Forem: Joe Vezzani

Track World Cup 2026 Social Buzz With a Simple Node.js Script

Joe Vezzani — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 15:10:58 +0000

The 2026 FIFA World Cup starts June 11 across the US, Canada, and Mexico. 48 teams for the first time ever. More matches, more upsets, more chaos -- and a ridiculous amount of social media activity.

Headlines will tell you who won. Social data tells you who the internet is actually talking about, which fan bases are the loudest, and which underdog is going viral before the pundits catch on.

I built a tracker that pulls real-time social intelligence on World Cup teams using LunarCrush's API. It processes 50M+ social posts per hour across X, Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and 10K+ news sources.

Here's how to build it yourself.

GitHub repo: JoeVezzani/world-cup-tracker

What we're building

A Node.js script that:

Tracks social volume, sentiment, and engagement for any World Cup team
Compares teams head-to-head (USA vs Mexico, Argentina vs Brazil, etc.)
Ranks all 48 teams by social buzz to find who's trending
Surfaces the most viral posts driving each team's conversation

Setup

mkdir world-cup-tracker && cd world-cup-tracker
npm init -y

Grab an API key at lunarcrush.com/developers.

The core functions

Two endpoints do all the heavy lifting -- one for metrics, one for posts:

const API_KEY = process.env.LUNARCRUSH_API_KEY;
const BASE = "https://lunarcrush.com/api4/public/topic";

async function getTopicData(keyword) {
  const res = await fetch(
    `${BASE}/${encodeURIComponent(keyword)}/v1`,
    { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${API_KEY}` } }
  );
  return res.json();
}

async function getTopicPosts(keyword) {
  const res = await fetch(
    `${BASE}/${encodeURIComponent(keyword)}/posts/v1`,
    { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${API_KEY}` } }
  );
  return res.json();
}

Track a single team

Start simple. Pull the social pulse on any team:

async function teamReport(team) {
  const topic = await getTopicData(team);
  const d = topic.data || {};

  console.log(`\nSOCIAL REPORT: ${team.toUpperCase()}`);
  console.log("=".repeat(50));
  console.log(`Posts (24h):       ${(d.num_posts || 0).toLocaleString()}`);
  console.log(`Engagements:       ${(d.interactions || 0).toLocaleString()}`);
  console.log(`Sentiment:         ${d.sentiment || "N/A"}% bullish`);
  console.log(`Contributors:      ${(d.num_contributors || 0).toLocaleString()}`);

  const posts = await getTopicPosts(team);
  console.log(`\nTop Posts:`);
  for (const post of (posts.data || []).slice(0, 3)) {
    const platform = post.network || "unknown";
    const engagement = (post.interactions_total || 0).toLocaleString();
    const text = (post.body || post.title || "").slice(0, 100);
    console.log(`  [${platform}] ${engagement} engagements: ${text}...`);
  }
}

teamReport("USA World Cup");

LUNARCRUSH_API_KEY=your_key node index.js

Head-to-head comparison

This is where it gets fun. Pit two rival fan bases against each other:

async function headToHead(teamA, teamB) {
  const [a, b] = await Promise.all([
    getTopicData(teamA),
    getTopicData(teamB),
  ]);

  const dataA = a.data || {};
  const dataB = b.data || {};

  console.log(`\nHEAD TO HEAD: ${teamA.toUpperCase()} vs ${teamB.toUpperCase()}`);
  console.log("=".repeat(55));

  const metrics = [
    ["Posts (24h)", "num_posts"],
    ["Engagements", "interactions"],
    ["Sentiment", "sentiment"],
    ["Contributors", "num_contributors"],
  ];

  for (const [label, key] of metrics) {
    const valA = dataA[key] || 0;
    const valB = dataB[key] || 0;
    const winner = valA > valB ? teamA : valA < valB ? teamB : "TIE";
    const format = (v) => key === "sentiment" ? `${v}%` : v.toLocaleString();
    console.log(
      `${label.padEnd(18)} ${format(valA).padStart(12)}  vs  ${format(valB).padEnd(12)}  --> ${winner}`
    );
  }
}

headToHead("USA soccer", "Mexico soccer");

Sample output:

HEAD TO HEAD: USA SOCCER vs MEXICO SOCCER
=======================================================
Posts (24h)              48,291  vs  63,817        --> Mexico soccer
Engagements           1,203,441  vs  2,891,003     --> Mexico soccer
Sentiment                   72%  vs  68%           --> USA soccer
Contributors             31,204  vs  44,109        --> Mexico soccer

Run it for any matchup. Argentina vs Brazil. England vs France. Japan vs South Korea. The data is there for all of them.

Rank all 48 teams by buzz

Here's the full leaderboard. Throw every team in, sort by social volume, see who's dominating the conversation:

const TEAMS = [
  "Argentina World Cup", "Brazil World Cup", "France World Cup",
  "England World Cup", "Germany World Cup", "Spain World Cup",
  "USA World Cup", "Mexico World Cup", "Canada World Cup",
  "Japan World Cup", "South Korea World Cup", "Australia World Cup",
  "Netherlands World Cup", "Portugal World Cup", "Belgium World Cup",
  "Croatia World Cup", "Morocco World Cup", "Senegal World Cup",
  "Uruguay World Cup", "Colombia World Cup", "Ecuador World Cup",
  "Saudi Arabia World Cup", "Qatar World Cup", "Iran World Cup",
];

async function buzzLeaderboard(teams) {
  const results = [];

  for (const team of teams) {
    const data = await getTopicData(team);
    const d = data.data || {};
    results.push({
      team,
      posts: d.num_posts || 0,
      engagements: d.interactions || 0,
      sentiment: d.sentiment || 0,
    });
    // Small delay to be polite to the API
    await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 200));
  }

  results.sort((a, b) => b.posts - a.posts);

  console.log(`\nWORLD CUP 2026 - SOCIAL BUZZ LEADERBOARD`);
  console.log("=".repeat(65));
  console.log(
    `${"#".padEnd(4)}${"Team".padEnd(28)}${"Posts".padStart(10)}${"Engagements".padStart(14)}${"Sentiment".padStart(10)}`
  );
  console.log("-".repeat(65));

  results.forEach((r, i) => {
    const name = r.team.replace(" World Cup", "");
    console.log(
      `${String(i + 1).padEnd(4)}${name.padEnd(28)}${r.posts.toLocaleString().padStart(10)}${r.engagements.toLocaleString().padStart(14)}${(r.sentiment + "%").padStart(10)}`
    );
  });
}

buzzLeaderboard(TEAMS);

Add or remove teams from the array as the tournament bracket fills out. You can also swap "World Cup" for more specific queries like "USMNT" or "Les Bleus" depending on what fan communities call their team.

Find trending moments

The most interesting thing during a tournament isn't steady buzz -- it's spikes. An upset, a red card, a last-minute goal. This function checks for teams with unusual social activity:

const fs = require("fs");
const STATE_FILE = "./buzz_state.json";

function loadState() {
  try { return JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(STATE_FILE)); }
  catch { return {}; }
}

function saveState(state) {
  fs.writeFileSync(STATE_FILE, JSON.stringify(state, null, 2));
}

async function detectSpikes(teams) {
  const state = loadState();
  const spikes = [];

  for (const team of teams) {
    const data = await getTopicData(team);
    const current = data.data?.num_posts || 0;
    const previous = state[team]?.posts || 0;

    if (previous > 0 && current > previous * 2) {
      spikes.push({
        team,
        previous,
        current,
        multiplier: (current / previous).toFixed(1),
      });
    }

    state[team] = { posts: current, timestamp: new Date().toISOString() };
    await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 200));
  }

  saveState(state);

  if (spikes.length === 0) {
    console.log("\nNo major spikes detected. Check back after a match.");
    return;
  }

  spikes.sort((a, b) => b.multiplier - a.multiplier);
  console.log(`\nSPIKE ALERT - Something is happening:`);
  console.log("=".repeat(55));
  for (const s of spikes) {
    const name = s.team.replace(" World Cup", "");
    console.log(
      `${name}: ${s.previous.toLocaleString()} -> ${s.current.toLocaleString()} posts (${s.multiplier}x increase)`
    );
  }
}

detectSpikes(TEAMS);

Run this on a cron every 30 minutes during match days:

# crontab -e
*/30 * * * * cd /path/to/world-cup-tracker && LUNARCRUSH_API_KEY=your_key node spikes.js >> spikes.log

When Japan pulls off an upset against Germany (again), you'll see the spike before ESPN runs the highlight reel.

Why social data matters for sports

Traditional sports coverage tells you who scored. Social data tells you:

Which teams have the most passionate fan bases -- not just the biggest
Where the conversation is happening -- is it TikTok memes or Reddit analysis?
Sentiment shifts in real time -- a team can go from beloved to villain in 90 minutes
Underdog stories forming -- viral moments surface in social data before they hit mainstream media

With 48 teams across three countries, this World Cup is going to generate more social activity than any sporting event in history. Having a way to actually measure and compare that activity is more interesting than refreshing a score app.

Try it

API key: lunarcrush.com/developers
Full API docs: lunarcrush.com/developers/api
MCP server (use with Claude): lunarcrush.com/mcp

I Built a Tariff Impact Tracker That Shows What the Internet Actually Thinks

Joe Vezzani — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 22:07:38 +0000

Tariffs are dominating the news cycle right now. But the headlines only tell you what journalists think. What does the actual internet think?

I built a quick tracker that pulls real-time social data on tariffs -- volume, sentiment, top posts, which platforms are driving the conversation -- using LunarCrush's API. It processes 50M+ social posts per hour across X, Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and 10K+ news sources.

Here's what I found and how to build it yourself.

GitHub repo: JoeVezzani/tariff-tracker

What we're building

A simple Node.js script that:

Tracks social volume and sentiment for any keyword (tariffs, trade war, specific companies)
Compares how different platforms feel about the same topic
Finds the most viral posts driving the conversation
Runs on a cron to alert you when sentiment shifts

Setup (2 minutes)

mkdir tariff-tracker && cd tariff-tracker
npm init -y

Grab an API key at lunarcrush.com/developers.

Pull the data

const API_KEY = process.env.LUNARCRUSH_API_KEY;

async function getTopicData(keyword) {
  const res = await fetch(
    `https://lunarcrush.com/api4/public/topic/${encodeURIComponent(keyword)}/v1`,
    { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${API_KEY}` } }
  );
  return res.json();
}

async function getTopicPosts(keyword) {
  const res = await fetch(
    `https://lunarcrush.com/api4/public/topic/${encodeURIComponent(keyword)}/posts/v1`,
    { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${API_KEY}` } }
  );
  return res.json();
}

async function main() {
  const topic = await getTopicData("tariffs");

  console.log(`\n📊 TARIFFS - Social Intelligence Report`);
  console.log(`${"=".repeat(50)}`);
  console.log(`Total posts (24h):    ${topic.data?.num_posts?.toLocaleString()}`);
  console.log(`Total engagements:    ${topic.data?.interactions?.toLocaleString()}`);
  console.log(`Sentiment:            ${topic.data?.sentiment}% bullish`);
  console.log(`Contributors:         ${topic.data?.num_contributors?.toLocaleString()}`);

  // Get the posts driving the conversation
  const posts = await getTopicPosts("tariffs");

  console.log(`\n🔥 Top Posts Right Now:`);
  for (const post of (posts.data || []).slice(0, 5)) {
    const platform = post.network || "unknown";
    const engagement = post.interactions_total?.toLocaleString() || "0";
    const text = (post.body || post.title || "").slice(0, 100);
    console.log(`  [${platform}] ${engagement} engagements: ${text}...`);
  }
}

main();

Run it

LUNARCRUSH_API_KEY=your_key node index.js

Output looks something like:

📊 TARIFFS - Social Intelligence Report
==================================================
Total posts (24h):    847,291
Total engagements:    2,341,882,104
Sentiment:            38% bullish
Contributors:         412,847

🔥 Top Posts Right Now:
  [twitter] 1,247,382 engagements: Breaking: EU announces retaliatory tariffs...
  [reddit] 892,411 engagements: Can someone ELI5 why tariffs make everything...
  [youtube] 743,219 engagements: The REAL impact of tariffs on your wallet...
  [tiktok] 521,883 engagements: POV: you work in manufacturing and just heard...
  [news] 412,092 engagements: Apple warns tariffs could increase iPhone price...

Make it interesting: compare companies

Want to see how tariffs are hitting different stocks in the social conversation?

async function compareTariffImpact(tickers) {
  const results = [];

  for (const ticker of tickers) {
    const data = await getTopicData(ticker);
    results.push({
      ticker,
      sentiment: data.data?.sentiment,
      volume: data.data?.num_posts,
      engagements: data.data?.interactions,
    });
  }

  // Sort by most negative sentiment
  results.sort((a, b) => (a.sentiment || 0) - (b.sentiment || 0));

  console.log(`\n📉 Tariff Sentiment Impact by Company:`);
  console.log(`${"Ticker":<10} ${"Sentiment":<12} ${"Posts (24h)":<15} ${"Engagements"}`);
  console.log("-".repeat(55));

  for (const r of results) {
    const mood = r.sentiment < 40 ? "😰" : r.sentiment < 60 ? "😐" : "😎";
    console.log(
      `${mood} ${r.ticker:<8} ${r.sentiment || "N/A":<12} ${(r.volume || 0).toLocaleString():<15} ${(r.engagements || 0).toLocaleString()}`
    );
  }
}

compareTariffImpact(["apple", "nike", "tesla", "walmart", "amazon"]);

Add a sentiment shift alert

Run this on a cron and get notified when public opinion changes:

const fs = require("fs");
const STATE_FILE = "./sentiment_state.json";

function loadState() {
  try { return JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(STATE_FILE)); } 
  catch { return {}; }
}

function saveState(state) {
  fs.writeFileSync(STATE_FILE, JSON.stringify(state, null, 2));
}

async function checkForShifts(keywords) {
  const state = loadState();

  for (const keyword of keywords) {
    const data = await getTopicData(keyword);
    const current = data.data?.sentiment;
    const previous = state[keyword]?.sentiment;

    if (previous && Math.abs(current - previous) > 10) {
      const direction = current > previous ? "📈 UP" : "📉 DOWN";
      console.log(
        `🚨 ALERT: "${keyword}" sentiment shifted ${direction} ` +
        `(${previous}% -> ${current}%, change: ${current - previous > 0 ? "+" : ""}${current - previous}%)`
      );
    }

    state[keyword] = { sentiment: current, timestamp: new Date().toISOString() };
  }

  saveState(state);
}

checkForShifts(["tariffs", "trade war", "apple", "tesla", "nvidia"]);

Set it up as a cron job to run every hour:

# crontab -e
0 * * * * cd /path/to/tariff-tracker && LUNARCRUSH_API_KEY=your_key node alert.js >> alerts.log

What's cool about this

The LunarCrush API isn't just price data or news feeds. It's aggregating the actual social conversation -- 50M+ posts per hour -- across every major platform. You get:

Sentiment that's calculated from real posts, not just positive/negative keyword matching
Cross-platform comparison -- is Reddit bearish while TikTok is bullish?
Creator-level data -- who's driving the conversation?
Galaxy Score and AltRank -- proprietary metrics that rank social health

This works for crypto, stocks, topics, people -- basically anything the internet talks about.

Try it

API key: lunarcrush.com/developers
Full API docs: lunarcrush.com/developers/api
MCP server (use with Claude): lunarcrush.com/mcp

I'm building a bunch of small projects like this. Follow along if you're into this kind of thing.