UK network operator O2 is to offer its customers the option to send and receive Twitter updates via texts to their phones.
From August, both direct messages and @replies will be sent to O2 customers’ mobiles, while users can send their own microblogs back to the social networking site through a text message.
The deal is largely inconsequential for a number of O2 customers, seeing as the firm is the exclusive operator for Apple’s iPhone; a device perfectly capable of accessing Twitter when its battery isn’t dead.
The service is completely free for O2 customers on monthly contracts, while Pay-as-you-go users with an O2-tied sim card can send updates for the price of a text.
Contract customers will need to abide by a fair usage policy, which limits updates to around 600 per month.
"We believe that mobile will soon become the most popular way of accessing social-networking sites, giving real time access to tweets and status updates wherever you are," said Antony Douglas, head of Content at O2.