World Cup 2014: Brazil vs. Germany breaks social media records

Per Mertesacker of Germany takes a selfie after a 7-1 victory during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Semi Final match between Brazil and Germany at Estadio Mineirao on July 8, 2014, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Martin Rose/Getty Images

When the final whistle blew in Belo Horizonte to mercifully end Germany's 7-1 thrashing of Brazil in the World Cup semifinal, millions of Brazilians' hearts were broken. Also broken was the record set on Twitter for the most talked about sporting event ever.
With 35.6 million tweets across the roughly two-hour match, it far surpassed the 16.4 million soccer-related tweet record set just a few days earlier during Brazil's contentious win over Chile. It also easily beat the previous record of any sporting event, which was 24.9 million tweets set by the Super Bowl earlier in 2014.
The live-time heatmap of tweets related to the game below shows that nearly every corner of the world was tuned in to the route of the home country.