Given that it was France’s Independence Day, or Bastille Day on Saturday, we can say that the nation had a pretty good weekend.
What did social media have to say about it?
Global media intelligence company, Meltwater, analysed social media mentions and trends surrounding the World Cup. In the week leading up to the final, 7–14 July, there were 1,5 million mentions of “France.” In the same week, “Croatia” was mentioned 998 000 times on social media. Of course, this could have been due to the fact that France celebrated Bastille Day on the 14th.
World Cup or “#WorldCup” rallied up a total 9,8 million hits on social media in the last seven days. Of that, nearly 50% was positive chatter. 25% of the mentions were on Sunday, the day of the final.
Of the positive conversation, the majority included mentions of the words “nation,” “celebration” and “victory,” showing the celebratory nature of the social chatter.
Twitter was the most popular platform for hosting conversations about the much-anticipated Final, followed by Facebook, online forums and YouTube – where thousands of videos of goals, highlights and playing time have been uploaded.
The UK and USA were the most vocal about the World Cup on social media in the last week with 12% of the chatter coming from each region. Other countries that Tweeted significantly was South Africa (4,25%), India (3,1%) and Russia (0,5%), where the World Cup was hosted. The data illustrates that although two European countries were playing against each other, people all over the world were tuning in to watch the game and chipping in to the conversation around the match.
One person Tweeted about their setting for their World Cup final from Syria:
Meanwhile, in Paris:
Although France was mentioned over 880 000 times on social media on Sunday and Croatia 353 000 times, both nations celebrated their presence in the Final accordingly. “Congratulations” was one of the most popular terms seen in the same sentence with both France and Croatia yesterday. This can be seen as an indication of good sportsmanship – as both did deserve congratulatory wishes.
Clearly, the data indicates that there was a sense of unity all over the world.
