Hailing a report completed by social media specialist Visibrain, they claim the popularity of #Paris2024 shows how the bid "excites and mobilises people across the world".

They cited events including the illumination of the Eiffel Tower in the colours of the candidature to coincide with the start of the international phase of the bid in February as one reason for their success. 

Others include interaction from celebrities, including French and Arsenal footballer Olivier Giroud, who made the "Paris sign" while celebrating his goals against Luxembourg on March 25.

A viral video of Jean Dujardin pledging George Clooney's support for Paris 2024 during a comedic translation at the 42nd "César Awards", held in Paris, was also cited as key.

A press release sent out today claimed that, "according to the report, impressions are registered each time a user is served the hashtag in a Tweet in their timeline or as a search result".

This does not mean the user responded to or even saw the hashtag, however.

Some estimations predict that an average of less than one per cent Twitter "impressions" are actually seen by the user. 

Articles on websites Ad Age and Marketing Land are among those to have doubted the significance of impressions.

This would suggest that a far lower number of under 100,000 have "engaged" with the hashtag. 

Visibrain are a Paris-based company billed as an "online media monitoring platform for brand image protection and crisis prevention". 

Chief executive Nicolas Huguenin claimed that the "scope and the popularity of hashtag #Paris2024 testifies to the substantive work the Paris 2024 team has done to share its bid with the world".

"A billion impressions, achieved over a short period of just 100 days, shows the very keen interest of international internet users for the subject and the general appetite for the bid overall," he added.

Paris 2024 co-chair Tony Estanguet, an active Twitter user, added: "This impressive level of digital engagement measured over recent months shows that Paris 2024 is a topic that excites and mobilises people across the world. 

"We are a bid that is open to engaging with the youth, both in France and around the world. 

"The new generations have sharing at the heart of everything they do and our Games will guarantee an engaged, youthful audience for the Olympic Movement."

Los Angeles, Paris' only rival in a two-horse race for the Games, are not expected to unveil any similar study.

They have 123,000 Twitter followers in comparison with 91,500 for Paris.

The American bid was forced to deny allegations earlier this month that it used the services of fringe internet companies to artificially increase the number of likes on its Facebook page and followers on Twitter.

They had announced that they had become the first-ever city bidding for the Olympic and Paralympic Games to attract more than a million fans on Facebook.

This came on the back of a sudden surge over the past three months, however, with the Los Angeles 2024 page gaining more than 800,000 likes in that period of time.

According to French newspaper Le Figaro, a team of digital experts found that the majority of those likes came from Africa and the Middle East. 

But the bid denied any wrongdoing and claimed all of the support was generated legitimately via advertising.

The fact that one of the bids was prepared to once again trumpet social medal success following this fallout shows the growing importance of the medium as a means to showcase support.

A choice between the two is due to be made at the International Olympic Committee Session in Lima on September 13.