Suarez incident also shows that World Cup is big on social media

By John Bagratuni, dpa

Twitter, Facebook and company went into overdrive on Tuesday over Luis Suarez's alleged bite into the shoulder of Giorgio Chiellini, to prove beyond doubt that Brazil 2014 is the social and new media World Cup.

The infamous incident came less than 12 hours after the ruling body FIFA announced that their World Cup app was the biggest of a sports event, downloaded more than 18 million times since June 1.

The opening match between Brazil and Croatia saw 12.2 million tweets, and the Uruguay match with Suarez' incident could well see double digit figures again, given the flood of reactions.

They ranged from a speechless former England players Gary Lineker ("Suarez has bitten Chiellini!!!") and Rio Ferdinand ("Tell me Suarez didn't eat someone....was the hero a couple a days ago....") to former boxer Evander Holyfield, himself once famously bitten by Mike Tyson.

"I guess any part of the body is up for eating," Holyfield tweeted.

Even the McDonalds branch from Suarez's home country Uruguay could not resist a jibe, saying (in English translation). "Hi, Luis Suarez, if you are still hungry, come take a bite out of a Big Mac."

The incident went viral as the referee was putting together his report to reach FIFA Wednesday, the day the ruling body are also set to give Twitter figures for the Uruguay-Italy game.

The selfie of Lukas Podolski with German chancellor Angela Merkel in the team dressing room has paled compared to the latest incident, and so has the blunt demand from Italy's Mario Balotelli "If we beat Costa Rica I want a kiss, obviously on the cheek, from the UK Queen."

But all those, as well as the now closed Twitter account from Ecuador player Michael Arroyo - after being the target of abuse from home fans blaming him for defeat against Switzerland - highlight the social media buzz among fans, players, pundits and officials.

FIFA boss Joseph Blatter has become an ardent tweeter, from congratulating Germany's Miroslav Klose on a record-tying 15th World Cup goal to saying he met Belgium's royal couple.

FIFA.com's Twitter account has 3.63 million followers and their Facebook site with 1.2 million likes. Both social media giants have their own dedicated World Cup content as well.

The FIFA app featuring live, editorial and social content has reached 2.5 billion page views. FIFA naturally also has its own Youtube channel to cater for an audience that consumes sport in a different way than previous generations - on smartphones, tablets or computers rather than via radio or television alone.

"We are following the digital train everywhere," host broadcasting CEO Francis Tellier said last week.

FIFA TV chief Niclas Ericson said that multimedia content consumption of the TV footage itself was not yet known but expects it to add to the 3.2 billion cumulative TV audience record from 2010, which is set to be broken in Brazil.

"If you add all other consumption it will increase further. Many young people consume the World Cup differently. We don't know the exact figures," he said.

Known, however, are the most popular players on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

By the end of last week Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo led the way with 117.4 million followers on all three sites, ahead of Argentina's Lionel Messi, a distant second on 62.5 million.

However, players also have to follow rules when on social networks.

Russia coach Fabio Capello has imposed a complete social media ban for his players, Dutch players are not to reveal anything about team-mates, and England manager manager Roy Hodgson also told his players to make responsible use of Twitter, Facebook etc.

Smartphones and details from team meetings are off limit for German players.

Now resigned Italy coach Cesare Prandelli had also considered a Twitter and Facebook ban for his players, but eventually decided as the Dutch - good news for Ballotelli who had also famously announced his engagement via Twitter.