Avoiding Egypt’s Internet Shut-down, Google, Twitter, SayNow Offer Tweet-by-Phone

By now you’ve undoubtedly heard about the drama over in Egypt. Even if you don’t follow Middle Eastern affairs (isn’t there always turmoil and protests over there), Egypt’s unprecedented move of all but shutting down the entire Internet in the country has got to have your interest piqued.

It also has tech companies that are all about open communication and flow of information innovating ways of getting around Egypt’s stranglehold. Google recently acquired SayNow, a mobile voice-messaging start-up, and with the help of Twitter has launched a speak-to-tweet service aimed specifically at the embroiled nation. The new service allows foraccounts from the ground via a telephone-based tweeting service.

Egyptians can circumvent the Internet shut-down and get their voices up on Twitter by leaving a voice mail on an international phone number (+16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855). The service will take care of getting the message posted to Twitter. No Internet required.

You can view the tweets at http://twitter.com/speak2tweet. [Google Blog via Techcrunch]