Felix Baumgartner’s 24-mile skydive on Sunday not only broke five Guinness World Records, it set a few new peaks in social media traffic.
In the U.S., Discovery Channel had exclusivity on broadcasting the event on TV but more than 130 digital outlets streamed it. This may have set the stage for an impressive online showing.
YouTube reported that Baumgartner’s jump set a new record for them, drawing 8 million concurrent video streams. Viewers tuned into YouTube as he ascended in the balloon, and the live cast’s virility grew as the jump drew closer.
Facebook numbers were equally impressive. Red Bull’s Facebook post of a triumphant Felix on his knees after touchdown generated nearly 216,000 likes and more than 10,000 comments less than 40 minutes after posting. During and after the jump, half of the trending topics on Twitter were about the event, surpassing all political and celebrity trending topics.
Hollywood otaku Wil Wheaton tweeted about the jump, “It’s pretty amazing that I can watch, live on my computer, a man riding a balloon to the edge of space so he can jump out of it. #TheFuture.”
Source: Washington Post {link no longer active}
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