4 things the Web learned from the World Cup

As we near the final match of the 2010 World Cup we thought we think back on a few things that we've all learned from this month long competition. So, in no particular order:

Live, reliable free online sports streaming is real

If you were aware of ESPN3 before the World Cup, you certainly should be now. The channel broke all kinds of records during the USA games especially, and worked nearly flawlessly throughout the month even on lower bandwidth connections. Hopefully ESPN and the networks paid close attention to this and about how much people really want this.

People want their sports check-in badges

We actually saw this really pick up a little before the World Cup with the NBA Finals when Celtics and Lakers fans/Foursquare users checked in saying they were watching their team to get special badges. The World Cup brought this to a global stage with a number of check-in services offering badges, including Foursquare, Gowalla and GetGlue.

Twitter can't handle the Cup

"He shoots, and….FAIL WHALES!" Yes, Twitter had one of its worst months in recent memory with up-time, as a number of tweets-per-second records were broken as everyone tweeted variations of "GGGOOOOOOAAAALLLLL!!!!!" all at the same time. On a positive note, those hashtag flags and soccer ball sure were cute (when you could see them).

Annoying things make great memes

Again, if you didn't know what a vuvuzela was before the World Cup, you sure do now. Millions of searches, complaints, fan clubs, even a few apps and frequency filters all sprung up out of the bells of these colorful plastic blow horns which are forever etched into our memories (and our ear drums).

One last thing…

Goal-line technology for 2014 please!