JAJAH Makes Twitter a Phone Dialer

One of the greatest benefits of IP phone technology is that it permits alternative methods of initiating voice connections. Click-to-call, for example, lets users launch phone calls from within Web applications, rather than having to pick up a phone, find the right number and then dial. A more complex example is seamless escalation – say, letting the user move from instant messaging to voice call, or from voice call to video chat for that matter, within the same application – with a click or key press or two. A new beta service from JAJAH brings a similar capability to Twitter users.

The new JAJAH@call lets Twitter users initiate calls to others with just a tweet. For now, it's not just any users, however. Both parties have to also be registered JAJAH users, and both have to be part of the JAJAH@call beta program. More important, Twitter users can only call those who follow them on Twitter.

Other than that, the service is dead simple to use. The user sends a tweet containing @call @[followers Twitter name], with a space between the two and no other text. JAJAH@call then places calls to both users, and connects the calls. The talk can last only two minutes, which JAJAH says makes it the verbal equivalent of a tweet. The service works through any desktop or mobile Twitter client. For now, it is free, and available only in the U.S.

The service could come in handy for those who live by Twitter. It's easier than many other methods of initiating phone calls. For one thing, it requires no looking up of numbers in address books, just a click to start a tweet. It also has the traditional anonymity safeguard of most VoIP social network applications: it doesn't reveal whom the call is from.

That could be either an advantage or disadvantage. The advantage is that users can call followers without having to worry about later receiving calls from near-strangers. The disadvantage is that recipients won't know who is calling them. They'll thus either have to either reject the call, or find themselves surprised when they hear from someone they only got to know 140 characters at a time.