Members of Twitter can update their status with comments no longer than 160 characters and also follow the status of their friends.

When a friend that you follow updates their status, up until now you had the option of having a text message sent to you to let you know.

The number of texts was previously limited to 250 per week to any one member but Twitter has announced that it is ending the service for economic reasons.

"We need to avoid placing undue burden on our company and our service. Even with a limit of 250 messages received per week, it could cost Twitter about $1,000 per user, per year to send SMS outside of Canada, India, or the US," Twitter said in its blog.

Twitter members have been critical of the decision.

"I will be very sad - Twitter is about to become far less useful to me," one member wrote.

"I'm not quite sure why I'd continue to use Twitter now, except as a conduit to complain about Twitter. Ironic, really," said another.

Do you use Twitter and will you continue to do so now SMS alerts have stopped? Have your say in the Web User forums.

www.twitter.com

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