Just like most good things, Twitter’s free international SMS service will come to a dramatic halt from today onwards. In an email to all of its members, Biz Stone, its co-founder, explained that it was something they needed to do to “avoid placing undue burden on the company and service”, as such, unless you’re in US, Canada or India, Twitter users will no longer receive free SMS alerts. Biz mentioned that they are exploring arrangements with mobile operators from “Europe, Asia, China and The Americas”, however these are all in negotiations and nothing is confirmed as yet.

How do these changes impact PetrolWatch?

Well, to be honest we didn’t see this coming at all!! With Twitter pulling the plug, we will have to look for other cost-effective ways to broadcast SMS alerts to our members. Please give us some time to work on this and we will definitely keep you updated on the progress. In the meantime, if any of you have any great ideas or suggestions, please feel free to contact us.