Top 10 of Guinness World Records in Social Media

Recently it was in the news that Charlie Sheen had broken the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to reach one million followers on the social networking and microblogging website Twitter.

That got me thinking: is this really an achievement of him or did he simply wait long enough before jumping on the Twitter bandwagon? When you think of it: if someone else wants to replicate this accomplishment then it would probably be very hard unless you're quite famous already.

This is just one example that shows we can now set world records for achievements in social media. Charlie Sheen is, in fact, not the first to set a world record in social media. How about a record for getting the most Likes on Facebook within 24 hours or a record for being the most prolific professional blogger?

This article gives an overview of some of the most interesting Guinness World Records in social media!

Charlie Sheen decided to join Twitter on March 1, 2011. It took just 25 hours and 17 minutes for him to get 1,000,000 followers and that's the fastest time anyone has ever gotten so many followers so quickly.

He has a verified Twitter account which makes it a lot easier to know you're following the real Charlie Sheen! Check his Twitter account if you wish to follow him.

Just so you know, Charlie Sheen is an American actor known for his roles in the sitcoms Two and a Half Men and Spin City as well as his roles in various movies. Being famous makes it a lot easier to attract lots of followers of course.

Speaking of followers on Twitter, who has the most followers on Twitter? Lady Gaga! The record was set on August 23, 2010 with 5,670,779 followers, surpassing famous people such as Britney Spears (5,668,825), Ashton Kutcher (5,542,023), and Barack Obama (5,003,469).

Lady Gaga now has 8,539,780 Twitter followers on March 3, 2011.

There is actually an interesting story behind this world record! Lots of content on the internet now has a Facebook Like button next to it. The cookie company Oreo tried to set the world record for most people clicking on that Like button within 24 hours for one of their posts on Facebook.

They were doing quite well and eventually 114,619 people had clicked on the Like button. Rapper Lil Wayne started his attempt at this world record about five hours after Oreo Cookies and he managed to get a lot more: 588,243 likes!

Lil Wayne got the world record but Oreo still got an honorable mention during the award ceremony.

If you are a blogger then be prepared for the number of blog posts that follows! This number of blog posts got Darren Murph the world record for being the most prolific professional blogger. In four years time (July 2006 - 2010) he has written a total of 17,212 blog posts for Engadget - and still counting!

Some interesting facts: that is almost 12 blog posts per day (he had even a peak of 59 posts on one day!) The total number of words? A grand total of 3,389,148 words!

A post about the game CityVille by Facebook games developer Zynga managed to get 292,288 comments! The original post was posted on January 6, 2011.

I wonder how they measure this because people could still keep posting more and more comments? When would they stop counting? Anyway, it's still quite an accomplishment!

The game developer Zynga in the previous world record has actually set a few more world records. Here they are:

• Zynga has the most monthly active users (in all its games on Facebook): 195,631,178 at November 29, 2010 and this makes it the most popular games developer on Facebook.
  
• Zynga developed a game with the fastest growth: the game Treasure Isle managed to get 980,000 active users within 48 hours on April 2 - 4, 2010.
• The game Texas Hold'em Poker by Zynga holds the record for the most fans on Facebook: a grand total of 34,757,671 fans which was achieved on January 31, 2011.
  

On October 17, 2009 the company Everywhere set a world record on Twitter and other social media by spreading a message with the hashtag #beatcancer.

In total the hashtag was mentioned 209,771 times on Twitter. The message also spread to other social media such as Facebook and blog posts. It was an attempt to raise money for non-profit cancer organizations and they raised over $70,000 as a result!

Who hasn't heard of this game before? The puzzle game Bejeweled Blitz is officially the most popular puzzle game on Facebook.

The game is made by PopCap Games and it attracts over 10 million monthly active users. The record was set in October 2010.

Social media can even influence the traditional media such as television! The television show $h*! My Dad Says aired on September 23, 2010 (CBS) and it is based on the funny tweets that Justin Halpern posts to his account @shitmydadsays.

These are quotes from his dad which are hugely popular. The Twitter account now has more than 2 million followers!

The television show is about an author (played by Jonathan Sadowski) and his dad (William Shatner). Life is a struggle for the author but he manages to earn money by writing about his father's rants.

Companies have also discovered Twitter to provide support to their customers. Microsoft is offering customer support for problems with the video gaming console Xbox at @XboxSupport.

Their customer support is officially the most responsive: it takes on average only 2 minutes and 42 seconds before you get a response! This was measured by looking at 5,000 questions that were asked by customers in the period March 12 - 18, 2010.

Take a look at the Guinness World Records website and search for social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook if you wish to set a record of your own.

It could be that someone managed to set a new world record in the categories I mentioned in this article so check the official website if you want to be sure. Post a comment below if you have set a new world record!

This article was written by Simeon Visser. I am earning money online by writing here at HubPages.com. Would you like to earn money online as well? Read the success stories and sign up today to get started!