Twitter comes free to Telstra mobiles - just pay to tweet back

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 23 December 2009 06:06

Your IT - Mobility

Telstra mobile customers can now receive Twitter updates via SMS at no charge.

Telstra has expanded the social networking possibilities of plain old mobile phones by working with Twitter to allow the free delivery of tweets to handsets.

"Twitter updates via SMS allow Telstra customers to stay connected to one of their favourite social networking sites, while on the move," said Jenny Young, Telstra consumer executive director.

"Australians no longer need to wait till they get home to find out what's happening on Twitter – now they can select the best platform to suit particular needs throughout the day," she added.

True enough. Although anyone with a smartphone and data plan already has that ability, iPhones and BlackBerrys are not as ubiquitous as simpler handsets.

So what's in it for Telstra? Presumably it is banking on people that choose to have tweets delivered by SMS will also use SMS to send their own updates, spending more in the process. All of Telstra's plans appear to include a flat rate of 25c per message, though some prepaid deals include a number of free SMSes or charge just 1c each for the first 100 text messages per day.

Understandably, Twitter welcomed the announcement. "We are very excited to bring Twitter to Australia via SMS and it was great to work with such an enthusiastic partner as Telstra," said Kevin Thau, director mobile at Twitter.

To use the service, send START to 0198089488 (01980 TWITT; standard rate applies) from a Telstra mobile. You need to be a Twitter member.

A similar announcement regarding Facebook notifications was made earlier this month.