No more Twitter texts!

[finisterre]

Received the email below from them today. I'll still post updates and they will be available on the BTFC site or via twitter.com/btfc . If you have a mobile phone with web browser, you'll be able to get updates from http://m.twitter.com/btfc which is optimised for small screens and doesn't use much data.

 

It was good while it lasted.

 

"Hi,

 

I'm sending you this note because you registered a mobile device

to work with Twitter over our UK number. I wanted to let you

know that we are making some changes to the way SMS works on

Twitter. There is some good news and some bad news.

 

I'll start with the bad news. Beginning today, Twitter is no

longer delivering outbound SMS over our UK number. If you enjoy

receiving updates from Twitter via +44 762 480 1423, we are

recommending that you explore some suggested alternatives.

 

Note: You will still be able to UPDATE over our UK number.

 

Before I go into more detail, here's a bit of good news: Twitter

will be introducing several new, local SMS numbers in countries

throughout Europe in the coming weeks and months. These new

numbers will make Twittering more accessible for you if you've

been using SMS to send long-distance updates from outside the UK.

 

Why are we making these changes?

 

Mobile operators in most of the world charge users to send

updates. When you send one message to Twitter and we send it to

ten followers, you aren't charged ten times--that's because we've

been footing the bill. When we launched our free SMS service to

the world, we set the clock ticking. As the service grew in

popularity, so too would the price.

 

Our challenge during this window of time was to establish

relationships with mobile operators around the world such that

our SMS services could become sustainable from a cost perspective.

We achieved this goal in Canada, India, and the United States.

We can provide full incoming and outgoing SMS service without

passing along operator fees in these countries.

 

We took a risk hoping to bring more nations onboard and more

mobile operators around to our way of thinking but we've arrived

at a point where the responsible thing to do is slow our costs

and take a different approach. Since you probably don't live in

Canada, India, or the US, we recommend receiving your Twitter

updates via one of the following methods.

 

m.twitter.com works on browser-enabled phones

m.slandr.net works on browser-enabled phones

TwitterMail.com works on email-enabled phones

Cellity [http://bit.ly/12bw4R] works on java-enabled phones

TwitterBerry [http://bit.ly/MFAfJ] works on BlackBerry phones

Twitterific [http://bit.ly/1WxjwQ] works on iPhones

 

Twitter SMS by The Numbers

 

It pains us to take this measure. However, we need to avoid

placing undue burden on our company and our service. Even with a

limit of 250 messages received per week, it could cost Twitter

about $1,000 per user, per year to send SMS outside of Canada,

India, or the US. It makes more sense for us to establish fair

billing arrangements with mobile operators than it does to pass

these high fees on to our users.

 

Twitter will continue to negotiate with mobile operators in

Europe, Asia, China, and The Americas to forge relationships

that benefit all our users. Our goal is to provide full, two-way

service with Twitter via SMS to every nation in a way that is

sustainable from a cost perspective. Talks with mobile companies

around the world continue. In the meantime, more local numbers

for updating via SMS are on the way. We'll keep you posted.

 

Thank you for your attention,

Biz Stone, Co-founder

Twitter, Inc.

http://twitter.com/biz "

[NorwayBTFC]

Too bad. I've signed up for it prior to our last friendly, and it worked like a charm. Was looking forward to using this during the season...

[GazzaBTFC]

Damn!!! It was quite amusing watching the majority of people look at their phones 5 minutes after the last goal had been scored.

 

I take it JL will require text updates whilst he is at V, via the old system.

[Rick the Dick]

Fin,

 

Checkout www.jaiku.com

 

Similar service to Twitter.

 

 

[finisterre]

Cheers Rick. I already have a Jaiku account from around the time I launched Twitter.

 

I'll test it out soon, as see if it's a viable alternative.

[Brightside Bloke]

If anyone can then Finny Can.

[The Town Crier]

Originally Posted By: Brightside Bloke

If anyone can then Finny Can.

Not if Ryan gets there first