Twitter has released data on the huge spike in traffic from yesterday’s aborted leadership challenge against Julia Gillard.

Source: Twitter | (Click to enlarge)
The social media platform says there were more than 247,000 related tweets between 11am and 11pm, with the number of tweets peaking at 1,504 tweets per minute at its peak, shortly after Kevin Rudd announced he would not challenge.
This is the first time Twitter has released the usage numbers around a Australian major news event and comes as the company moves to establish its Australian office.
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Last week Adam Sharp Twitter’s head of government, news and social innovation told Mumbrella the election would be a significant driver of growth for the social media platform in Australia.
“In the US, France, Korea, Japan and other countries that recently had elections we saw they are a big driver of user interest,” said Sharp.
“I think you will see that here in Australia and in other markets like Germany that have elections this year,” he said.
Nic Christensen

Click to enlarge image.