Facebook: Travelers to Brazil during World Cup saw 15% gain in international friendship

“Hey, can I add you on Facebook?”

It seems those words were spoken quite a bit during the World Cup. Facebook’s Data Science team studied check-ins and international friend requests in Brazil, finding that travelers to Brazil saw a 15 percent rise during the tournament in friend connections from another country. On average, international visitors to Brazil during the World Cup made 2 friends — one from the host country and one from another country.

Facebook blogged about the check-in and friend connection data they collected throughout the World Cup:

As international visitors spent time in Brazil and attended the World Cup matches, they met and socialized with other passionate soccer fans from around the world.