Women's World Cup final sets Twitter record

The Women's World Cupsets Twitter record final between Japan and the United States set the record for tweets per second, eclipsing the wedding of Prince William and Kate and the death of Osama bin Laden.

The exciting climax drew 7,196 tweets per second, according to Twitter. The record-breaking numbers on Sunday reflect a sharp rise in Twitter usage. Did you Tweet about it? Twitter tweeted that by the end of the Women's World Cup final, users were sending out a record 7,196 tweets per second (TPS). The previous record for TPS was 6,939, set in Japan on New Year's Eve. Twitter pointed out that this announcement prompted the highest sustained rate of tweets ever.

Last summer, a record for TPS was set during the Men's World Cup, but the number of tweets sent out during the Women's World Cup vastly trumped that figure. At the time, a record number of 3,051 TPS were posted. SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter users fired off a record number of tweets per second at the final whistle of Japan's thrilling upset win over the United States in the women's World Cup final.

The San Francisco-based real-time blogging service said Twitter users sent 7,196 tweets per second after Japan defeated the United States in a penalty shoot-out.

Twitter users sent 7,166 tweets per second at the conclusion of that match.

Other peaks for Twitter activity include April's royal wedding, with 3,966 tweets per second, and the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, with 5,530 tweets per second.