Since the World Cup began on June 12, Facebook reports that it has seen over one billion World Cup-related posts, comments, and likes. Over 220 million Facebook users have generated these interactions. The knockout matches, which have already seen a fair share of games decided on penalty kicks, have certainly expedited this process. Still, Facebook’s data editors have never measured an event — sports or otherwise — that has topped a billion interactions, and although the World Cup lasts longer than the average event, it is continuing to set social records that will be tough to top.
On Saturday, more than 31 million people had 75 million interactions (posts, comments, and likes) related to the match between Brazil and Chile. The game saw the second-highest level of conversation for any World Cup match that Facebook’s data team has measured to date.
Brazilian players are helping drive Facebook engagement on their own accounts. A photo of Neymar and Hulk has over 2.5 Million likes and more than 70K shares, making it the most engaging post by any player during the World Cup. Of the top 20 most-liked Facebook posts by World Cup athletes during the tournament, a combined 12 of them are by Brazilian teammates Neymar and David Luiz.
- Neymar – 7
- David Luiz – 5
- Leo Messi – 4
- Cristiano Ronaldo – 3
- Bastian Schweinsteiger 1
Eleven player posts have over a million likes:
- Neymar – 7
- Leo Messi – 3
- Cristiano Ronaldo – 1