|
tweetSMS to Bring SMS Updates Back to UK Twitter UsersAugust 14th, 2008 at 9:45 pmSource:Mashable! Sean and I today got to chatting about the limits enacted by Pownce and Twitter recently that limits the number of folks you can follow on the system to around 2,000 or so. As I tried to explore when I reported the news a couple of days ago, Sean and I attempted to drill down and try to come up with some legitimate reasons to need the ability to follow more than 2,000 folks and came up pretty blank. What we did discuss were some new updates we’d received regarding those that operate the Twitter auto-follow bots on the network, and based on their testing, even after the supposed follow limits have been implemented, it appears that the bot is still able to game the system and follow folks in numbers that far exceed 2,000. It caused us to wonder exactly to what benefit the limitations are actually intended, or if these accounts were simply being grandfathered in. To catch the whole discussion (and an interview with “Party Charlie“), watch the video via the embed below, or download the MP4 here. Never Miss an Episode! Get the Mashable Conversations podcast here (video feed). Get the Mashable Conversations podcast here (audio feed). —Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Twitter Launches People SearchTwitter + Video = TwiddeoLoic Lemeur’s “Video Twitter” to Announce Funding [Video]Twitter Mobile InterfaceOutTwit Your Friends from Microsoft OutlookQuick Fix For Twitter TroublesDon’t Send Bac’n: Use TwitterSearch
Talk about opportunistic. Less than 24 hours after Twitter announced that it was no longer sending outbound SMS to users outside the US, Canada, and India, a newly launched service called tweetSMS is planning to offer a comparable solution for “a small fee.” While tweetSMS isn’t live yet, it promises to restore the functionality that has been lost – the ability for users in the UK (and other countries eventually) where outbound SMS is cost prohibitive (according to Twitter) to receive text updates on their mobile. The company behind the project is Stasis Media, and they were interviewed earlier today by the blog ArabCrunch. Apparently, Stasis Media had a feeling that Twitter would yank outbound SMS internationally, and has been hurrying to piece together a service to fill the void. While no launch date has been set, tweetSMS is currently asking users to submit their email, phone number, and country to be notified when the service goes live. Of course, there are plenty of alternatives for Twitter users abroad looking to keep up on their mobile, as Twitter outlined in their blog post about the issue. But tweetSMS will be an interesting experiment to watch to see if people are willing to pay for some of the functionality that Twitter once offered for free. It will at least give fodder to those of us that like to debate what exactly Twitter’s business model might be
|
Source:
