From Omar Gallaga at Austin360, we learn of the explosive growth of South by Southwest Interactive. This year, there were 24,569 paid registrations, a 27% increase from last year’s total of 19,364.

In 2010, there were 14,251 paid registrations. In two years, that’s an increase of 10,318 people, or 72%. Assuming my math is correct, and it probably isn’t. Most of the pre-SXSW articles I read used the number 15,000 to describe how many attendees to expect. I have no idea if all 24,569 people actually showed up, but there were certainly many, many, many people there.

In case you are wondering, this is more people than the total population of Alvin (pop. 24,236) and San Benito (pop. 24,250), Texas; and slightly fewer than Paris (pop. 25,171) and Seguin (pop. 25,175).

We rule.

Photo credit: n.a.s.a.-sxsw-2009-779328 by lullabyes.