The last few minutes of Super Bowl XLVI saw the New York Giants come from behind and maintain their four-point lead against the New England Patriots 21-17 during one of the most dramatic games of the season. Fans were glued to their television set and apparently also felt the need to share their feelings on the social networking site Twitter (News - Alert). Twitter users couldn’t type fast enough during the game setting a new “tweets-per-second” (TPS) record on the site.

Twitter confirmed the record-breaking numbers in a series of post-game tweets from their official twitter blog saying, “In the final three minutes of the Super Bowl tonight, there were an average of 10,000 Tweets per second.” This TPS sets a new all-time peak for a sporting event on the social networking site, with more than 12,000 tweets during the last few seconds of the game.

That wasn’t all, when it came to the live entertainment, the TPS also peaked during Madonna’s half-time performance, where tweets were flying in at more than 8,000 a second.

Although there were no major incidents, like Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction from a couple of years ago, a tweeting frenzy began during the 53-year-old’s performance as the singer tripped numerous times, trying to keep up with her back up dancers. M.I.A., who joined Madonna on stage, also caused some controversy when she gave the middle finger to the audience.

Twitter said during the half-time performance, the social networking site logged another peak in its TPS. “Madonna’s performance during the Super Bowl’s halftime show saw an average of 8,000 Tweets per second for five minutes,” said Twitter.

Although these numbers are impressive, they still fall short of the all-time high TPS benchmark from back in December of 2011, when a Japanese Television screening of the animated movie Castle in the Sky aired. The movie, made in 1986, brought some nostalgia to users that triggered something in them to begin tweeting. The movie brought in an average of over 25,000 TPS, making it the highest, most tweeted about topic ever.

It seems obvious that we are getting a glimpse of the increasing relevance and popularity of Twitter during important events. Twitter allows for users from all over the world to give real-time response to live content including: movies, television, concerts, sporting events, and the news. This record-breaking TPS show that Twitter is a powerful force in the social networking world and is here to stay.