At 12 noon on the 9th of June, traffic around South Africa came to a standstill as citizens everywhere spent five minutes producing a joyful racket, celebrating the approach of the soccer World Cup by blowing their vuvuzelas. The plastic soccer horns have been loved by local sports fans for many years and have become one of the most talked-about features of the 2010 soccer World Cup.

Those involved in search marketing services noticed the immediate effect of the “vuvuzela moment” on social networking platforms, particularly Twitter, as the vuvuzela suddenly became the focus of attention throughout South Africa. Hundreds of local fans anticipating the soccer World Cup changed their tweets to “PAAaaAaAaaArrRRrP” and “BzZzzZZbzZZbzzZ” as they joined in the vuvuzela moment. Others tweeted more coherently about welcoming the soccer World Cup and being proudly South African.