10.16 am, Friday May 25 2012

Facebook post breaks million comment record

12:00 AEDT Wed Feb 15 2012
By Henri Paget, ninemsn
VIEWS: 0
| FLOCKS: 0
| comments0 comments so far
Many of the posts were just random characters.
Many of the posts were just random characters.

Also on
Fake filmTeen suspended over bullying vid No chuteDaredevil leaps from helicopter Tipping overTruck filmed losing control 'Too hot'Woman 'fired for good looks' confessionKelly cites Scientology bunny timeKate Upton hits the bikini beach

An Australian man's post on Facebook has broken a world record after it received more than one million comments in less than two weeks.

Andrew Folling, from Brisbane, posted the words "Challenge Accepted?" alongside a ninemsn article about a previous Facebook record on a group page on February 1.

Today the post has over 1,010,000 comments, consisting mostly of random letters and phrases typed in by the "I Stay Up Late and I Don't Do Anything Productive II" group's 544 members.

Another Facebook group made headlines early this month when they cracked a million comments — although their group took nearly three months to achieve the goal.

Nathan Effertz, a 21-year-old IT technician from Canada who helped achieve the new record, said they saw the previous group's record and thought they could do better.

He said only about 80 of the group's members were actively involved — with most posting several thousand times.

"I started commenting right when it was posted, until now, so I've spent at least 60 hours on it in total," he said.

Mr Effertz said others contributed even more — with one of the members commenting 100,000 times in one day by himself.

"Facebook banned him for it," he said. "He ended up creating a new account and being accepted into the group again so he could keep helping."

Another member used a fork and set it up so it was touching the enter key and the apostrophe key at the same time, so he could post comments with just one hand.

Some of the contributors posted so many times without refreshing the page that their computers struggled to keep up.

"A member posted some photos of his CPU [central processing unit] and all four cores were maxed out," Mr Effertz said.

He said one of the motivations for the posting marathon was to see just how much Facebook could handle.

"I guess we're trying to see just how far Facebook will let us go before we get banned," he said, adding that their excessive posting had likely raised alarm bells within the company.

He compared the group's efforts to a scene in The Social Network, when a young Mark Zuckerberg crashes the Harvard University computer system with his "Facemash" website.

"We're trying to do the same thing. Now it's Zuckerberg getting woken up in the middle of the night with emails saying what's going on here?" Mr Effertz joked.

He said the group plans to continue until they hit two million posts.

 

Most popular

 Father in custody fight pictured with daughters

The Italian father at the centre of a bitter battle for custody of his four daughters has released photos of himself with the girls in a bid to clear his name.

 Groom's wedding song has audience in stitches

He admits to punching above his weight and drooling in bed but a UK groom has become an internet hit with a self-depreciating wedding song he penned for his bride.

 Man says he suffocated missing NY boy

A man has told New York police he suffocated a long-missing six-year-old boy, in a possible break in a crime that helped launch a missing children's movement across the United States.

 Six charged over child prostitution ringTwo sisters who allegedly masterminded a Sydney child prostitution ring are preparing to face court along with four men who are alleged clients.
 Gaga angers Thais with fake Rolex tweetLady Gaga has sparked an online uproar in Thailand after tweeting she was looking forward to buying fake Rolex there.
 Poles nabbed trying to load corpse on trainTwo Poles were detained Thursday after a corpse rolled up in a rug fell out of a sofa-bed that they were trying to load on a local commuter train, a police officer said.
 Drowned chef's friends 'will suffer entire lives'A young Melbourne man who drowned after jumping off a pier early this morning had been drinking with friends who convinced him to take the fatal plunge.
 Wife caught husband in bed with teenA man's drug-fuelled relationship with a child was exposed when his wife caught them in bed together, a court has heard.
 Boy, 11, urinates on $36k worth of MacbooksAn 11-year-old US boy destroyed $36,000 worth of Macbook computers at his school by urinating on them, according to police.
 Bear attacks Canadian man on toiletA 65-year-old man has told how he was dragged off a toilet by a black bear while on a camping trip in Canada.
Be our fan on Facebook
Most Recommended
You need the latest version of Flash Player.
Enjoy the most vivid content on the web
Watch video without extra features
Interact with applications on your favourite sites
Upgrade now

page complete