The number of search queries being performed on Twitter is now at a "meaningful" point, it has been suggested.

Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney told the 140 Character Conference this week that the latest data from comScore reveals some 4.2 million US searchers conducted 30.1 million queries on Twitter in May.

This was equivalent to 0.001 per cent of all searches for the month and resulted in 39.4 million results pages being brought up on the microblogging site in total, reported All Things Digital.

Twitter managed to beat Time Warner Cable in the search rankings, with the latter seeing 22.2 million searches in May. Twitter launched its real-time search offering in April this year.

Marketers may see comScore's figures as being particularly relevant in terms of the practice of search engine optimisation, particularly as Peter Kafka of All Things Digital pointed out that Twitter is positioned as a potential Google-killer by some.

He remarked: "The nice thing about owning 0.001 per cent of the market is that it gives you plenty of room to move up."

Rival social network Facebook announced that it is testing its own real-time search feature earlier this week.