How Many Retweets Did Ellen DeGeneres's Oscars Selfie Get?

Ellen DeGeneres hosted the Oscars, broke Twitter, and had pizza delivered all in one night. Job well done, Ellen.

The host's epic celeb selfie featuring Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and others spread like wildfire during the ceremony. The pic became the most retweeted in history, and today, Twitter broke down exactly how many people bore witness to this record-/web-breaking tweet.

Source: Getty / Kevin Winter

While Oscars-related tweets were viewed over 3.3 billion times worldwide, Ellen's tweet alone was seen in total over 32.8 million times across the web! By 8 a.m. PST on Monday, March 3, 2.4 million people had retweeted Ellen's tweet, 13,711 sites (like ours) embedded it, and 8.1 million different users saw the tweet directly from their timelines on Twitter.com, the Twitter mobile, and desktop apps.

The graphic shows how quickly a single tweet can go viral and also underlines the role the microblogging service plays during live television events. During these events, Twitter becomes a social epicenter. When there's a big game on, the season finale of a hit show is playing, or a big award ceremony like the Oscars or the Grammys is airing, Twitter transforms into a virtual watercooler.

It's indicative of a new trend: bringing a second screen into the viewing experience. Sure, some viewers are moving away from live television and toward on-demand services like Netflix. But social platforms such as Twitter are turning TV into another medium entirely. Social media lets lots of people share a common experience, and as this graph shows, a single post can be seen by millions.

Source: Twitter