011

I played football (soccer in America) all my life. We lost games we deserved to win, and won games we deserved to lose. That's football.

[duey35]

01:50 PM on 07/18/2011

Hey we have nothing to be ashamed of. As a lower seated team we kicked everybodys butt and got to the finals just the luck f the draw we didn't win . Congrats to Japan for being able to rally at the end and pull it off.

[Wide Stance]

04:31 PM on 07/18/2011

US women were ranked #1 in the world by FIFA. Japan is #4. The four top seeds for the tournament were Germany, USA, Brazil and Japan. There is no distinction made among the top four seeds--only four teams are seeded. A top seeded team (US) lost to a top-seeded team (Japan).

[media4me2]

05:00 PM on 07/18/2011

A top seeded team (US) lost to a top seeded team (Japan) that had never beaten the top seeded team (US).

[Jay818]

01:49 PM on 07/18/2011

you know, the stars were aligned for Japan....I lived there for 3 years and those happened to be 3 of the best years of my life. If there is anyone where I would say, well if they had to beat us, it was them. There isn't a more honorable, polite, friendly and positive culture anywhere on the planet that I have found and i have been to quite a few places...GO JAPAN...I still miss you and wish the best for you......

with that being said, the Americans lost that game...Straight up.....Abby is a truly great rep for America, but man the two shots she missed? Especially that beautiful pass right in front of the goal.....America, especially in the opening 5 minutes, destroyed Japan at every angle..Open look after open look and did not capitalize....

shortly thereafter, you could see Japan slowly and more methodically begin to penetrate more and more.

After they scored that second equalizer in OT, I knew they would win.....That shot by Sawa was amazing......

Dang US, you had that game....And I hate that you lost it that way more then just losing by getting beat......you will kick yourselves for the rest of your lives over that loss. You should have won 5-1

[wolf2012]

01:47 PM on 07/18/2011

The US Team was far superior (well, obviously not in putting the damn ball inside the net), except for the penalty shoot out. They should have won the title, since they showed the best game of the whole cup - by far. For some weird reason the ball just wouldn't land in the net (Germany had the same problem by the way - even though the US played far better). Given that part of the game is getting a penalty kick in the net, I must say, Japan deserved to win though. And Hope Solo didn't look good either. She should have held at least one - she was in the right corner. But for some damn reason she couldn't even get that one. So what can one say .... some other time - maybe .... but thanks for the amazing entertainment - to both teams!

[Hatima Transport]

12:55 PM on 07/18/2011

This makes it all worth it for Japan http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/18/japan-womens-world-cup-reaction-joy

[we-r-stardust]

12:49 PM on 07/18/2011

SPAM

[Krek]

12:26 PM on 07/18/2011

It was great to see video footage from various parts of Japan of the people leaping around celebrating.

[Jabandit]

12:23 PM on 07/18/2011

Congrats Japan, you deserve it.

The American team didn't want it as bad as you guys did...

[kapalabhati]

12:19 PM on 07/18/2011

Take THAT all you folks who say "no one" cares about soccer. Especially "girls" soccer!

[Wide Stance]

04:12 PM on 07/18/2011

Plenty care, especially the trolls who resent and hate it.

[Wide Stance]

04:46 PM on 07/18/2011

Meaning only: it's impossible to feign indifference.

“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference."--Elie Wiesel

(Trolls hate, therefore they care.)

[Alessandro Ambrossio]

06:30 PM on 07/18/2011

Yeah, this copa mundial was pretty entertaining. Male or female, there was quality on display, and some good football played throughout the tournament.