FutureFive New Zealand - Consumer technology news & reviews from the future
Story image
Sky’s the limit for social media
Mon, 15th Oct 2012
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Felix Baumgartner's 24-mile skydive from the stratosphere on Sunday captivated the planet, with social media networks forming the platform for millions of users to share a record-breaking moment in human history.

The Austrian daredevil broke the record for the highest ever skydive, jumping out of a balloon 128,000ft (39km) above New Mexico.

Taking just under 10 minutes to reach the desert surface, Baumgartner fell four minutes and 19 seconds reaching a speed of 1,137km/h.

Here's how the world, through the Internet, watch the jump.

Youtube:

The video sharing site draw nearly 7.3 million viewers, who watched Baumgartner sit on the edge of the capsule moments before the dive.

Through a live stream of the event, over 40 TV networks in 50 countries carried the live feed which was streamed by over 130 digital outlets.

Facebook:

Within 40 minutes of Baumgartner landing safely on Earth, the picture was shared nearly 30,000 times on the social networking site, generating almost 216,000 likes and over 10,000 comments worldwide.

Sponsors of the jump Red Bull used Facebook, along with Twitter, to gather questions for Baumgarnter to newer in the post-jump press conference.

Twitter:

During and after the jump, half the global trending topics on Twitter referred to the skydive in some way - eclipsing common trends such as Justin Beiber and NFL football games.

Star Trek: The Next Generation actor Wil Wheaton was one of many celebrities and famous figures to applaud the jump, tweeting:

"It's pretty amazing that I can watch, live on my computer, a man riding a balloon to the edge of space so he can jump out of it. #TheFuture."

How did you watch the event? Tell us below

Statistics provided by Associated Press