As expected, social media was in full play throughout Super Bowl XLVII at the Superdome in New Orleans. Shortly after the game ended, Twitter reported that 24.1 million tweets, a figure that even exceeded last year’s presidential election evening.
Twitter surpassed its previous Super Bowl record for number of tweets barely into the second half, when the Baltimore Ravens’ Jacoby Jones returned the opening kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown. The stunning touchdown seemed to signal a probable blowout defeat of the favored San Francisco 49ers, prompting users to post a peak of 185,000 tweets per minute (TPM) after the play. But minutes later, Twitter experienced its greatest surge during the game, due to the Superdome’s massive power failure that darkened nearly half of the stadium. During the 35-minute delay, Twitter reached a peak of 231,500 TPM.
Other significant surges of Twitter activity occurred in different stages of the telecast, such as Beyonce’s halftime show, which experienced Twitter’s highest peak of TPM at the conclusion of her performance with 268,000 TPM, the Destiny’s Child reunion with 257,500 TPM and Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” coming in with 252,500 TPM. During the actual game, Jacoby Jones’ 56-yard touchdown reception for a Ravens touchdown had 168,000 TPM, the 49ers Frank Gore’s touchdown with 131,000 TPM and the end of the game with 183,000 TPM.
Despite having a record-breaking television audience with more than 70% of American households tuned into the game at the Superdome, there were others that were more interested in watching the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet. Twitter reports that there were about 500,000 tweets related to this non-Super Bowl fan’s alternative.
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