World Cup first to break 1 billion interactions on Facebook

The World Cup is officially the most popular event in Facebook history, the company said Monday.

Between June 12 and June 29, Facebook counted over 1 billion interactions on its network, courtesy of 220 million users, the social network noted. Facebook counts interactions as user posts, comments, and likes related to a conversation about the World Cup.

The milestone, which was reached before the World Cup has even come close to reaching its July 13 conclusion, is the first time in Facebook history that the company has counted over a billion interactions for any single event.

The FIFA World Cup is one of the biggest sporting events in the world, and occurs every four years. The top soccer teams around the world compete to become world champions. Spain won the 2010 tournament in South Africa. This year’s event is being held in Brazil. There are our teams in the quarter finals — Brazil, Colombia, Netherlands, and Costa Rica. Four more will be joining the round Monday and Tuesday. The final is scheduled for July 13, providing Facebook ample time to boost those figures.

Saturday was a particularly intense day for World Cup interactions on Facebook, with 31 million people worldwide sharing 75 million interactions during the match between Brazil and Chile. That was second only to the 58 million people who shared 140 million interactions on the service on June 12 in Brazil’s opener. That game was the single most popular event in Facebook’s history.

source: CNet