Tuesday’s Chelsea-FC Barcelona UEFA Champions League semifinal second-leg match "broke the tweets-per-second record for a sporting event," peaking at 13,684 messages per second, according to Sam Mamudi of MARKETWATCH.com. That tops the previous record for a sporting event of 12,233 tweets per second during the end of Super Bowl XLVI in February. The Super Bowl drew a total of 13.7 million tweets, though a Twitter spokesperson indicated that the company "didn't calculate the total number of messages sent during Tuesday's soccer match" (MARKETWATCH.com, 4/25). BRAFTON.com notes yesterday's Bayern Munich-Real Madrid semifinal "more than likely ... will be among the most discussed as well," while the May 19 championship game "will draw its own share of attention." Major sports events "consistently prove to be trending web topics, and internet marketers should take note" (BRAFTON.com, 4/26).
LOWE AND BEHOLD: Actor Rob Lowe appeared on CBS' "Late Show" last night and discussed a tweet he sent several months ago regarding Peyton Manning's status with the Colts that became national news. Host David Letterman said, "People were concerned and guessing and wondering about the future of Peyton Manning ... and then you on your little tweet device mention ... that you know pretty certainly that he’s retiring. Now what happened there and did you know anything?” Lowe: “As a Colts fan, I got it right. We’re never going to see him play for us again.” Letterman replied, “But the tweet was he was retiring, wasn’t it?” Lowe noted he has family "in the Midwest" and he “got a call from one of the doctors that examined Peyton who said, ‘I think he’s done.’” Letterman said, “No, no, that didn’t happen. Now Rob, you’ve got to be honest with me. ... That’s a violation of patient/doctor confidentiality. You don’t just, ‘Hey, guess who was in here. Oprah was in here.'" Lowe: “As you know David, people never do that with celebrities.” Lowe said he is a sports fan, so he tweets about various sports topics. Letterman: “You’re like a one-man ‘SportsCenter.’” Lowe: “A one-man ‘SportsCenter’ who sometimes forgets the power of Twitter and that people give a crap. I literally tweeted it driving into the entrance of Laurel Canyon in L.A. By the time I got to the other side of Laurel Canyon CNN, ESPN, Fox News were on my butt about it” (“Late Night,” CBS, 4/25).
