FIFA World Cup engages about 130 million fans on social media, app

The latest edition of FIFA World Cup has taken the world by storm with fans filling the stands, streaming matches online and filling every sports pub to witness the nail-biting matches.

How can social media be far behind? Since the start of the tournament, over ten million new fans have joined official World Cup accounts of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, VKontakte and Weibo, a report by FIFA.com said.

FIFA.com and the FIFA Apps have received over 130 million visitors since the start of the tournament and that total followers for FIFA's social media platforms now surpasses the 120-million mark.

FIFA App is topping the charts in 128 countries.

Among the  countries whose fans are avidly following the tournament with FIFA is the host nation, which is ranked fourth overall.

Russian fans spend an average of around 40 minutes on FIFA's digital platforms.

32 dedicated team reporters, close to the action and covering the tournament in-depth, are followed across 16 languages on Twitter and have engaged 200,000 fans in Facebook groups.

The team reporters have engaged about 200,000 fans in Facebook groups with Argentinian and Brazilian fans at the top.

New innovative ways of storytelling, such as visual stories and a match report service in international sign language, have also helped enhance accessibility to match content.