In terms of online entertainment , the World Cup seemed to have it all . There was a cannibalistic Luis Suarez . Tim Howard saving ... well ... everything . Sad Brazilians . And Cristiano Ronaldo 's hair . Oh , yeah ... and the actual matches , which saw the U.S. team make an inspiring run , the powerhouse Brazilians unravel in shocking fashion and the Germans ultimately capture first prize on Sunday . The month-long spectacle also captured another prize : It 's now the biggest social event in Web history . On Facebook , Sunday 's final between Germany and Argentina alone spurred 280 million interactions by 88 million people , according to the company . That easily surpassed the former champ , last year 's Super Bowl , with its 245 million interactions . Things were similarly fast and furious on Twitter , where the match was inspiring more than 618,000 tweets per minute , a new record for the site . There were a total of 32.1 million tweets about the match . Take those numbers and tack them onto the huge online engagement the tournament had already inspired and it 's a no-brainer that Brazil 2014 enjoyed online fandom like no event before it . From June 12 to July 13 , 350 million people generated a massive 3 billion World Cup posts , comments and likes , according to Facebok . In just its first week , from June 12-18 , the tournament inspired 459 million Facebook interactions -- more than this year 's Super Bowl , the Academy Awards in March and the Sochi Winter Olympics combined . FIFA , international soccer 's ruling body , says that more than 1 billion people engaged with World Cup content through its website , social media accounts and mobile app . The official FIFA app became the biggest sports-event app ever , with 28 million downloads , 451 million Facebook users were reached by FIFA 's page and its Instagram account rocketed from 42,000 followers to nearly 1 million in 31 days . `` This has been the first truly mobile and social World Cup , '' FIFA President Sepp Blatter said . `` The 1 billion attendance in the global stadium created the sense of togetherness the World Cup brings and the shared excitement that digital platforms offer . '' Certainly , the global appeal of the World Cup played a huge part in the tournament 's popularity . But the big numbers were clearly being bolstered by growing interest in the United States , one of the few nations where soccer is n't , hands-down , the most popular sport . During Sunday 's final , 10.5 million of the people engaged on Facebook were from the United States . Compare that to the 7 million people in Argentina and 5 million in Germany , the match 's actual participants , and you can see that U.S. interest in the tourney did n't disappear when the American side bowed out . In the 28 days before the U.S. team lost to Belgium in the knockout round , 36.7 million U.S. fans engaged with the World Cup 's online properties , a spokesman for the organization said . That 's 11.2 % of the country 's population and accounted for 23 % of the total activity during that time . In all , 42 million U.S. fans visited FIFA Web and mobile tools during the entire tournament . As the U.S. men 's team played its way out of a tough opening-round group that included Germany , Portugal and Ghana , U.S . Web users spent a total of 847 years and 143 days engaged with FIFA content . That 's more than soccer-crazy rivals Brazil , Germany , England and France combined . `` The popularity of the World Cup in the USA shows what a nation of sports lovers and enthusiasts they are , '' Blatter said . `` The carnival atmosphere experienced at the World Cup viewing parties , where fans filled whole city blocks across the U.S. , shows the passion that Jürgen Klinsmann 's side has instilled in U.S. sports fans . ''
The World Cup tournament shattered social-media records . Sunday 's Germany-Argentina final saw 618,000 tweets per minute . TL;DR A new study shows that the U.S. is more likely to be killed by a terrorist than any other country in the world. FIFA says spike in U.S. popularity contributed to social dominance .