By any measure, the World Cup is a pretty big deal. 2010′s games will land among the most watched sporting events in history. This time it’s not just about eyes on televisions, though. The last time the world cup came around, Facebook had about 7.5 Million users. Twitter was less than three months old with 500 users. This time? Twitter is peaking at ~3,000 tweets per second when goals are scored.

The experience for the non-attending fan is far richer than before. Aggregators like tweetbeat add context and commentary while watching matches (especialy with the sound off). Location-based networks are helping to bring fans together in the real world. I set off on a rainy Satruday morning to catch the first U.S. match vs England. Foursquare let me know which bars and restaurants the largest groups of people were gathered at and which teams they supported. I ended up at the Drafthouse, which happened to have the biggest U.S. crowd.

For matches during which I’ve been away from televisions and computer, I’ve been using the new version of Hot Potato. This service offers threaded discussions with people who are having the same experience as I am. I was happy when notifications (SMS or Push) became available for sports scores; I’m even happier now with my fully interactive experience. Although the games are taking place 9,000 miles and 8 time zones away, I’m having a better time than I’ve had attending other sporting events in person. [Go USA!]

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