14 DAY TRIAL // Any event that captures the attention of a lot of people is going to make a big splash on Twitter. The World Cup last year got people so worked up that Twitter had a hard time staying online and available for everyone.
It also marked the period with the biggest number of tweets coming in each second. But it didn't take long for the record to be broken, last weekend's Super Bowl is now the most tweeted sporting event in history.
Americans love their version of football, almost as much as they love grandiose TV events. This year's Super Bowl proved to be one of the most watched TV events in the US, if not the most watched.
"The big event had its own Twitter record, too. If you tweeted at 10:07:16pm EST, you helped set a new Twitter record: during the final moments of the game, fans sent 4,064 Tweets per second (TPS) – the highest TPS for any sporting event," Twitter announced.
"That spike shattered the previous record in the sporting world: the 3,283 TPS sent during Japan’s 3-1 victory over Denmark during last summer’s World Cup," it explained.
This wasn't just a fluke, throughout the game, people vented their anger, or cheered for the team on Twitter. The record for most tweets per second was broken six times during the game, as you can see in the chart Twitter provided.
Still, it wasn't enough to set a new all time record for most tweets, the Super Bowl didn't even come close to it. Right after the clock struck 12 in Japan on New Year's Day, Twitter saw a surge in activity like never before, hitting 6,939 TPS at its peak.
Twitter is very popular in Japan and there is a tradition of getting in touch with family and friends on New Year's Day in the country, leading to the big numbers. Still, as Twitter continues to grow, you can expect these records to be broken time and time again.