Google, Twitter offer Egyptians speak to tweet

SAN FRANCISCO, USA: Hoping to circumvent the blackout of the internet and social networking in Egypt, Google and Twitter announced a new service Tuesday that allows anyone to send tweets over the phone.

People can use the service by leaving a voicemail at one of three international numbers (+16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855). The service will instantly tweet the message using the hashtag #egypt.

No Internet connection is required. People can listen to the messages by dialing the same phone numbers or going to twitter.com/speak2tweet, Google said in a blog posting.

"We hope that this will go some way to helping people in Egypt stay connected at this very difficult time," Google's Ujjwal Singh wrote in a blog post.