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Image Courtesy of: Mashable

Sadly, this past Thursday Nelson Mandela passed away and the world lost an amazing leader. Millions of people took to social media to mourn the former President of South Africa and honor his political legacy.

I usually like to stay away from numbers and figures, but everything has extenuating circumstances. The number of tweets and Facebook posts on Thursday were as follows:

  • Twitter: 7.2 million tweets
  • Facebook: A total of 39 million people generated more than 80 million interactions

According to a Mashable post, these numbers don’t set any records, but they do surpass some busy moments of the year, such as this year’s past Super Bowl which generated more than 24 million tweets.

South Africa was the second country to be most active on social media surrounding Mandela’s death, only following behind the United States. President Obama posted a Facebook post stating:

“Let us pause and give thanks for the fact that Nelson Mandela lived – a man who took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe toward justice.” – President Obama

What did Nelson Mandela’s death mean to you and your loved ones?