Google ‘Speak to Tweet’ keeps Egypt on Twitter

Protesters in Egypt are turning to a new Google tool to enable them to keep tweeting, following the country’s government-enforced internet blackout.

The new ‘Speak to Tweet’ service, which was launched on Monday night allows users to leave a message on an international number for it to be posted at the @speak2tweet Twitter page.
The page displays the country origin of the message and a link for you to listen to the voicemail in its entirety. Other third party sites are now transcribing and translating the messages.

Here is an example of the messages posted to Twitter with Speak to Tweet:

The new service, which partners with Google’s newly-acquired speech recognition company SayNow, is one of the only ways for citizens to get the word out, with the authorities also closing down TV station Al Jazeera’s Cairo offices.
So far over 800 messages have been posted to the @speak2tweet account, with most of them originating from the troubled African state.

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