Mobile messaging service WhatsApp has announced that it recently reached 27 billion messages processed in a single 24 hour period.

The company tweeted that it processed 10 billion inbound messages and 17 billion outbound messages. The difference in the figures is due to the inclusion of group messages, meaning one inbound message in a group chat could result in several outbound messages to the other participants.

The new benchmark is a huge increase (50 per cent) on the previous 18 billion record — set on New Year’s Eve 2012 — when there were seven billion inbound and 11 billion outbound messages.

WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum recently said that the company has more than 200 million active monthly users, making it larger than Twitter. The service supports iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Asha and Symbian platforms.

The company has signed up with several operators and recently partnered with Nokia to offer the Asha 210 feature phone which includes a physical WhatsApp button.

WhatsApp and its fellow OTT messaging players (Viber, Apple iMessage, LINE, Nimbuzz) have seen huge growth in recent years.

Research company Informa reported in April that messaging apps generated more messages than SMS in 2012 with an average of 19.1 billion messages per day compared to 17.6 billion SMS messages. The figure for messaging apps is forecast to increase to 41 billion messages per day by the end of 2013.