Twitter’s 200 Million Active Users Tweet 400 Million Times per Day

UPDATE: One day later, Twitter updates its 140 million count to 200 million via a tweet: “There are now more than 200M monthly active users. You are the pulse of the planet.”

ORIGINAL: Twitter today announced an exclusive multi-year agreement with Nielsen to create a “Nielsen Twitter TV Rating.” In doing so, the microblogging platform also revealed some updated statistics about its social network—something it rarely does.

Unlike Facebook, who loved to share user numbers even before it went public, Twitter has been unusually secretive about most internal statistics. In a press release, Twitter stated that is has “more than 140 million active users.” The company did not state specifically how it measures “active” users, but did go on to say these users send one billion tweets every 2.5 days.

That’s roughly 400 million tweets per day, or nearly three tweets per active user per day. The site has at least 500 million registered users, according to various reports, suggesting that only about 25% to 30% of Twitter’s total users are defined as “active.” The 400 million per day stat is up from 340 million reported earlier this year.

The Nielsen Twitter TV Rating, unfortunately, is restricted to the US market. Too bad, because the integration of social media with television is a superb combo.

“The Nielsen Twitter TV Rating is a significant step forward for the industry, particularly as programmers develop increasingly captivating live TV and new second-screen experiences, and advertisers create integrated ad campaigns that combine paid and earned media,” said Steve Hasker over at Nielsen. “As a media measurement leader we recognize that Twitter is the preeminent source of real-time television engagement data.”

“Our users love the shared experience of watching television while engaging with other viewers and show talent. Twitter has become the world’s digital water cooler, where conversations about TV happen in real time. Nielsen is who the networks rely on to give better content to viewers and clearer results to marketers,” added Chloe Sladden, Twitter’s vice president of media. “This effort reflects Nielsen’s foresight into the evolving nature of the TV viewing experience, and we’re looking forward to collaborating with Twitter ecosystem partners on this metric to help broadcasters and advertisers create truly social TV experiences.”