Despite the advent of social networking sites like Facebook, text messaging remains a favorite activity of Filipinos. No wonder the Philippines is considered the undisputed texting capital of the world.

A recent study by UK-based Portio Research showed that each Filipino mobile phone user sends as much as 788 text messages per month, or over 40 percent more than their counterparts in the United States.

But a revolutionary idea may just drive Filipinos to establish new records in texting. This new idea gives the the usual person-to-person SMS the functionality of a social network such as Twitter and Facebook.

Called SMS Reply-All Chat, this new idea enables mobile phone users to simultaneously communicate with multiple people using SMS. It is initially available through Globe Telecom but expected to be offered also by other carriers

The developer of the service is a company called SMS GupShup, based in Mumbai, India. Its founder and CEO, Beerud Sheth, was in Manila recently and Technews had the chance to interview him. Born in Mumbai but raised and educated in the United States, Beerud (pronounced Bei-rud) was initially focused on the Internet for his business in Silicon Valley – until he realized that 80 percent of the world’s population has never accessed the World Wide Web, but they do use mobiles. It was then that he chose to develop products for the mobile market, with special attention to text messaging which is used by more people in most parts of the world.

Here’s an excerpt from the TECHNEWS interview:

TECHNEWS: So what is SMS Reply All?

BEERUD: The SMS Reply-All Chat service extends the capabilities of SMS from basic person-to-person or P2P messaging to many-to-many messaging. It is similar to the commonly used “CC” and “Reply-All” features on e-mail.

TECHNEWS: What makes it unique?

BEERUD: SMS Reply-All Chat works on every handset and is very easy to use. It requires no training, no software downloads, no data connectivity nor a change in handset.

TECHNEWS: How useful will this service be and who are the people who will most likely avail of this service?

BEERUD: I expect virtually every user of basic P2P SMS to also use Reply-All. We're all social animals. Texting one person at a time just isn't social enough. The early adopters of this service are likely to be the youth and college students, who are always hanging out with friends. They can use it whether they are just chit-chatting or organizing social events – be it parties, meetings or any other activity that requires coordination among multiple individuals. Instead of relaying and forwarding messages from one person in the group to the other, everyone in a group can update everyone else at the same time. In fact, reply-all conversations become so engaging that it becomes hard for any participant to stay out of the discussion.

TECHNEWS: How does it work?

BEERUD: It’s very simple. Any Globe subscriber can start a conversation by typing “CHAT 917xxxxxxx 905xxxxxxx 926xxxxxxx” (where 917xxxxxxx etc. are the numbers of the friends) and send it to 2993. The system will create a group and prompt the group creator to send the first message, which goes to all participants in the group. Participants can simply reply to the message – which will also be sent to all participants in the group.

TECHNEWS: How many people can be part of the group and how much will the service cost?

BEERUD: The group can have at most 10 participants, including the initiator. A message sent to the group will cost the sender 75 centavos per recipient, and one peso for other keywords or commands. Globe plans to launch various daily, weekly and monthly UNLI plans soon.

TECHNEWS: What does GupShup mean?

BEERUD: GupShup means “chit-chat” in Hindi. It will be the next biggest word from the language that gave you “yoga,” “nirvana,” and “kamasutra.” (Laughs)

TECHNEWS: Will the Internet render text messaging obsolete?

BEERUD: The Internet will not render text messaging obsolete. Just as radio did not kill print, TV did not kill radio, the Internet will not kill text messaging. Text messaging will remain the most popular way of communication since it is the most simple and most affordable and it doesn’t discriminate. It is used by the young as well as the old, and with the most affordable as well as the most expensive handset. Text messaging will be here forever.