Chapter 9Social Media and the Web
How Fast can We Send 140 Characters?
January 8, 2012. NFL playoffs. The Broncos and Steelers are tied 23–23 at the end of the fourth quarter. On the first play of overtime, Tim Tebow throws an 80-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas. The play takes 11 seconds and sets a record for the quickest ending to an NFL overtime. In the moments after Thomas crosses the goal line to win the game, Twitter explodes with activity at the rate of 9,420 Tebow and Denver Bronco-related tweets per second. The frequency of tweets sent sets a record for a sporting event: 9,420 bursts of user-created content every second.
While Tebow’s tweetfest set the bar for a sporting event, a few months later in July 2012, Twitter reported ...
Get Total Sportscasting now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
