Beyonce Pregnancy: New Twitter Record Set At MTV VMAs

A new Twitter record has been set, thanks to Beyonce's big announcement at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night.

While walking the red carpet before the event, the singer told reporters that she is expecting her first child with husband Jay-Z, according to a tweet by MTV that read, "OMG Beyonce just made a huge announcement on the #vma carpet! #baby!!!!!"

Later in the night, the singer kicked off her performance of "Love on Top" by telling the audience, "I want you to feel the love that's growing inside me." After the song, she unbuttoned her coat and rubbed her five-month baby bump.

Twitter's official global PR feed, @TwitterComms, confirmed on Monday that Beyonce's announcement set off a tweeting frenzy that saw 8,868 tweets per second at 10:35 p.m. on Sunday. That's the most tweets per second (TPS) ever recorded for a a single event.

Reports TechCrunch, "The previous TPS record holder took place during the final moments of the U.S. women's soccer team's game against Japan in July, with 7,196 Tweets per second."

On August 23, Twitter reported on another staggering statistic, set off by the 5.8-magnitude earthquake that shook the Washington D.C. area and was felt by much of the U.S. east coast. According to a tweet from @Twitter, the service saw a high of 5,500 TPS related to this event. "For context, this TPS is more than Osama Bin Laden's death & on par w/ the Japanese quake," read one tweet by @Twitter.

MTV took social media integration to a new level with Sunday's VMA event. A Twitter tracking feature displayed the inside of the theater and featured popups of celebrity's tweets in real-time; the location of the tweets corresponded to the actual location of the tweeter's seat inside the theater. The network's Twitter handle also paired tweets to official photos from the red carpet outside the theater and behind-the-scenes inside. A "co-viewing" feature on MTV.com let users watch additional media clips and more, as the event unfolded live on TV.

View Twitter's announcement of the record (below).

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