More than a billion posts on Facebook for World Cup

More than a billion comments, likes and posts have been made on Facebook since the tournament started on 12 June. Image: Inventor Spot

More than a billion comments, posts, and "likes" related to World Cup matches have been racked up since the tournament began on 12 June, in a level of online conversation never seen before at Facebook, according to the California-based social network.

About 220m people have taken part in the unprecedented online conversation. Knock-out matches that took place during last weekend pushed the overall number of "interactions" at Facebook past a billion.

"Facebook generally sees a large amount of conversation around sporting events, but the World Cup has proven to be a unique moment," the social network said in a blog post.

"Facebook's data editors have never measured an event - sports or otherwise - that has topped a billion interactions."

More than 31m people engaged in 75m posts, comments, and "likes" related to last Saturday's match pitting Brazil against Chile.

That level of World Cup online activity at the social network was second only to the 140m interactions engaged in by 58m people during the opening match between Brazil and Croatia, according to Facebook.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge