NBA finals 'tweets' top World Cup

(AFP Photo/Paul J. Richards)

The World Cup has fueled record numbers of messages on Twitter but the all-time high was set on Thursday after the Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA title, the micro-blogging service said Friday.

Twitter spokesman Sean Garrett said in a blog post that Twitter saw a record 3,085 "tweets" per second, or TPS, after the Lakers beat the Boston Celtics to win their 16th NBA title.

Garrett said the previous record was set after Japan scored against Cameroon in their World Cup match on Monday, when 2,940 tweets-per-second were sent in the 30 seconds after the goal was scored.

Brazil's first score against North Korea in their 2-1 that same day saw 2,928 TPS. Mexico's goal to tie South Africa in the opening game of the tournament last week was next with 2,704 TPS.

Garrett said Twitter usually sees about 750 TPS on an average day and 65 million total Tweets a day.

Earlier this week, Twitter warned users to expect outages as it copes with the heavy traffic during the World Cup.

The micro-blogging service has exploded in popularity since it was launched in March 2006 and Twitter chief operating officer Dick Costello said recently that it now attracts 190 million visitors a month.

cl/mac