Behold a new Nielsen rating: Tweet count

TV ratings agency Nielsen is teaming up with Twitter to create the first ever social media-based TV rankings, the companies announced today.

 Nielsen and Twitter will produce a "Nielsen Twitter TV Ranking," that will rank TV shows based on the Twitter activity of the micro blogging site's 140 million active users. Twitter users send 1 billion tweets every two and a half days, according to a press release. It will be available for marketers to tap into at the beginning of the 2013 fall TV season.

Chloe Sladden, Twitter's vice president of media, said in the release that Nielsen is preparing for "the evolving nature of the TV viewing experience."

"Our users love the shared experience of watching television while engaging with other viewers and show talent," Sladden said in the release. "Twitter has become the world's digital water cooler, where conversations about TV happen in real time."

Steve Hasker, President, Global Media Products and Advertiser Solutions at Nielsen, said in the release that this will be a "significant step forward for the industry," that could give advertisers better feedback for multimedia campaigns that run alongside live programing.