O2 Signs Deal with Twitter to Offer Text Alerts

O2 today announces an agreement with Twitter which will allow O2 customers to receive SMS alerts from Twitter for free from August. This joins existing agreements O2 has with Facebook and Bebo, meaning that O2 customers can enjoy free SMS alerts from all three main social networking sites*.

The Twitter deal allows O2 customers to receive tweets from chosen friends, @mentions, and direct messages via SMS. They can also send and reply to tweets by text which will come from their bundle or be charged at the standard network rate**. Customers can already access their Twitter account using their mobile phone and as part of the agreement, Twitter’s mobile site will be heavily promoted on O2 Active.

Social networking over mobile is currently experiencing phenomenal growth. Over a million customers per month now access social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook using O2 Active. This is in addition to the hundreds of thousands of iPhone customers who have downloaded social networking applications. Over 12 million messages from Facebook are received by O2 customers every 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. ‘The agreements we now have in place with Twitter and the other key sites brings this a step closer, making it quick and easy for O2 customers to access their favourite social networks straight from their mobile.’

The agreement with O2 in the UK will form a framework for future agreements between Twitter and Telefonica operations globally.