Comments on: Twitter cuts UK SMS – there goes another business model

By: Twitter SMS ends for Arabia and rest of the world, excluding USA, India and Canada

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 15:27:49 +0000

[...] on Twitter do here ), but I would not use SMS services if it will cost money to receive updates as TechCrunch.UK [...]

By: sms gratuit

sms gratuit — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:10:18 +0000

thank you

continue

By: Ben.geek.nz » Twitter SMS Updates Coming to NZ

Ben.geek.nz » Twitter SMS Updates Coming to NZ — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:28:12 +0000

[...] old days, Twitter would send reply and direct message updates to my mobile phone. The service was cancelled last year due to escalating [...]

By: Twitter users on Vodafone UK reporting “no escape” from the firehose of Tweets

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 06:28:34 +0000

[...] Twitter ended it’s service sending Text messages to users in August 2008 after a year of throttling the [...]

By: Twitter re-launches SMS in the UK « shankarsoma; Change the View

Twitter re-launches SMS in the UK « shankarsoma; Change the View — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 02:49:20 +0000

[...] cut the ability to get your Twitter feed last August after starting to throttle the service down in November 2007. At the time co-founder Biz Stone said [...]

By: Twitter re-launches SMS in the UK - But only if you’re on Vodafone

Twitter re-launches SMS in the UK - But only if you’re on Vodafone — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:28:09 +0000

[...] cut the ability to get your Twitter feed last August after starting to throttle the service down in November 2007. At the time co-founder Biz Stone said [...]

By: Twitter unloved in Europe? Bad research from Forbes more like

Twitter unloved in Europe? Bad research from Forbes more like — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 01:15:11 +0000

[...] seems to ignore a few things. For starters, Twitter was going just fine in Europe until they cut the SMS service, unlike in the US where it remains. But that hasn’t stopped it. We now have celebs galore on [...]

By: Alfabetic » Blog Archive » 3Jam ofrece un refugio para los usuarios de Twitter abandonados

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 14:26:04 +0000

[...] semana pasada Twitter anunció que había inhabilitado las actualizaciones por SMS para casi todos sus usuarios internacionales, ya que no lograron negociar acuerdos favorables con [...]

By: Will Twitter Be Able To Monetize? | BestTechie.net

Will Twitter Be Able To Monetize? | BestTechie.net — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:40:54 +0000

[...] recently had to cut text messages in the UK due the price. Obviously they realize money is an issue, but what are they to do? It seems like a [...]

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:56:08 +0000

Slight typo – that’s http://www.hootsms.com for those needing a click-able link.

Cheers.

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:35:25 +0000

Don’t cancel your twit account just yet, try HootSMS for a replacement twitter text service that works in over 200 countries!

Get 5 free texts to give it a go while stocks last.

http:/www.hootsms.com

By: njar

njar — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:14:51 +0000

@Deb re:

“BTW, I pay well under $10 a month for 1000 texts. If I, without the ability to negotiate bulk deals, can get that, why is Twitter claiming that it costs them ten times more? (And even that’s assuming that every user receives 250 SMS a week, which wasn’t the case.)”

The SMS structure in the US is actually very different to most other regions, and in the UK for instance Twitter would likely have been paying a base SMS cost of around 3p+/- (6c) per message. In the US they’d be paying either nothing or a lot lot less. They (Twitter) did as far as I am aware approach the UK networks to ask/demand free SMS, and I’d imagine they were laughed out of house.

Ultimately Twitter is slowly gaining traction as a consumer product, but it’s still very much a niche technophile product.. The free SMS model outside of regions where they themselves can aquire free messages will always fail. Someone eventually has to pay for the messages, and Twitter giving them away at a large loss is not sustainable and never would have been. If Jaiku or anyone else is offering ‘Free’ SMS in the UK or most of the world (without sponsorship etc) then they’ll close this eventually too.

Personally I don’t really care that one of my contacts ‘just ate a cup cake and it was yummy’, but that’s just me. Have you noticed it’s always the very narcissistic who update their facebook status’s every 8 minutes?!

By: someone

someone — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:07:57 +0000

UK peeps -> you can try https://twittex.com – you get some free credits for a start.

By: Twitter schaltet SMS Service ab | Stephan's blog

Twitter schaltet SMS Service ab | Stephan's blog — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:24:55 +0000

[...] letzte Woche (14.08.2008) gab Twitter bekannt, dass sie auf Grund der zu hohen Kosten den kostenlosen SMS Service [...]

By: Delia

Delia — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:29:32 +0000

Another Way to Get Your Twitter SMS Back!
Launched today http://www.twitsms.co.uk and http://www.twitsms.com.au allows Twitter fans in the U.K., Australia and Europe to receive their tweets by paying a small fee for the SMS.

The site is very simple:
1. Users register on twitsms for free with their Twitter username and password.

2. Twitsms shows a list of friends (gathered via Twitter’s API), and the user chooses who he/shewould like to hear from via sms.

3. Users purchase a ‘pack’ of SMS messages and they are connected again!

Twitsms buys the SMS in bulk in advance to keep costs low. Prices start as low as 7pence in UK and 11cents in Australia per SMS.

Check it out! You get 5 free sms to try it upfront.

By: TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » 3Jam: 見捨てられたTwitterユーザに難民収容所を提供

TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » 3Jam: 見捨てられたTwitterユーザに難民収容所を提供 — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 05:45:02 +0000

[...] 先週Twitterは、ほとんどすべての外国ユーザのSMSによるアップデートを不能にした。それは、携帯各社との交渉の結果が思わしくなかったからだ。それまでTwitterでは、SMSの受信は無料だったが、そのために1ユーザあたり年間千ドルの費用がかかっていたと同社は言う。交渉が成立した合衆国とインドとカナダではサービスは続行されるが、そのほかの外国ユーザは孤立状態になる。 [...]

By: 3Jam Offers Refuge For Abandoned Twitter Users

3Jam Offers Refuge For Abandoned Twitter Users — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 04:44:38 +0000

[...] week Twitter announced that it had disabled outbound SMS updates for nearly all of its international users because it has been unable to negotiate favorable deals [...]

By: Two nifty ways to still receive Twitter SMS updates

Two nifty ways to still receive Twitter SMS updates — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:33:10 +0000

[...] Although Twitter still sends updates to 96 percent of its users, the remaining 4 percent is pretty pissed of. Especially in the UK, Twitter users are quite angry. Read for example the comments on this TechCrunch UK post. [...]

By: Twitter Stops SMS Updates In U.K.

Twitter Stops SMS Updates In U.K. — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 06:57:23 +0000

[...] Ends SMS Support In UK; Says Costs Up To $1,000/user/year”, Tech Crunch, August 13, 2008, Mike Butcher, “Twitter cuts UK SMS – there goes another business model”, Tech Crunch U.K… Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]

By: Twitter Shuts UK SMS Off, What To Do now? « Mishref’s Blog

Twitter Shuts UK SMS Off, What To Do now? « Mishref’s Blog — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:53:46 +0000

[...] Due to the high costs of sms forwarding via the UK number of twitter that all people outside the US/Canada/India use, twitter decided to halt this service. They claim it coast $1000/user/year. [...]

By: Twitter realizes it needs to make money

Twitter realizes it needs to make money — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:06:47 +0000

[...] on TechCrunch UK have been more harsh. What gives? For years any company has been able to get the same short-form (4 or 5 digits) number [...]

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:21:53 +0000

@Deb i mean technically it is probably “pulling” not “pushing” :}

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:20:28 +0000

@Deb – yes, alternatives are only useful if you have a phone that can handle them. That’s exactly what I’m holding out for – bring on Android!.

Yes there is web-based push – for more info on push see http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/09/iphone-push-notification-service-for-devs-announced/ (I think that technically it is “pushing” rather than “pulling”, but its a good description).

In terms of SMS being a good feature of Twitter, I don’t see why you won’t get a far richer experience from a web-based app. I for one hated getting tweets mixed in with personal messages and would much rather a cool app that is separate from my txts.

By: Deb

Deb — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:42:59 +0000

@Andrew – Web-based alternatives are only useful if you have a phone that can handle them, if you have a data service, if that data service isn’t hugely over-priced. There is no web-based service which is push – an essential for many of the third-party services like IWantSandy (some of whom Twitter had worked with). And contrary to the marketing, not everyone wants an iPhone.

What made Twitter different from Jaiku and Pownce and all the other microblogging sites was the SMS. Now that’s gone, the thing that makes Twitter different is the lack of features and reliability.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:49:48 +0000

The Twitter blog announcement points out a number of good web-based alternatives. As mobile apps get more mature (and you get iPhone supporting push messaging) then I think you’ll start to see far better alternatives to SMS.

Also, SMS is overpriced – equivalent of 75 US cents in the UK! Per text that’s almost half a cent per byte. It would be nice to see web-enabled mobile device apps taking over SMS functionality and seeing txting becoming “free” in future.