I wanted to let you know, Retrevo has just compared the State of the Union with the iPad launch event to give people an idea of the buzz as it happened on Twitter.

Apple’s iPad announcement achieved high levels on the Retrevo Buzzmeter (peaking at 7,000 tweets per minute) and it might surpass Buzzmeter levels for the State of the Union Address. Buzzmeter readings for Steve Jobs and the iPad came close but didn’t exceed President Obama’s moment in the spotlight. The State of the Union also had a longer sustained chatter after the event completed. The State of the Union chatter on Twitter peaked at just over 9,000 tweets per minute.

Just prior to the event a somewhat elevated activity compared to the much lower “baseline” of the night before the event. As the event gets underway at 10:00 AM and Steve Jobs takes the stage, a low level buzz that builds toward the formal announcement at 10:10. Activity drops off momentarily followed by the highest level of the event measuring 7,000 TPM which coincides with the hardware description at 10:30 AM. Then several smaller bursts associated with more announcements until activity peaks again as the event was winding down.

What is the Tech Buzzmeter? – Retrevo’s Tech Buzzmeter is an automated tool that tracks and quantifies “buzz” surrounding technology related launches, topics, and events as they happen online.