As the political crisis in Egypt unfolds and Internet service remains blocked by local authorities, engineers from Twitter, Google and SayNow launched a special "speak-to-tweet" service for people on the ground to stay connected with each other and the outside world.
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Protestors ride an armoured personnel carrier towards the Nile on January 29, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt. Tens of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets across Egypt in Cairo, Suez, and Alexandria to call for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.
Anyone in Egypt can tweet by leaving a voicemail on one of three international phone numbers.
The service then instantly tweets the message using the tag #egypt.
People can hear the messages by dialing the same numbers or going to twitter.com/speak2tweet.
"We hope that this will go some way to helping people in Egypt stay connected at this very difficult time," a post on the Official Google Blog said Monday.
Social networking services have been important tools of communication for protesters in Egypt, who have taken to the streets since last week to demonstrate against the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak.
Google listed the following numbers to use the service: +16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855.