Spain not only claimed the Euro 2012 title on the field, but they also won a title off the field as Euro 2012's social media champion, according to the SID. Out of a "total of 12 million tweets" with the hashtag #Euro2012 that were sent during the tournament, the Spanish team "had the most mentions" with 873,000. The player with the highest number of mentions was Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo with 268,000. He was followed by Italian striker Mario Balotelli with 213,000 mentions and Spanish striker Fernando Torres with 188,000 (SID, 7/4). MEIO&MENSAGEM's Sergio Damasceno reported that England received the second most mentions with 849,000 tweets followed by Italy with 716,000. The "themes that created the most posts" were goals and the action of the referees. The surprise was that the "most re-tweeted post did not have any link with players or personalities involved in the 2012 Euro." It came from NBA Miami Heat player Lebron James, who congratulated Spain. His tweet was re-tweeted more than 9,000 times (MEIO&MENSAGEM, 7/4).
